Lit backdrops

[mooseboots]

Hi,

I am struggling to get a bright white background for my product shots - see here Luxury pre-owned designer fashion - premium pre loved clothes, shoes and accessories.

Currently we are photoshopping everything which is taking too long and is also making the clothes look odd in some cases.

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 (maybe we should?). We have a white background screen and a roll of background paper which we use for flat objects and bags, shoes etc. I have been adivised one option is to get two more lights with umbrellas/soft boxes to use on the object whilst using the two we have to light the backdrop - but I am not sure they are powerfull enough - bulbs are 85w 5200k cri 82.

I have also heard mixed things about lit backdrops such as the Lastolite Hi-Lite - does anyone have any advice? What light would I use to light it? Does it take up masses of room etc? I do wonder if a lit backdrop would be better rather than buying two more lights and we use the lights we have for the clothing?

So I guess what I want to know is a) if we go for a 4 light set up, what else would I need to buy to go with what we alreday have?
b) if we go for the self lit background what else would I need apart from the backdrop itself ie light for it, diffusers for the lights we have etc?

Sorry to ask so much at once. I just need help deciding which set up woudl be best before I fork out on new equipment

Thanks so much

Emma

 

[Village Idiot]

Zack Arias has a good tutorial on white seamless.

I've moved the blog –> zackarias.com/blog » White Seamless Tutorial :: Part 1 :: Gear & Space

Basically, you need to pull your subjects farther away from the background and light the background independently. 3 lights would be better. Not familiar with your lights or if they have adjustments, but you're going to need the background like the be brighter than the main light. If it's not, you could try moving the main light back to reduce the intensity on the subject if you don't have power adjustments on the lights. Strobes would be easier for this imo, but would require learning how to use them.

 

[mooseboots]

Thanks so much for the tips. I'll watch the tutorial now.

Emma x

 

[gsgary]

You will still need more lights with the lit background because the hi-lite does not come with a light, who ever adivised you was right you need more light for shooting on white