Comments on: Getting A White Background with Speedlights

By: Boaz Yiftach

Boaz Yiftach — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:14:25 +0000

Hey
I usually don’t write comments but this article has helped me tremendouly. It brought to my attention the small yet crucial detail – changing the flash’s angle to a wide one and by doing so I managed to achieve for the first time a beautiful homogeneous white background! Thank you very much and God bless you!

By: extravography.com blog » Links

extravography.com blog » Links — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:30:11 +0000

[...] http://www.lighting-essentials.com/getting-a-white-background-with-speedlights/ [...]

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:40:52 +0000

Hi
Thank you for the reply. The bit I am getting confused with is how to actually meter the background with my SB-900 which is mounted on a light stand at 45 degrees to the background.

Can I simply put my Sekonic L-358 into Flash Auto reset mode and press the Test button on the flash or do I have to set the flash to Manual in the Nikon D300 and take a test shot whilst measuring the background.

Ian

By: wizwow

wizwow — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:13:36 +0000

Hi.
You will need two speedlights. There is a diagram on the post I believe.
Using the first light in an umbrella, meter the subject – let’s say we get f-8.
Now with the second light, meter the background with it directed toward the background – set it to wide zoom.
Change the power to get f-8.6 (f-10). That will give you a white background. Just 2/3 stops over will not blow out the edges of your subject.

Of course, you shoot at the subject metered aperture of f-8.

You can see some more examples of one light / white background here.
http://www.lighting-essentials.com/one-light-portrait-with-white-background/

and here
http://www.lighting-essentials.com/single-umbrella-headshot-and-white-background/

Thanks for visiting.

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:35:56 +0000

I have a Nikon D300 and a Nikon SB-900 Flash and also a Sekonic L-358 meter.
Can you please briefly explain how I measure the background with my meter and also can I use the SB-900 flash Off camera to achieve these results.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:38:53 +0000

Thanks for the tutorial. Very helpful.

By: shrikanth

shrikanth — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:02:53 +0000

Thanks for sharing the idea. i really appreciate it.

By: miptog

miptog — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:23:04 +0000

Very much like this tutorial. It explains things in “plain” English, that even the novice can understand. Well done Don. Great site developing here too. Look forward to more tutorials of this type, and watching the site develop. This is also a much better laid-out site than the previous.

Happy Easter

Mike

By: OC

OC — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:08:03 +0000

These tutorials are really helpful. Thanks Don