How can I make a white background pure white without affecting my subject?
Asked 3/4/2014
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I shoot portraits against a white background and use a ColorChecker Passport for accurate, true-to-life color. Sometimes the background still looks slightly gray in the final image. I use Lightroom and Photoshop, but I’d prefer a Lightroom-based workflow if possible.
How can I brighten or whiten only the background without changing the subject’s colors or tones? Also, is this mainly something I should fix in lighting rather than in post-processing?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
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You haven't talked about your lighting at all, but that's almost definitely where the problem is. Simply, the background needs to be lit independently of the foreground. You almost definitely need more space between subject and background (to avoid light spill) and depending upon subject size you may need several lights to evenly light the background adequately. Meter for the background and subject independently so that you can be sure enough power is being put out on the background to make it white.
Another problem -- though much smaller -- is likely that using the ColorChecker is working against you. The background is almost definitely not a brilliant pure white, so the color adjustments you're making are helping to bring that down to a more realistic almost-white. Again, lighting the background independently of the foreground helps solve this because you can be sure you're setting the flash output on the background to something that will ensure white is... white.
Originally by user8473. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user8473
12y ago
0
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Yes—but the best fix is usually in lighting, not post. A white background looks gray when it isn’t lit bright enough relative to the subject. Light the background separately from the subject, give the subject more distance from the background to reduce spill, and meter/expose subject and background independently. If needed, use multiple lights for even background illumination.
Your ColorChecker workflow may also be making the background look more like its actual off-white tone rather than pure white.
In post, Lightroom can help if the subject and background are clearly separated: use the Adjustment Brush with Auto Mask enabled and raise Exposure/Whites on the background only. This can work well for clean edges, but if the subject is as bright as or brighter than the background, there may not be enough tonal separation for a clean adjustment.
So: if possible, fix it at capture by overexposing the background separately while keeping the subject correctly exposed. Then use selective local adjustment in Lightroom for minor cleanup only.
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