I’m commonly asked – by annoyed photographers – what materials they ought to be using so you can get a crisp, clean, pure white photography background.

Regrettably, that often is the wrong question to ask! It really isn’t the background material that provides you with the unsoiled white that you’re seeking.

It’s the amount of light!

Here’s the case…you set up a sterile white bed sheet or a roll of white paper – and you place your model in front of it.

You set up a light source or two and light your model. All is looking excellent. You think you will have a correctly lit model and a pleasant white set.

Next, you shoot the photograph.

Worriedly, you hurry to the photo lab if you’re shooting film or to a computer if you’re shooting digital. You have a look at the finished photo and ta daaa!

Your model is flawlessly lit, however the background is often a dingy gray color. Not the sparkling, pure white you saw in your viewfinder!

Sound recognizable? If you’ve been having a hard time with your high key photography…And you’ve been getting that dingy gray color (regardless of the materials you employ) here’s the way to mend the problem!

All light has a certain drop off factor.

By that I mean that the further the light is from a subject matter, the dimmer it is. Subsequently, meaning… when you’ve got a certain quantity of light hitting your model, and you are using that SAME light to light your set, your light is further from your set than from your model. Hence, it is going to be somewhat dimmer when it gets to your background fabric.

Whew! That’s a tongue twister. Simply stated…

The main reason you are creating that gray color is because there’s more light hitting your model than is hitting the photography background.

To get your backdrop be an absolute, flawless white…simply hit it with MORE light than you are using for your model!

Appears obvious after you understand it, but this can be a major sticking point for many photographers.

The total amount of “over-exposure” you might need for the background is dependent on the color of the backdrop fabric. If it is already white, you could probably get by with using an adequate amount of added light to have an over-exposure of roughly half an f-stop. Maybe even one full f-stop.

If the material you are starting with is gray…that’s okay too! Merely hit it with in the region of 2 ? stops (give or take) more light than you might be using for the model.

Here’s one that will blow plenty of minds…what if your photography background stuff is actually a pure black piece of canvas – or black paper?

It does not make any difference! Zap it with 5, 6 or maybe even 7 extra stops worth of light (in excess of what you are using for the primary model) and you will again have a pleasant clean white set.

This is a LOT of light and I wouldn’t propose starting out using a black backdrop. When you start off nearer to white in the beginning, it’s a lot simpler and easier. Nevertheless, try it! It’s a amusing experiment and will teach you a lot on the subject of light!

The point is – with an adequate amount of light, you can get a pleasant white photography background regardless of the type or color fabric you begin with.

Need to know how to acquire a pro quality photography background for NEXT TO ZILCH? This is bound to take your photos to a new level! Check out the above link.

Or, If you are already a pretty good shooter…do you want to start making money with your camera? Take a look at: PartTimePhotography.com.

For some more photography background information, check out this video: