# Whiting out background without photoshop



## Wardazo (Sep 21, 2008)

Hi

I'd like to ask some advice on the what you might consider the cheapest / most basic set up for lighting and background screen in order to achieve good whiting out of product backgrounds. 

The idea situation would be very little or even no retouching in Photoshop, as we are talking about quite a lot of products

The products in question will always be approximately the same size and distance from the camera. They will be t-shirts on a dummy.

I know there are lots of excellent expensive products out there, but we really are on a budget here... a pitiful 200.

Any advice or experience would be really gratefully received. 

Thanks

Ward


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## elemental (Sep 21, 2008)

For a fashion photography shoot for a class once I bought two $3 king size white sheets from Wal-Mart and lit them with desk lamps to minimize shadows. From there, it was pretty easy to fix in post processing.

Another key trick is keeping your subject as far away from the background as possible and using a reasonably large aperture. The aperture will give you a narrower depth of field, and moving the subject away from the background will take the improvised background farther our of the focal plane, making it more blurred and the imperfections and texture less visible. Depending on your camera equipment situation, this may be easy to do (digital or film SLR) or more difficult (point and shoot). Actually, telling us what equipment you already have (if any) would be very helpful.


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## JerryPH (Sep 21, 2008)

Uhmm... how about doing it in camera WHILE shooting?  You do know that light has depth of field and that you can basically (with off camera flashes, if you have them) make the background go anywhere between black to white... if you know how?

The less knowledgeable way is to string up white blankets or what not... but if your shots are taken... and you need to do it in post... GOOGLE is your friend.  

Do a search for Photoshop colour replacement.  I expect you will get several hundred posts all explaining the ways to do this.


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## Montana (Sep 21, 2008)

If on a strict budget and no off camera flash available, I second the white sheet suggestion.  For small products, you could even use white posterboard, etc.   

I make really good money at my job (not photography related, oil related though), but I really enjoy "improvising" things like this.  I use sheets, blankets, high shutter speeds, etc to get the background I desire.  Experiment with different things, not everything photography related has to be expensive.  This hobby costs plenty as it is.  LOL

Derrick


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