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HOW DO I CAPTURE WHAT I SEE
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Sep 10, 2019 09:15:10   #
rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA
 
cdesigns123 wrote:
I'm photographing an item on a table (shoebox size) with white background. I'm using studio lights. I'd like to take a picture of what I see but comes out off white to grey unless I crank up the exposure. I can always fix in post with lightroom but I'm seeking advice from the experience in this group. How do you approach this basic situation. I'm shooting with a Sony A6400. I have a variety of lenses.

I am surprised that no one has gone back to basics. 'White' is a "neutral" color - equal contributions from all colors - but so are 'gray' and 'black', with no definite dividing lines delineating the three. The only clearly 'white' color is (255,255,255) - which is conventionally labeled as "blown out". The things talked about here already are all true, but this is why they are true. You need to find a neutral level that says 'white' instead of 'gray' to you.

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Sep 10, 2019 09:35:52   #
gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast
 
If your subject is not white, you would have to over expose it a stop or so to make your background look white instead of grey if that’s what you want. Then you’d have to bring down the exposure on the subject in PP. Experiment with 3 shots at 1/2 to 1 1/2 stops over to see how that looks. Be sure you’re shooting in RAW and not JPEG so you can adjust exposure.

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Sep 10, 2019 10:03:30   #
rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA
 
gvarner wrote:
If your subject is not white, you would have to over expose it a stop or so to make your background look white instead of grey if that’s what you want. Then you’d have to bring down the exposure on the subject in PP. Experiment with 3 shots at 1/2 to 1 1/2 stops over to see how that looks. Be sure you’re shooting in RAW and not JPEG so you can adjust exposure.

I adjust exposure for JPEG on a regular basis now that I am doing digital. Maximum quality {minimum compression} - one save doesn't do any noticeable harm.

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Sep 10, 2019 10:14:05   #
camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.
 
Are you using a flash meter for the exposure? If gray it only means to me that you are underexposing.

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Sep 10, 2019 10:22:08   #
John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN
 
On the Sony a6300 Custom is set this way: from Fn select and open WB tab, scroll down to Custom Set, place a calibrated white card in scene, center circle over it and hit the big center button on the back, store in one of the custom tabs. The paper manual won’t be much help here. Suggest Friedman’s book for your camera.

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Sep 10, 2019 10:32:19   #
gessman Loc: Colorado
 
cdesigns123 wrote:
I'm photographing an item on a table (shoebox size) with white background. I'm using studio lights. I'd like to take a picture of what I see but comes out off white to grey unless I crank up the exposure. I can always fix in post with lightroom but I'm seeking advice from the experience in this group. How do you approach this basic situation. I'm shooting with a Sony A6400. I have a variety of lenses.


I read something recently that I found interesting and revealed it here in uhh and as anticipated, I got a pretty fair amount of disagreement but I'll run it by you and perhaps it'll make sense to you. The person doing the talking said, "white is always white but the camera always tries to turn it grey and I have to open up 1.5 to 2 stops to overcome that. I decided that since white is always white and I must always open up to get rid of the grey, why not just fudge the exposure composition settings all the time and whether or not there's white in the frame, exposure, colors, and contrast will come out as though there was white in the frame and if there is white in the frame it will come out white and well exposed without having to dial in extra light to compensate on every shot, so I shoot every shot with 1 2/3rds stops over and occasionally make very minor adjustments in post and I'm saving a lot of time and really enjoying the results." Several here say it won't work. I can't see why not but I forgot about it and haven't tried it yet but I think I will. Not sure how it'd work on backlit shots but it wouldn't take long to find out.

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Sep 10, 2019 12:04:16   #
Toment Loc: FL, IL
 
The gray snow problem: https://www.digitalphotomentor.com/snow-grey-winter-photos/
Hope this helps.

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Sep 10, 2019 12:18:13   #
JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco
 
How far is the background behind the subject? With a white background, you may have to light it separately to get it white. The exposure to make the background white may overexpose the subject.

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Sep 10, 2019 14:56:08   #
agillot
 
the camera IS trying to see middle gray , 18% gray .so in that case , you have to overexpose white subjects , and under expose black one .

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Sep 10, 2019 15:49:32   #
rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA
 
agillot wrote:
the camera IS trying to see middle gray , 18% gray .so in that case , you have to overexpose white subjects , and under expose black one .
Depending on the rest of the image and the metering pattern used. The camera may meter correctly for a white area imbedded in a ‘normal’ scene. Photographers who used slide film find this kind of mental gymnastics to be very familiar.

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Sep 10, 2019 16:21:50   #
jamesl Loc: Pennsylvania
 
margaretnewell wrote:
Do a "custom" white balance. Check your camera manual as to how to do it.



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Sep 10, 2019 16:52:27   #
frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.
 
cdesigns123 wrote:
I'm photographing an item on a table (shoebox size) with white background. I'm using studio lights. I'd like to take a picture of what I see but comes out off white to grey unless I crank up the exposure. I can always fix in post with lightroom but I'm seeking advice from the experience in this group. How do you approach this basic situation. I'm shooting with a Sony A6400. I have a variety of lenses.


All guess work without a photo....... But..... You have included part of the answer in your question...... Raising the exposure... That means the photos its underexposed. Check your meeting..... How are you doing that.

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Sep 10, 2019 17:09:12   #
Photocraig
 
he answer is to open your exposure from 1-2 stops. Look up photographing snow scenes. They'll explain there. The reflective light meter in your camera (or hand) will "average the scene" lighting to yield "average (18%) gray. So a normal indicator in the middle shot of a predominantly white scene will yield, you guessed it, gray.

By the way, the opposite is true, too. A predominantly dark scene/object will need to be UNDER exposed for the same reason.

The Camera can't "See" what your eyes and the software packed brain behind it actually does see.

C

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Sep 10, 2019 20:35:32   #
Bret Perry
 
[quote=gessman]but I'll run it by you and perhaps it'll make sense to you. The person doing the talking said, "white is always white but the camera always tries to turn it grey ...

But not always.
The camera will only try to turn white to grey IF the main subject is not "grey" - in other words, not an "average" subject but, instead, a very bright subject.

If, on the other hand, the subject is dark it will turn grey to white!

So 2 stops more exposure only works when the subject it very light.

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Sep 10, 2019 23:27:04   #
Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.
 
Scroll up and look at the image that E.L.. Shapiro posted. This is a classic example of a studio image to get the white background effect. To do this type of image you will need a sheet of glass or plexiglass a bit larger than the area of your object. Place the glass on some supports (I use wood) above the floor. Then take a roll of any white paper roll (yes you can use cloth but that often has patter/wrinkles) with out texture.

Place the object (shoe box) on the rolled out paper. You need three lights. One from below, one from behind, and the third (main or detail light) from above and in front, usually at just above and about camera height.

The fine finishing nuances are left out of this classic table top creativity. Use long clear glass incandescent lamps, small round ones, white Christmas lights to ass sparkle to the upper high lights. Also, stapled to scrap lumber like 2X4, silver card stock (it can be anything to which aluminum foils is craped or attached. Finally, you can 'kick' a high light or optical spot into the scene/object using a small concave mirror (used to magnify during shaving), this last one is what makes table top/commercial product photography the best and so demanding.

Remember, have fun and enjoy the nuance of detail.

One assumes that the distortion in the example image is intentional, but if you do not want the one egg to look distorted as the foreground egg is in E.L.. Shapiro image, watch the focal length of the selected imaging lens. ALL lenses become 'longer' in their inscribed focal length as they are focused closer to the scene, this is often why one will find recommendations for the use of longer focal length for table top image making. Knowing the quality for detail that E.L.. Shapiro is known for I suspect that the manipulation of the focal length of his image is entirely intentional. He is a master of photography make no mistake about that!

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