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03/08/2005 10:02:44 PM · #1 |
I've been experimenting with taking pictures with the really white backgrounds. I had a white poster board that I used as the background (curved so that I'd have the bottom and back) and had a light on each side of the poster board (regular light bulbs). The pictures still had a light yellow or peach colored background instead of white.
Question: What kind of bulbs should I buy to get it to come out right? (I'm assuming that was a lot of my problem)
2nd Question: Is there a way in Photoshop Elements 3.0 to change a background to white if the original picture isn't white enough? |
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03/08/2005 10:11:54 PM · #2 |
The peach coloration is because there is so much red in the light from the incandescant bulbs. You can set the camera's white balance to "tungsten" (look in your manual to find out how) and that should get you much closer.
Any final tweaks to color balance can be done in Elements. Although Elements does not have the curves tool, which is the most powerful way to do this, there are alternatves. Levels can be used to good effect for this.
If you want a pure white (overexposed) background, make sure that you light the backdrop separately and that about two stops brighter than your subject. That way it will be "blown out" and will by definition be pure white out of the camera.
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03/08/2005 10:20:23 PM · #3 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
...about two stops brighter than your subject.... |
Ok, something came up to my mind now, after reading this:
Is there any way to do such thing in a P&S camera like mine?
A way to make the camera meter something differently, as in the background example?
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03/08/2005 11:07:38 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by scuds:
Originally posted by kirbic:
...about two stops brighter than your subject.... |
Ok, something came up to my mind now, after reading this:
Is there any way to do such thing in a P&S camera like mine?
A way to make the camera meter something differently, as in the background example? |
Kirbic is describing lighting, which doesn't have anything to do with the camera that is used.
For a really white background, you want the background to be a lot brighter than the subject - hence you need more light on it. The key to doing this easily is to light the background and the subject with different light sources. When you light them independently you have a lot more control over the final result.
Exposing correctly for the subject is a camera issue and will depend on what meter modes etc your camera supports - but you still need to light the scene correctly first to get a good result. |
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03/08/2005 11:23:15 PM · #5 |
| If I want a super white backround for a shot of something smallish I put it on a sheet of plexiglass, holding the subject off the backround. That lets you light the object seperatly from the backround. |
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03/08/2005 11:51:26 PM · #6 |
| Try using an off camera flash to light the white background. You can buy remote triggers for the flash that will cause it to fire with your on camera flash. With out a flash meter you will have to take a couple of test shots to get the right exposure. |
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03/09/2005 07:43:40 AM · #7 |
| Thanks to all of you for all of the help! You guys are great! Back to the drawing board...... :) |
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03/09/2005 08:57:02 AM · #8 |
I had a thread about turning the whole background solid white somewhere but couldn't find it. Robert (bear_music) told me a simple way to do this. If I can find it I will post it here. Also I have noticed that if I shoot in a room with colored paint on the wall I tend to get a shade of that color. When I shoot in the one room I have that is white everything is fine.
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03/09/2005 09:40:27 AM · #9 |
For my white background in the recent challenge (The subject is kind of goofy but) the background is outragiously white, with minimal post processing) I put a white mattress pad (only white thing I had large enough)over a window with lots of light coming through and then placed my subject about 8-12 feet away from the window (to gaurantee that the background wasn't in focus).
Here's the pictures....
Before....
After....
The only problem I had was the light I used on my subject gave a yellow cast. Admittedly I threw this shot together quickly. |
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03/10/2005 01:57:30 PM · #10 |
For Macros and 'small' subjects I use a slide viewer as the background. This appears white of course because it emits white light.
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03/10/2005 05:30:05 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by rex07734:
I had a thread about turning the whole background solid white somewhere but couldn't find it. Robert (bear_music) told me a simple way to do this. If I can find it I will post it here. Also I have noticed that if I shoot in a room with colored paint on the wall I tend to get a shade of that color. When I shoot in the one room I have that is white everything is fine. |
I had this as well, but then found thay white was exactly the wrong way to go.
I converted my garage into a studio. It had a yellowish sort of creamy coloured walls. So, I painted the entire flipping thing white.
Perfect, solved my colour cast problems instantly.
However, a pro friend saw the photo above and instantly told me I would have problems with the sort of photos I like, namely high contrast, usually with a nice black background. He was right, unfortunately. I have white everywhere, so any light from flash/strobes basically flies everywhere. Basically I have lost control of the light.
With that I can get very nice even light, reduce shadows etc .... but when I want shadows I can't get them.
I initially used black sheeting on either side when I then wanted shadows .... but a) it was a pain and b) the white ceiling still caused issues.
I ended up painting it all grey. Nicely it is a very neutral grey and I can even use the wall in place of a grey card for colour balance (with hindsight I should have colour matched, but I was close enough not to matter). When I want no shadows I use standard lighting techniques, reflector etc, which is far easier than trying to stop the light in the old setup.
As an aside, the room also looks really spiffy as well :)
Message edited by author 2005-03-10 17:32:38.
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03/10/2005 08:13:37 PM · #12 |
Now that you mention it, the room that I tried the white background pictures in is painted a light cream color. Some of the pictures had a light peachy look and some had a light yellowish tint.
Natator, does it cost much to do a setup likes yours? (just a general idea, not trying to be nosey! :) )
Chrisds,are you using one of these?
or:
I have ALOT to learn about lighting, etc.! Ahhh! :) |
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03/10/2005 08:29:57 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by pianomom:
Natator, does it cost much to do a setup likes yours? |
The only expensive thing there really are a pair of 500 watt studio strobes.
For the rest, nothing is particularly expensive, but it starts to add up. The nice thing is that you can gradually add to things one bit at a time.
For instance, complete and total guesses for prices in US$ (as don't have time to go look any up)
Reflector: $50
Light stands: $50 - I have 1 other than on the strobes, need a second
Umbrellas: $25
Whatsit to attach a flash/umbrella/stand: $20
Roll of colour seamless paper: $60
But, things can be expensive or cheap. For instance, go but a proper paper roll holding system and you might spend $1000.
I got a 2" piece of dowel and a couple of those curtain rod holerders for the nice wooden curtain whatsits .... $10
Rather than a studio stand I used a cheap old tripod for one of the flash units ... after all, does not need to be heavy to hold a flash.
Walls - $50 worth of paint
Carpet - had a spare piece lying around, hence you'll see it only covers one end of the studio.
To the left, going off frame there is a workbench area. This is basically a set of garage shelves with some MDF to make them look presentable. Maybe $20 total.
All adds up eventually, but nicely you can maybe spend $50 a pay packet for a few months and build :)
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03/10/2005 08:36:32 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by Chrisds:
For Macros and 'small' subjects I use a slide viewer as the background. This appears white of course because it emits white light. |
whats another neat thing to try - a dead/smashed laptop screen
providing you have the highvoltage pwr supply (watch those pinkies) from the screen -
a smashed screen has a nice glow once the LCD part is removed ...
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03/13/2005 05:31:44 AM · #15 |
Chrisds,are you using one of these?
Yes...:-) (It works very well for pure white BG's)
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