Need White background: The background that this bag sits on is a white translucent piece of plastic. I've used 4 lights: one behind to shine through the plastic, two side lights and a...

Thia

The background that this bag sits on is a white translucent piece of plastic. I've used 4 lights: one behind to shine through the plastic, two side lights and a on-camera flash. How can I get the background White? All suggestions appreciated! The gray boxes were intentional to block out the company name.

pigpen

Try buying a white piece of foam board (cheap at walmart), place it behind the subject, and set a light or a flash under the table pointing up at the foam board.

heltonjkv96 Loc: southwest Virginia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=JDGn4VzEOlU&feature=endscreen
Check this out...It may help

notnoBuddha

Beides the actual taking of the picture adjustment if you have an editing program you could be very easily adjust by using the "Levels" option. As to the actual picture I suppose if you insist on using the plastic for the background you could back it up wtih a white material such as a sheet. Very likely you are picking up the shading from some reflection in the room.

pigpen

heltonjkv96 wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=JDGn4VzEOlU&feature=endscreen
Check this out...It may help

Great info, thanx for the link.

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

Thia wrote:

The background that this bag sits on is a white translucent piece of plastic. I've used 4 lights: one behind to shine through the plastic, two side lights and a on-camera flash. How can I get the background White? All suggestions appreciated! The gray boxes were intentional to block out the company name.

you have to light the background....get some white foam core as others suggested - or better still - white velvet. You need to have even light on the background so two lights there.....then in post processing if you need to fix it there - also know that light picks up color from the room so that red wrapping may cast a reddish light -- just pay attention.

SilverfoxDojn Loc: Long Beach Island, NJ

Could be a white balance problem with the lights you're using. Try changing the W/B while viewing thru the screen. One might come close. I have run into this problem at flower shows where the lights are different. I just change the W/B till it matches what I'm shooting.

Hoss Loc: Near Pittsburgh, Pa

Thia wrote:

The background that this bag sits on is a white translucent piece of plastic. I've used 4 lights: one behind to shine through the plastic, two side lights and a on-camera flash. How can I get the background White? All suggestions appreciated! The gray boxes were intentional to block out the company name.

Make sure you only have the four lights on in the room you are shooting in. You can look up the Kelvin temp on google and set the white balance manually. I set mine for 3000K because I shoot with halogen lamps. I was playing around with throwing some extra light onto a subject with a led flashlight and while at 3000K it put a blue cast on the picture. That is why I suggested turning off the other lights in the room.

shadows creation Loc: san antonio

if all fails you can always edit your photo. i think this is what you are looking for

mommy115 Loc: California

Make sure you only have the four lights on in the room you are shooting in. You can look up the Kelvin temp on google and set the white balance manually. I set mine for 3000K because I shoot with halogen lamps. I was playing around with throwing some extra light onto a subject with a led flashlight and while at 3000K it put a blue cast on the picture. That is why I suggested turning off the other lights in the room.[/quote]

Is it just me, or do you look like a young Richard Dreyfuss?

PlushToy Loc: Nebraska

What camera are you using? some cameras have a custom white balance which helps.

RayT Loc: Crestwood KY

Use a flash meter and measure the light striking the background. If it is 2 - 2.5 stops brighter than the foreground exposure (camera settign) it will be white (no matter what color it is).

English_Wolf Loc: Near Pensacola, FL

White background? raise the light output in the flash placed behind the background. Being translucent that will do the trick.

Note that you do want at least a shadow/reflection to give a dimension to your image.
Disregard the edit photo offered, the transparency is gone (among other things) and the picture is flat.
Disregard the custom white balance. White balance adjustment in camera are for the whole picture.

You can 'save' this, if you are inclined to, by creating a mask excluding the package and progressively adjust the exposure on the selected area until you have the desired effect.

PS: I love the 'mature only' censoring... :shock: :mrgreen: :-D

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

Thia wrote:

The background that this bag sits on is a white translucent piece of plastic. I've used 4 lights: one behind to shine through the plastic, two side lights and a on-camera flash. How can I get the background White? All suggestions appreciated! The gray boxes were intentional to block out the company name.

I think that you are using too many lights. You also have a reflection problem on the front of the item. Any material you use for the background will have some density to it so you will have to clean up the background in photoshop. You could light the object from above and behind with only one light and use a white board to bounce light onto the front of the item giving you a soft even light with no reflections and light the background with two lights. Lighting is important and learning how to use it is enlightening. For 90% of my product photography I use only one light with an occasional extra light for the background. There are many lighting tutorials on youtube.

Bruce M Loc: Northern Utah

I'm old and can not remember very well but in the film world years ago one would light the back ground 4stops brighter than the subject, keep some distance between the subject and the back ground. Even a dark back ground would appear white. That's if I remember correctly, digital is great because you can experiment and see immediate results. Try it and adjust the lighting to fit your needs.