All language subtitles for 12. Creating clean white backgrounds

Getting a pure white background

seems to be quite difficult for many
photographers, because it is a common

question that I get asked in.

How can I achieve a pure white
background that isn't overexposed,

isn't underexposed?

So I'm going to show you exactly how

to achieve a pure white background,
very, very simply.

Let's take a look over here.

One of the first things we need to
consider is the distance from our

studio light to the background.

Now here I've got three or four meters,
so I've got enough space to

spread my light across that broader
area.

But if I move the light in close, and
you look at the size of the ball of

light on the wall,

you can see now that this is quite a
small circle of light, and it doesn't

spread evenly.

Now this would be a problem for trying
to achieve a pure white background

in a smaller studio space.

So if you're working in a smaller
studio space, you'd need to diffuse

your light a little bit with maybe a
small soft box, so that you get a

slightly Greater spread.

But I would recommend trying to keep
your lights as far away from your

background as you can possibly afford.

Now there is a limit obviously, because
your subject, or your model, and in

this case, we've got our model stiffany
here.

She cannot fall into the light of your
background.

It's no good putting your background
lights back to here to get the extra

distance, because now your light is
also affecting your model, which you

don't want to happen.

So you have to find the compromise
between

the position of the light that gives
you the maximum distance, but still

allows your model to be in front

of those lights, and also ensuring that
you have enough distance

to come back to shoot the model.

So now, in this area here, from camera
to model, now I'm running at about 67 meters.

So those are the things to consider
with the position of the lights.

So in a smaller studio space, diffuse
the light with small soft boxes to

spread it across that wider area.

However,

if you've got sufficient distance, like
I've got here,

then I'm just using the standard

reflectors that you can get with these
lights.

So you can see just a normal reflector.

I think this one's called the l forty.

I was going to pop that back on.

Now, this particular reflector will
spread the light out quite nicely at

this distance.

And unlike a soft box

i'll get the maximum amount of power
out of this slide whereas a soft box

would have absorbed some of the power.

Now the trick is basically following
physics and uniformity.

So what I've done here is I have my
lights positioned at exactly the same distance

away from the wall, and I have them
both pointing to the center

behind my model.

So they're angled towards this
direction.

And if I stand here behind my model, I
can actually see that both lights are

coming towards me.

That means that the light area here

will be the maximum spread, giving me
maximum power and illumination.

Now the next most important thing is to
make sure that the power of your lights

is also set evenly.

So as well as the lights being the same
distance apart and the same distance

from the wall and the same angle, they
also need to be set at the same power.

So as we can see here,

this light is set on power three, and
let's just check on the other one.

And this one is also set on power three.

Now the other thing that's important,
and you might not think is important,

is to make sure that both lights are at
the same height as well.

It's no good having one light here and
one here, because then obviously the

direction of the light's not hitting
the same place.

So equal distance, equal distance from
the background paper or wall, equal

power, equal height and equal angle.

Now we'll be able to take a test shot

and see what our first result is.

Now you should be planning your
photoshoot based on the aperture that

you want to shoot at.

So here I've selected f eight as my
aperture, and I'm going to take a test

shot and we'll see what comes out on
the computer.

So

here's our first test picture.

We can immediately see, I'm shooting
into light room here

from the cannon tethered.

And we can immediately see that the
background is nowhere near white.

But our model is silhouetted, which is
what we would hope for, because we

don't want too much light spilling onto
our model, because we want to be able

to control the light that we put on the
model.

We only want to concern ourselves here
with getting a pure white background

and minimizing the amount of light
hitting the model.

So how do we check for pure white?

Well we can check visually, first of
all, and we can see immediately that

this is nowhere near white.

Now I also explain to you that I'm
shooting at f eight,

and I don't want to change the aperture
settings in the camera.

I could open the aperture wider to let
more light through, but I actually want

to shoot at fate for depth of field
reasons.

So my requirement now is to increase
the power of the lights instead.

So it's very simple.

I'm looking at the light and saying,
it's too dark.

I now need to turn the power of the
lights up.

So let's go from power three up to
power five.

So this is a two stop increase in the
power of light.

And we'll take

the shot,

can take it from here.

And we can now see that the background
has got lighter, but I can also see

that this still isn't pure white.

So I'm going to turn the light up
another two stops.

So the light's now going from power
five to power seven, which is a two

stop increase.

Take a test shot.

And now I can see that the light does
look pure white.

But notice what's happened to our
model.

Now, our model looks strongly lit, even
though that we have no lighting on her.

Now this is the crucial part, and this
is where people make a mistake.

We have to be careful to make sure that
we get white.

But we haven't gone beyond white.

So we need to measure the white value
and look at the histogram in

conjunction with the white value.

And here I can see the histogram is
peeking

right out

over the white area.

So it means we're over exposing

into white

when we shouldn't be.

So also, if I measure the values, I can
see that everything is 100 percent

in red,

in green and 100 percent in blue.

Now it's not a very good idea to start
off at 100 percent.

You really should be starting off below
100 percent so that you understand

where your white value is.

Because this doesn't measure beyond 100
percent.

We may well be above 100 percent in
terms of luminosity.

So I'm going to turn those lights back
down by half a stop to see what value

we arrive at.

So taking the light down from seven to

six and a half is a half a stop

drop.

And the same on this one as well.

Let's take another test shot.

Now we see the model

got darker,

and we can see the values are now at 985

percent.

So we are just below pure white behind
our model.

However, you can see that there is

still

some flare coming back onto the model,

but it is not as much light and fair as
the previous shot so whilst

both shots had a pure white background,
if we compare them, you can see the

huge difference between one shot that's
got a white background, and the other

shot that's going to wipe background.

The first shot that we took, where the
light was half stop higher in exposure,

had severely affected our model.

The second shot that we took, where we
dropped it down by half a stop, we

still retain a white background, but
the light is not as strong on our model.

Now

we can do further work to try to reduce
the lighting on our model, and I'm

going to show you how next.

So by putting a window mask in front,
which is basically a lens shield, like

a lens hood, I can try to block out any
additional light that I don't want

coming into my shop.

So I'm just going to get the window
mask in position, approximately,

take a test shot

and have a look at the result.

And if I flick

back to the previous shot,

there is a slight improvement with the
window mask, so that we can see that

flair is affecting this shot, or it's

affecting the contrast of the shot, and
it's making the model look brighter.

Now, whilst I've improved it slightly
there.

I think I can improve it even more by
using polyboards as well.

So by putting polyboards in position,

I'm going to reduce the amount of light
that's coming back into my camera, and

I'm also going to reduce the amount of
light that can spill onto the side of

the model.

Essentially, when we're working with
white backgrounds like this, we really

have only got sort of three things to
consider, or three ways that we can improve

the reduction in light on the model.

The light that is hitting the model is
essentially light that is bouncing

around the studio

and coming back onto the model.

So what we're trying to do is we're
trying to reduce some of that light

from bouncing around the studio and
keeping it contained over there, so

that it doesn't bounce back onto our
model.

We've also got potentially flare where
light, too much light, is coming into

the camera causing a lower contrast,

increasing flare, which gives the
appearance of a lighter exposure on our

model.

And then the other thing that we can do
is simply to move our model further

away from the background.

So if you've got a big enough studio,
then move your model further away.

And then the amount of light coming
back onto her, bouncing onto a will be

less.

But I'd still recommend going with the
polyboard option, where you've got

white on one side, keeping more light,
bouncing that way, black on this side.

So let's do another test now that I've
got the polyboards in position.

So if we look at the result now, the
model is almost perfectly silhouetted.

If we jump back to the one with the
window mask, you can see she's lighter,

you can see light hitting in her cheek
bones, and you can see she was lighter

there.

So if we now jump straight from there
to the one with the polyboards,

she gets much, much darker.

And if I bring those polyboards in even
closer, we could probably

darken off

the model a little bit more.

But actually, as she is there, I think
that's a good result.

There's not too much of a problem.

Now it's no problem if you're shooting
a model with polyboards visible in the

shot, because you can always crop the
shot afterwards and then extend the

white areas out again, because we're
only dealing with pure white.

So adding pure white

is not a problem at all.

Now for those observant amongst you,
you might say, well, hold on a minute.

You didn't actually get pure white, you
only achieve 985

percent.

Now let's have a look at that again.

So if I run my mouse over this area, we
can see that, yes, the values are

actually 98.9.

So let's call it 99

to round it off.

So we are 99

in the red channel.

In the green channel 99 and the blue
channel, 99 percent.

Now if you're used to working with
different values, you may be using

different capture software.

Those values may be set from zero to 255

in each channel.

In red, green and blue would designate
that you're at white.

So in this instance, we would be at
about 253

somewhere around there.

But why have I got it slightly below
white?

Well,

because the

chances are that when you actually put
your main illumination on the model,

your soft boxes, or your umbrellas, or
your front lighting on the model, some

of that lighting is also going to spill
onto your background.

And you will find that slight increase
in light that hits your background from

the light you put on your model, that
then achieves 100 percent on your

background.

So I'd always recommend getting your
levels to around 9899

percent.

getting rid of any flare making sure
you can get the model nice and silhouetted

for a good contrast in the short, and
then measure that value at the back

again once you've added your front
lighting in two