Creating Clean White Backgrounds

Discover Karl’s foolproof system for getting white right.

How to achieve clean white backgrounds: it’s a question every photographer needs to ask. This class has all the answers.

The crisp white backgrounds you see in professional images seem simple enough to create. After all, it’s just white, right?

Wrong! Achieving the perfect white background is harder than you think. There are very specific lighting techniques you need to master in order to get those results. Without them, you’ll end up ruining your shots with flare or overexposure.

In this easy-to-follow, step-by-step class, you’ll discover those essential techniques, plus the equipment you need to achieve a clean white background. You’ll also learn how to tell whether the background is overexposed using RGB values.

By the end, you’ll feel fully confident in your ability to get white right every time!

In this class:

  • Common problems when trying to create clean white backgrounds
  • Lighting setup and necessary modifiers
  • Positioning your lights
  • Considerations when working in small spaces
  • Measuring white values
  • Reducing flare
  • Key points to consider when introducing a key light

If you enjoy this class, try Packshots: White Background Product Photography and Shadowless Backgrounds for Catalogue-Style Images.

Questions? Please post them in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. Hi Karl,
    Purchased my membership over a week ago and really, really enjoying the tutorials so far and learning lots….thank you.
    I’m sifting my way through the studio lighting tutorials trying to learn and I just wanted to ask if you recommend or, talk about Hilite type backgrounds where you shoot through the background itself like the Manfrotto type one?
    Thank you

    1. Hi, glad to hear you are enjoying the platform! I’ve never used the Hilite type backgrounds but I know what you mean, essentially it’s like having a giant softbox as your background and it can also be used as a light. Interestingly we have a couple of videos where I use an actual softbox as the background and also where we use acrylic scrims to shine light through as the background, whatever works really you just need to be careful the luminosity level you set so that you don’t accidentally light your subject or cause flare.

  2. Hi Karl: I’m unclear why one needs to go to so much effort in making the model completely dark when starting the lighting process like what you’re doing in the video. If you’re going to add a bunch of lighting later to light the model, what’s the problem with having a minuscule amount of light to start? I know you explained the reasons in the video but I still don’t quite understand.

    Also, thank you for all your wonderful content! You’re an amazing dude with an incredible studio (that I’ll ask about some other time).

    1. Hi, there are several important reasons. In this class I’m specifically showing how to get the ‘correct’ white background. If you don’t carefully consider the correct light level for the background then that light will also hit your model potentially affecting how your edge lighting might look for example but more importantly if you arrive at white and then add more light from the front for your subject then you will also add more light on the background and it may then become ‘over white’ and potentially cause flare in your lens – if that happens your images will essentially be ruined by a reduction in contrast. Another reason to make sure that there is no extraneous light on your subject such as room lights, modelling lights etc because those lights are a different colour balance and therefore will influence and spoil the overall colour and purity or look of the lighting you were aiming for. It’s not difficult to check your lighting and ensure it’s controlled and once you get in the habit of following that practice or at least knowing what is going on then it’s easier to fix things if they’re not right.

      1. Karl: Thank you for your detailed reply. That helps me understand better.

        So, now I have subscriptions to three great British channels: Masterpiece, BritBox, and VisualEducation. As you are a celebrity photographer, have you cross paths with Jamie Oliver? Like you, he makes his craft look easy and explains things so beautifully.

        1. Thanks and I’m glad you are enjoying your subscriptions! No I’ve not crossed paths with Jamie Oliver but have watched him on TV for the last few decades he has some great recipes and I liked the work he did in the UK in trying to get kids school meals to be more healthy.

  3. Hi Karl,
    I am about to embark on a large product style job in which I am capable of doing thanks to your wonderful tutorials. As far as I was concerned the job would be basic and have to be shot fairly quickly, so therefore I was going to do the pack shot style photography with nice white clean backgrounds. However, the client/ graphic designer has now supplied an image from a past shoot of theirs where apparently they used a light cube /tent with fairly flat over all lighting including the background. So I guess I will now have do an overhead soft-box style shot? However, they have requested that I provide an 8% back ground tone, which has completely thrown me as I have absolutely no idea what that should look like or how to achieve it. I now feel quite anxious and nervous to do the job now. Any suggestions please? Thank you Karl.

    1. Hi, 8% grey background request is straightforward – you just don’t put as much light on your pure white background until the measurement values in the tethered software read about R236, G236, B236 – in some of our packshot or product shot tutorials I demo this. Also I wouldn’t worry about the light tent option as you have far less control with that – it sounds like you will be find shooting using our packshot examples as a guide on a white acrylic and keeping the white background at those reduced values. If you email me an example of what your client wants I can take a look at it and advise further. Please email to [email protected]

  4. hello, i have a question.

    i noticed that when i make pictures, each time i look at my RGBY levels on the white background, i notice that blue id always higher than others, eg it is always over 255 while others are below.An hour ago

    can you please assist me. thank

    1. Hi, nothing can be over to 255? Are you running the RGB colour model for your readings (which we recommend). You should be aiming for R253, G253, B253 – if blue is higher on something that you think is pure white then do a test on a new grey card / colour checker and neutralise if it shows blue to be slightly higher on the white background that’s usually not a problem if it’s a painted background as some white paints have a bit more blue in them to make them look whiter but it shouldn’t be much. If the problem is worse than that check you haven’t got mixed / ambient light polluting your scene.

  5. ıf I want to take model from full body, the point where model stays wont be pure white in this condition. for e commerce photography how do u achieve full body portrait photo while the whites are pure white in all whites, whereas model is also correctly exposed?

  7. Can I do this using just 1 light
    Is there any video for lighting background white using 1 light
    Even for product photography or any other genre

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