Cutting down on Photoshop usage

[mooseboots]

Hi,

I am a first time poster to the PF but I have heard great things about your expertise.

I run an online clothing website and I would like to find a way to cut down on the amount of time we are spending lightening our background to pure white in Photoshop. We currently do this for each image and 1) it takes too long and 2) the actual clothing often suffers at the expense of getting the background white - this is a particular problem with white and light coloured garments where we often end up with it being so bleached out you can barely see it.
Our current set up is a Canon EOS5D and two lights - Lastolite RayD8 C5600 - we don't use any soft boxes or diffusers or anything. We have a white background screen and a roll of background paper which we use for flat objects and bags, shoes etc. I think we may need another light(s)? But I don't know which one. Or maybe we need to backlight the screen more? Sorry to ask so much in one go but any advice would be great. We are a start up company so don't have money to burn but we are happy to spend a little if needed.

Thanks a million

Emma

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[MReid]

Posting a photo would help a lot to give a more accurate assist.
Sounds like Lightroom levels adjust. Get your black and white points correct...and an exposure adjust. You can do them all at once if you are starting out with a consistent exposure.

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, showing us an example or two might really help.

The problem with getting a white background to photograph as white, is way in which light works, in terms of diffuse reflection. In other words, the further the object is the from the light, the less light it will reflect. The relationship is an inverse square.
In practical terms, if your subject (clothing) is 1m away from the light, and the background is 2m away from the light. The background is getting 1/4 (not 1/2) the amount of light. If the subject is 1m and the background is 3m from the light, the background is getting 1/9 the amount of light.

So the typical solution to this problem, is to light the background with additional/separate lights. That way the background can be lit enough that it will show up white in the photos, and the subject can be lit to get the exposure that you want for it.

Now, if you are just laying the clothing on a white surface, then the difference in distance to the light, will be rather small, so as long as you get proper exposure, it should be pretty close to looking right.

That is something else that might be causing you problems....exposure. If you take a photos of a scene that is mostly white (white background), your camera (like every camera) is designed to under expose the photo. Camera are calibrated for an 'average' scene or 'middle grey'. So when the scene is brighter than that, the camera under exposes it. If the scene is darker, the camera over exposes it. To deal with this, you have to compensate the exposure settings away from the camera's recommended values. When shooting on white, you need to dial in more exposure, to ensure that what is actually white, comes out white in your photo.

[GeorgieGirl]

Maybe white balance is off too.

[CCericola]

Seeing a non edited photo will really help. I'm sure we can help you get more of what you want when taking the picture so you are not spending so much time editing.

[mooseboots]

Wow. Fast response and I am learning stuff already. If you take a look at my website you'll see what I mean - the problem we have is that every single garment is different and we can't afford to chage the set up each time as it would take forever. I feel that we are at the moment sacrificing too much for the white background - the garments are suffering and looking 'unreal'. I also am not sure if the lights are too small and sharp - it's hard to get the whole garment lit evenly, especially with long items and in many cases were end up with the centre or top lit and the bottom not, or the centre only. I can send some original pics if that helps?

Luxury pre-owned designer fashion - premium pre loved clothes, shoes and accessories

Thanks so much

Emma

[Big Mike]

OK, so it looks like you have the clothing on a stand/mannequin...so you can easily have some separation between it and the background. So to get your shot, with minimal post production, I'd suggest having two lights on the white backdrop (but not hitting the clothing) and then two more light for the item itself. It might be beneficial to use something to enlarge/soften the lights on the subject. Umbrellas would work pretty well.

Once you have that set up. You can find the exposure that will work and if can then put the camera into manual mode, you should have to worry about exposure any more. You should be able to go from one item to the next with minimal adjustments to your camera or lights. Getting the White Balance setting correct, will help as well.

It might be a little tougher for objects like bags, that have to sit on something (probably just on the background) because there is no separation between the item and the background, for your background lights. Still shouldn't be too hard, once you are set up though.

HERE is an often viewed tutorial about how to shoot (a model) on a white background.

[GeorgieGirl]

Looks like you do a decent job on your edits!

[mooseboots]

Thanks a million BigMike. Do you have any lights you would recommend to light the model?

CCericola - should I post a couple of raw images too?

And thanks for the kind words GeorgieGirl

Thanks so much - you are all so lovely to help like this

Emma

[helenhall]

I agree with Big Mike. You can achieve what you are going for without having to edit so much. Placing one light behind the subject light the back drop at full power is how to get a pure white without over exposing your garment. I would recommend to lights but if you are on a budget and the space you are lighting is not large, one will work. If you are doing a full body shot, two are needed. I would also recommend two lights for the subject to achieve nice even lighting. However this can also be done with one light if it is diffused with a soft box or umbrella and placed directly in front of and slightly above the subject (Only will work for half body shot). To do this you will need a boom. As far as lights go a affordable light set is Alien Bee. Hope this helps