Hi MS Group,

I have questions pertaining to the use of White backgrounds for my stock shots-

1. What is the best White background to use? I've tried Vinyl but it has some texture that the stock companies have pounded me stating they see the texture. I am going to order some paper rolls but not sure if this will work.

2. I can never get the entire background to look bright White thus I've attempted to use the Dodge tool to make it brighter - it looks great to my eyes even at 100% but the stock companies reject it fast! Should I just use the Levels adjustments only and not attempt to whiten the background via the dodge tool? I also tried the Adjustment Tool in Camera Raw and got slammed by the stock companies. Is it okay to have some gray in background of the photo?

So far my acceptance ratio is around 40 to 50% with very few sales - I've been only doing this for 3 months thus I have a lot to learn.


Thanks.


Tom

It shouldn't matter what texture the background is provided you are blasting it with enough light to effectively wipe it out. I assume you are trying to do isolations on white? During the shoot you should be able to review the shots and see 'blinkies' in those areas where you have overloaded the senor with light which is what you are trying to achieve. A 'white background' should be absolutely pure white.

So far I've had the best luck with Poster board as long as I don't large objects that require me shooting a vertical background such a wine bottle standing straight up. Vertical backgrounds are what is killing me! I am hoping the paper rolls will give me the seamless effect that I am looking for- now if only I can get the lighting correct- Here is how I am setting up my lights on the small table

a. I have 2 soft box lights (5 bulbs in each one) one each side of the table and one spot light that bouncing off the ceiling. For whatever reason I cannot get the vertical part of my white background to lite up enough this is always a Whitish Gray color.

Thanks for the awesome comments on my White background issues...


Tom

heres a great article about isolation http://www.zarias.com/white-seamless-tutorial-part-1-gear-space/

Part 2 talks about exposure methods  ie overexposing backdrop 2 + stops


Duhh sorry didnt see this posted above lol

I love these thingy: http://www.lastolite.com/hilite-backgrounds.php
Put a couple of lights in them, voila! You can have a subject directly next to it, no shadow. Portable, too. There is also an optional "train".
For smaller subjects they sell these: http://www.lastolite.com/litetable.php
I didn't try those but it looks like a handy thing.

I've had success with shooting against any background that will give me good separation, then isolating in Photoshop and placing the subject in a separate white layer...

when we shot isolated item, does it has to be pure white? like 0,0,255?

0,0,255 is pure BLUE

By the way, i used pen tool to isolated object all the time..in order to achieve pure white background. I wonder is it possible to achieve perfect pure white background with good lighting?

Absolutely. This is how is should be done. The general rule is your background should be 2 stops brighter than the subject. That's it. No editing required.

You don't.  There's always some editing.