Shooting a perfectly white background can be tricky if you don’t have a full lighting setup or proper studio space. However, one of the most important skills you can have as a photographer is working with the available equipment you do have for optimal results.
On this photo shoot, I was shooting in the corner of small NYC apartment, with only one available window and one available strobe light - an Elinchrom D-Lite 4. I placed a white umbrella on the strobe to soften the light on my model’s face, and also used a white circular reflector to further light the model’s eyes under the shadow of her hat.
Since I didn’t have extra lights to light the white walls in order to keep them an even, bright white background, I used this amazing tutorial found on the FStoppers website. It was easy to follow, and worked like a charm. (Specifically, skip to the part of the tutorial called “Best and Quickest Method.”)
In the “Before” shot, you can see that the white background is uneven, and includes dark shadows on the edge. However, after following the steps in the tutorial, the white background was easily corrected.
Here is my lighting setup:
