How do I photograph artwork so the white background reproduces as pure white?
Asked 5/23/2020
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I’m photographing acrylic artwork for print reproduction. Some pieces have a white background and also white areas inside the painted subject, so simply selecting and removing the background in software is difficult. My setup is a Nikon D3400 on a tripod with four 5000K LED lights. Even after adjusting exposure and color, the background records slightly gray. What lighting setup and exposure approach do pros use to make the paper/background reproduce as clean white without losing the white details within the artwork?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
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The trick to perfectly white backgrounds is overexposing them by about 1 stop.
Since you mention you have 4 studio lights at your disposal, I recommend to dedicate two of them to exclusively light the background. Use some kind of flag to keep the background light of your subject.
Then, use the remaining two lights to light your subject. Remember, the subject should be correctly exposed and the background should be overexposed by 1 stop.
Originally by user22271. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user22271
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A common studio approach is to light the background separately from the artwork.
With four lights, use two lights only for the background and two lights for the artwork itself. Keep the background lights from spilling onto the artwork by using flags or otherwise blocking that light.
Expose the artwork correctly, but make the background about 1 stop brighter than the subject. That slight overexposure pushes the background to pure white while preserving the white details inside the painted subject, which should remain properly exposed.
In short:
- 2 lights on the background
- 2 lights on the artwork
- block background spill from hitting the artwork
- background about +1 stop over the subject
This is more reliable than trying to force a gray background to white in software afterward.
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