Flash photography tip: Completely white background

Saturday 13 July 2024, 17:17 by Elja Trum | 1,867 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

A classic studio image is a portrait with a completely white background. In practice, it can be quite difficult to get the background perfectly white.

Too little light on your background and it will become light grey. Too much light, on the other hand, will cause details such as the hair to be 'eaten up' by the bright light from the background.

Anna - f/9, 1/160s, 100 ISO @ 110mm
A completely white background is best achieved by using a flash meter. First light your subject and measure the values this requires. Then light the white background, preferably with at least two flashes.

Measure the background and make sure it is 2.5 stops lighter than your reading of your model. Make sure you light the background as evenly as possible, measuring at several points. Keep enough distance between your model and your background so that the light from your background does not affect the light on your model.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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2 comments

Andrej Nikolajew wrote on Sunday 14 July 2024 at 11:04 | reply
Fantastic tips! Good exposure is indeed essential for a perfectly white background. Using a flash meter and accurately metering both your subject and the background really makes a difference. Thanks for sharing, I'll definitely check out your book "The Flash Bible" for more valuable tips!
Translated from Dutch.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Sunday 14 July 2024 at 12:57 | reply
At one point in the past I used a studio flash with a large octabox as a white background and that worked fine too.
Translated from Dutch.

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