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I am frequently asked – by frustrated shooters – what materials they should be using to obtain a crisp, spotless, pure white photography background.

Sorry to say, that would be the inappropriate question to ask! It truly is not the backdrop material that offers you the uncontaminated white you’re seeking.

It is the source of the light!

Here’s the situation…you put up a dirt free white bed sheet or a piece of white paper – and you position your model in front of it.

You set up a light source or two and light your model. All is looking fine. You think you’ve got a suitably lit model and a pleasant white backdrop.

Now, you take the photo.

Apprehensively, you dart to the photo lab if you are shooting film or to a computer if you are shooting digital. You check out the finished picture and ta daaa!

Your model is impeccably lit, however the backdrop is usually a dingy gray color. Not the clean, pure white you saw in the viewfinder!

Sound typical? If you’ve been having a hard time making high key photographs…And you’ve been getting that dingy gray color (no matter what materials you use) here is how to fix the problem!

All light has a certain drop off feature.

By that I mean the further light is from a subject matter, the less bright it appears. Subsequently, meaning… when you’ve got a certain amount of light hitting your model, and you’re using that SAME light to light your backdrop, your light is further from your backdrop than from your model. Thus, it will be slightly less bright when it gets to your backdrop material.

Wow! That is a tongue twister. Simply stated…

The main reason you’re shooting that gray color is because there’s more light hitting your model than is hitting the photography background.

To have your background be a genuine, picture perfect white…simply hit it with MORE light than you are using on your model!

Seems obvious once you understand it, but this is a major sticking point for a lot of shooters.

The total amount of “over-exposure” that is required for the backdrop is dependent on the color of the background material. If it is already white, you could get by with using adequate additional light to get an over-exposure of approximately half an f-stop. Maybe even one full f-stop.

If the material you’re beginning with is gray…that’s OK as well! Just hit it with around 2 ? stops (give or take) more brightness than you might be using for the model.

Here’s one that will blow plenty of minds…imagine if your photography background stuff is really a pure black piece of material – or black roll of paper?

It does not make any difference! Zap it with 5, 6 or maybe even 7 extra stops worth of light (more than you might be using for the primary model) and you’ll once again have a pleasant uncontaminated white setting.

It is a BUNCH of light and I would not suggest starting out with a black background. When you start off nearer to white at first, it is a lot less difficult. However, take a crack at it! It’s a amusing experiment and will educate you a lot with reference to light!

The point being – by way of enough light, you can get a pleasant white photography background no matter what type or color material you start with.

Need to know how to get a pro quality photography background for NEARLY NOTHING? This is bound to move your photography to a higher level! Check out the above link.

Or, If you’re already a pretty good shooter…do you intend to start making a living using your camera? Take a look at: PartTimePhotography.com.

For some more photography background information, check out this video:

Filed under: Hobbies on August 11th, 2010