White backgrounds! (again...)

Wobbler

Wobbler

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Dan
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OK, so...the floor!

I don't want reflections, but a bit of shadow is fine, it adds a bit of texture. I don't want the 'floating' look from just painting it - that looks horrible and cheap IMO.

I have no probs getting the bg nice and clean, or lighting the subject (usually 1 softbox) but the floor always goes a bit darker.

I clean this up with a dodge action, but of course, this is time consuming.

So, what do you do, either in camera or in PP?
 
I found that the only way of getting a good level of floor lighting without washing out the subject was to use a reflective flooring. Anything else will result in far more PP.

The reason that the reflective flooring works is that it is reflecting the background which is light that shouldn't be getting in the way of exposing the subject. In essence you are lighting the subject and background/floor separately which gives you loads more control.

There are loads of threads in this sub-forum on this sort of thing - just search for hilite if you haven't already.

If you are happy to post some results I'm sure people would make some helpful suggestions...
 
Wobbler, in my opinion....based on the last few months of experimenting....what you are asking is verging on impossible (out of camera)....the reflective floor solves all the problems, but in your case, would give you a problem - a reflection.

What camera model?

G.
 
I've come to the conclusion that a certain degree of PPing is the only way.

However, how do the likes of Venture deal with this? They must have very high volumes!
 
If you're shooting full length people you just need two big soft lights either side to bring the floor up (in front of the back flats). The ones we use are 1.5m x 30cm flagged at the top to about 70cm. These are set 30cm high either side at about 50 x 20 degrees.

Best wishes
Monty
 
For this shot I used an white shelf from an Ikea unit that I wasn't using. Essentially white melamime couted chipboard. I have shadows, but no real reflection, if that is what you want? You need a Matt floor surface.



The only PP on this is the levels, not digital wizardry!
 
I have painted my white vinyl backdrop with GLOSS white paint which helps ( just a slight hint of reflection ) it just seems to pick up a little more light where the reflection/shaddow ISN'T if you see what i mean :thinking:. Still needs a couple of seconds of dodging though but then it always will if you want correct exposure on the subject. Gloss can make the floor a bit slippery so watch for that.

Having said all that i only worry about making sure it all white around the subject if i want to drag the image onto another layer ect. i don't think a slightly greyer floor is the end of the world, it just depends on the end use.
 
Daryl said:
Floor is way exceptable on that pic . But there is far to much burn on the subject form the Hi-lite. It does not not need a lot of light to fill the Hi-lite evenly with 2 lights.
Click to expand...

Lighting was a bit harsh, just the one flash (£25 jessops one at that) on the old duvet cover, gonna refine it for next time....!
 
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