Taking white background portraits is inseparable from these 8 steps!

Many people like to shoot high-profile portraits with a white background, because high-profile and bright images can easily put the audience in a happy mood, and white itself also has the meaning of "purity". Not only when taking portraits, but also when taking pictures of products and still lifes, you often need to use a white background.

But when you actually start shooting, you will realize that taking a white background portrait is not that simple. You will encounter some unexpected problems and need to take corresponding measures to solve them.

To create a white background in the studio, you need to prepare a few things.

?1. At least two flashes (with diffusers), three or four would be better. It is best to have one with a higher output power.

? 2. Light background. White is the best choice, but gray-light gray objects can also be used as backgrounds, the only requirement is that they must be uniform in color and relatively "clean".

? 3. Enough space. You need to leave a certain distance (more than 3 meters) between your model and the background board, otherwise it may cast a shadow on the background - of course, you can also deliberately leave some shadows to maintain a three-dimensional effect.

In addition to the above "must-have items", if you can also prepare a light meter to improve the accuracy of lighting and exposure control.

1. Select aperture. From the perspective of shooting effects alone, f/8 to f/4 are good choices for studio portraits, but the flash output power needs to be taken into consideration. For example, if you set the aperture to f/11, then the background light will be at least two stops brighter than this value, reaching f/22, and ordinary low-power flash cannot reach this power. Therefore, if the output power of the flash you have is not particularly high, a more "normal" aperture value is most suitable, such as f/5.6.

2. Set the background light. Place the lights on the sides, pointing at 45° to the background. If possible, use a large softbox on the background light.

Try to ensure that all parts of the background are evenly lit (especially the sides and corners) to prevent inconsistent exposure of various parts of the final image. During this process, you may need to adjust the position and angle of the background light multiple times in order to pursue the greatest possible light "coverage."

3. Adjust the background light exposure. After setting the position and angle of the background light to ensure that the background can be illuminated evenly, you need to set the exposure of the background light according to the selected aperture value.

The basic principle is that you want to make sure the background is 2 to 3 stops lighter than the subject to ensure that the camera can capture the background as pure white. For example, when your aperture is f/5.6, the exposure of the background light must be at least f/16.

Learning is never a matter of one person. It requires a partner to supervise each other. Friends who need to learn photography or are interested in learning photography can send me a private message "Study" to get free photography learning materials. Let's work together study! You can control the exposure precisely by using a light meter; if you don't have an exposure meter, you can also use a less "quantitative" method - look at the histogram to make sure the background is overexposed.

4. Place the subject and test it. This step tests whether the distance between the subject and the background is sufficient. Just turn on the background light (as the only light source) and take a test shot. If the distance is sufficient, the subject will become a silhouette.

If your subject is not completely silhouetted, you need to continue to increase the distance between the subject and the background.

? 5. Block the background light (optional). If there is insufficient indoor space, you need to partially block the background light to ensure that the light on the background light does not overflow and "run" to the front of the subject.

The most common way is to use a black curtain to partially block the background light (leaving only the middle part). Pay attention to adjusting the position of the curtain, at least not to let it appear in the composition of your work.

?6. Set the main light. In the previous step, you have placed the subject in a position where it will not interact with the background, so the main light will not affect the exposure result of the background. When setting the main light power, you only need to consider the exposure of the subject.

The only thing you need to pay attention to is that when your main light direction is not from the front, but from the side to the background, the walls on both sides may act as reflectors, reflecting part of the light (similar to (Based on the "jump flash" technique of flash).

?7. Set up fill lights (optional). If your main light is from the side, or you find shadows on the subject's face (especially the wings of the nose, eye sockets, and chin), you can also set up another light to fill in the light and eliminate the shadows.

? Generally speaking, the output power of the fill light is one stop lower than the main light.

?8. Check the final exposure results. Once everything is ready, it's time to start shooting. If the previous settings were done correctly, you should end up with a background that appears pure white, and a normally exposed subject.

? If it is difficult to judge whether the background is "clean" simply by looking at it with the naked eye, you can copy the photo to your computer, zoom in, observe, and decide whether you need to adjust the relevant settings and take the photo again.