Need Help with White Background.

dphoenix25 · Aug 31, 2012

Hello Everyone,
I just recently got into photography. I've been a videographer for a bit now, and am trying to make the transition. Anyways, I did my first photo shoot for a local clothing company last night and everything went fairly well. Only problem, somewhat major is that the background which was supposed to be white is now a beige-ish color. Any help would be really great.

dphoenix25 · Aug 31, 2012

Is there any way to get the background to be white while also maintaining the skins tones and color and exposure of the clothing?

cgipson1 · Aug 31, 2012

Do we get a cut of what they paid you, if we help? Like consultants get paid? After all, A professional hiring a consultant would expect to pay for those services, right?

cgipson1 · Aug 31, 2012

dphoenix25 said:
Is there any way to get the background to be white while also maintaining the skins tones and color and exposure of the clothing?

I would reshoot! And do it right! You can photoshop it, but won't look 100% real, unless you are very good at photoshop! (which I am assuming you aren't or you wouldn't be asking this question!)

KmH · Aug 31, 2012

The shirt isn't white either.

The white balance of the image is off and has a yellow color cast from the light source.
To make the background white you need to light it, and use strobed light so you can control the ambient light exposure separately from the strobed light exposure with the camera.
Click on this - http://www.zarias.com/white-seamless-tutorial-part-1-gear-space/

dphoenix25 said:
View attachment 19001

This is what it looks like with only the white balance corrected, so you can see the yellow cast from the light source and improper white balance setting in the camera:

cgipson1 · Sep 1, 2012

KmH said:
The shirt isn't white either.

The white balance of the image is off and has a yellow cast from the light source.
To make the background white you need to light it, and use strobed light so you can control the ambient light exposure separately from the strobed light exposure with the camera.

Probably constant light.... :roll:

cgipson1 · Sep 1, 2012

You mean something like this?

Nice edit, KMH!

cgipson1 · Sep 1, 2012

Exif from OPs shot

Hmmm... no custom white balance... apparently no flash, 24mm for product shots???

dphoenix25 · Sep 1, 2012

Thank you everyone. Let me clear a few things up. Firstly, I'm not getting paid for any of this, it's for a family friend. I'm not really a photographer, and more of a videographer, and even that I'm not very technically proficient. I know I messed up.

There is a slight possibility that we could re-shoot, but if I can avoid it, I would really like to, seeing as the models drove pretty far to make it happen in the first place. I messed up.

For lights, all I have are dim-able 1000w Halogen video oriented lights. I don't know how I flubbed the white balance thing, heat of the moment, overthinking everything and missing key details. I have the stock Canon lens 18-55mm and a few vintage Russian lens, but I thought those would be way too soft to use for the product photos. I know I'm really out of my element hear but I really appreciate the advice you guys have provided so far.

amolitor · Sep 1, 2012

Most photo editing tools let you set the white balance by clicking a "known to be white" spot in the picture. Then it'll do the adjustments necessary to make that spot turn pure white.

Mostly it works pretty well, and usually it's a step in the right direction.

Try it out and see!

KmH · Sep 1, 2012

amolitor said:
Most photo editing tools let you set the white balance by clicking a "known to be white" spot in the picture.

Which is what I did. I opened the photo in ACR 6 and using the White Balance tool, clicked on the shirt.

For product shots when accurate color was important, I used a gray card in one shot to use as a reference. White things are always actually white in the photographic sense.

The Canon 18-55 mm kit lens is pretty good when used within it's limitations, which basically means stay away from the extremes of it's adjustments for aperture, focal length, and focus distance.

Use a tripod.

cgipson1 · Sep 1, 2012

You need to light the background separately in shots like these. Usually want to overexpose it a 1/2 stop to a full stop. You really need flash for this.. constant lighting sucks!

Now all you can do is to do as KMH suggested and do a white balance on on the shirt, and then clean up the background by layering, selecting the bad background and making it white too.