How to Light a White Background

When it comes to studio photography, my personal favorite style tends to be dark and dramatic. I love pockets of light with shadows in between to add definition. Sometimes though, a white background is a necessity. Whether it’s needed for corporate headshots, commercial photography or you just want to try something new, knowing how to get a pure white background is a necessity!

How to Light a White Background

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Sure you can achieve this in photoshop but if you can get it right straight out of camera, why not do it? Not only will it save you time later but with this knowledge, you can then decide to make your backdrop different shades of gray too!

As with most things in photography, there are tons of different ways to do this but these are my top tips on how to light a white background.

KNOW THE POWER OF YOUR LIGHTS

This may sound silly but it’s really important step! When shooting white backgrounds, your background should be brighter than your subject by around two stops. This means if you want to photograph your subject at f/4, your background lights should be f/8. If you’re shooting at f/8, your background should be f/16.

If your background lights aren’t powerful enough, your background may look white on the back of the camera, but when you pull it into photoshop, it will actually be off white or light gray.

Having a light meter is a great way to ensure proper exposure! Turn your main lights on and your background lights off. Then meter for your subject. Next do the opposite with the background lights. If you don’t have a light meter, check your histogram to see if things are properly exposed. If you don’t know how to read your histogram, here is an awesome video from Aaron Nace of Phlearn!

Public service announcement – DO NOT TRUST YOUR LCD SCREEN TO TELL IF PHOTOS ARE PROPERLY EXPOSED! IT CAN LIE TO YOU!! Depending on the brightness you have your viewfinder set to, things can look darker or brighter than they really are. Especially if you’re outside.

MAKE SURE YOUR SUBJECT IS FAR ENOUGH AWAY FROM YOUR BACKDROP

One of the biggest mistakes I see, is photographers putting the subject too close to the backdrop. This causes the backdrop light to spill onto your subject and the top and sides of their hair may glow (in a bad way) and look hazy. Your subject will also lose contrast and may have a filmy look to them. It’s important to leave enough space between the two so that you can light both the subject and the backdrop separately.

Try to get at least 6 feet between the two, 8-10 feet is even better! If that’s not possible, you need to figure out a way reduce the spill of the background light.

CONTROL YOUR BACKGROUND LIGHT

If necessary, block the light from hitting your subject. While you can buy flags designed specifically for this purpose, you can also use something as simple as a piece of cardboard. This helps to direct and control the light. Using a metal reflector (most strobes come with one) will help as well.

USE THE RIGHT BACKGROUND

For my background, I typically use either a white cloth backdrop or a roll of grey seamless paper from Savage. For the session above, I used a roll of Savage’s fashion gray #60. You probably thought I used a roll of white paper! Crazy huh?

In my opinion, light gray is the most universal color you can buy! Depending on how you light it, you can make it white, light gray, dark gray or black. I’ll be posting about this in my next tutorial so stay tuned!

After the session there were a lot of scuff marks and footprints on the backdrop. Since I knew those wouldn’t show up when I lit the background, I cut off the piece and used if for the session below. I’m all about saving money!

THREE WAYS TO ACHIEVE A WHITE BACKDROP

Again, there are many ways to achieve this but these are the methods I’ve used to achieve a pure white background every time.

ONE LIGHT DIRECTLY BEHIND THE SUBJECT

For this setup, I had my main light (an Einsten with a gridded Paul C Buff octobox) and my fill light (another Einstein with a smaller gridded Paul C Buff octobox) in front of the subject. The background light was an Alien Bee 800 with a metal reflector, directly behind my subject.

Sometimes it can be a little tricky to keep the background light from showing on the sides of your subject. If you keep an eye on it when you’re shooting and adjust the positioning of your subject accordingly, you’ll avoid having it showing up.

The photo below is a great illustration of how you can change the color of you backdrop depending on how you light it. Since I’ve killed all the ambient light in the room, the only light in the photo is coming from the two octoboxes in front of my subject. Without a background light, the light gray backdrop has become dark gray!

I debated including the light power settings but decided against it. Every situation is different depending on the circumstance of where you’ll be shooting. When I’m on location for corporate headshots, my setting differ greatly. Especially if I don’t have the luxury of using multiple lights.

My camera settings though were ISO 320, 1/200, f/10. Since I was shooting at f/10, the background light metered at f/20. I could have reduced the power so the background light didn’t have to work as hard but I wanted everything in the photo to be sharp so I left it at the higher power setting.

I’m also using the Westcott eyelighter. I love this thing! It really helps to fill in the eye sockets and any shadows on the skin from blemishes or wrinkles. It’s a fantastic tool!

TWO LIGHTS ON EITHER SIDE OF THE SUBJECT

For the second setup, I still had my main light (an Einsten with a gridded Paul C Buff octobox) and my fill light (another Einstein with a smaller gridded Paul C Buff octobox) in front of the subject. Now though, the background lights were two Alien Bee 800 with metal reflectors on either side of the subject.

You’ll want to position the lights the same distance on both sides of your subject. Think of it like an equilateral triangle. Your subject will be the top point of the triangle and the lights are the bottom two points. Often I’ll go stand directly behind my subject to make sure they are in the right positions.

Because I was using two background lights, I reduced the power on each of them but the two together still metered at f/20.

Since the background lights have been moved to the sides and the power has been divided, the light on her face has changed a bit. It’s very subtle but she has a little more shadow on the sides of her face. When the light was behind her, it was bouncing back and wrapping around her body a bit more. In turn that threw a little light into the eyelighter which increased the fill.

One of the final images from Melody’s session. Not going to lie, I am super jealous of her hair!

TWO LIGHTS BOUNCED INTO V-FLATS

Another setup that I use also has two background lights. For this one, I used my Einstein with a white beauty dish as the main light. I also used two v-flats and bounced the two Alien Bee 800s (still with the 7″ metal reflectors on them) into the white side of the v-flats. I don’t have a pull back of that but here is a BTS video I posted on my Instagram story.

Here’s the final image. This is an awesome set up if you want to have a high key background and increase the shadows and depth on the face. Look how the light shows off Loren’s gorgeous cheekbones!!

As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, I love drama and shadows in my photos. When we were taking Melody’s headshots the background lights didn’t fire for one of the shots. Side note, she is a good friend and an AMAZING photographer! Her architecture photos and landscapes blow me away!

She was required to use the white backdrop for a commerical photography class she’s teaching at Shutterfest ( I told you she was amazing!) but we both loved the one with the gray background!

You can see how much the light wraps around her face when the background lights fire!

Getting a white background photography may seem difficult but with some practice, it becomes second nature! I’m of the opinion that the more tricks you have in your photography basket, the better off you and your business are!

If you’re interested, check out my other tutorials here!

Want to learn more about lighting? I offer one-on-one classes! Send me a message or give me a call at 434-906-0418 .

Ali Johnson is a portrait photographer specializing in senior portraits Charlottesville Virginia, Fluvanna and Louisa County VA