3 Ways to Light for a White Background

In this tutorial, Seth Miranda, ‪@LastXwitness‬, walks you through lighting white backdrops photography. Seth covers essential tips and techniques for achieving clean, professional results in high-volume shoots like headshots and product photography. From lighting setups to common mistakes, you'll learn how to ensure an even white background without overexposing your subject. Whether you're using multiple lights or just one, Seth demonstrates how to dial in your exposure for a polished look that clients expect. Stay tuned for expert advice on creating stunning white background portraits, even in challenging spaces!
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[@GrayMartMedia]

Seth was my favorite class at Imagining last year. These tips are invaluable.

[@LastXwitness]

That’s was one of my fave demos I prolly ever pulled off. Thanks for being there

[@patrick8035]

Seth’s teaching style just makes so much sense to me - I always learn a lot from his tutorials!

[@esfowle]

I never saw anything from PPA until I saw Seth doing a video for them. It's always great to see new avenues for education in my feed.

[@LastXwitness]

This is a solid channel with good industry info and resources. Poke around for sure

[@LastXwitness]

Appreciate you guys having me again hope this video helps. There really are almost infinite ways to get a white background for that commercial look this is just 3 ways to get you going

[@ourPPA]

It does!! Thank you Seth! 🧡

[@MalaysianFixers]

That was an amazing class Seth! Thank you!! 🥰 No wonder Grays love you 😊🙏🏼👍🏼

[@DanGilman]

Not going to lie, getting Seth Miranda doing PPA stuff makes me want to rejoin. Whoever made that decision needs a raise.

[@ourPPA]

We hope you decide to rejoin! 😊 Always here to help should you have any questions. Our Education Team was responsible for that one - we'll pass this along + the nugget about the raise. 😆

[@LastXwitness]

lol appreciate the support thanks for checking out the video

[@hankdinardo4308]

Seth best lighting instruction hands down.

[@LastXwitness]

Thanks so much glad it was worthwhile

[@dalesanders7885]

Great tips! Great timing for me as well, as working on getting not overexposed white backgrounds is exactly what I had been working on this past weekend. Totally dig having Seth do these videos for PPA!

[@LastXwitness]

Awesome go get it!

[@GaryHughesOfficial]

Some really great, practical tips for photographers with all kinds of equipment; nice job, Seth!

[@LastXwitness]

Thanks Gary!

[@vic_the_roman]

He did good ... He did good.

[@alexanderpons9246]

Great demonstration Seth Miranda, glad you also show how to accomplish it with2 lights!

[@LastXwitness]

There’s just endless ways to do this I went with three I felt most people will encounter with the least issues or needs

[@stewartmunrovideo]

I really enjoyed this video. I think Seth always does a great job in any video he's involved with. 10 out of 10!

[@LastXwitness]

Thank you so much. Let’s lower that bar a little no pressure right??? lol

[@JJ-fz3yd]

Thank you so much! I did not know you have so many options all with the lighting configurations.

[@LastXwitness]

With lighting the options are always endless the key is to resting all your decisions on the principles to make happen what you want to have happen. Or maybe what you didn’t expect but if you like it know how to get back there again

[@lloydterryjr.bodygraphicsphoto]

Great and informative video Seth. I just leaned about checking the background color consistancy when tethering from this video. Thanks Bro 😎📷

[@Jwitherow1964]

I like the fact about the large white umbrella for the background, that’s definitely worth the price of admission!!

[@SethCNelson]

So helpful! Thank you for making it so easy to understand a subject that is all too often overcomplicated. Love your videos, man!

[@LastXwitness]

Well it can get complicated for a lot of good reasons There’s really an infinite set of options to get a set up dialed in for commercial white and a lot of the issues can come from the variable being your environment you’re shooting in so understanding what to look for and what to do to achieve things you want is really the key and sometimes those things can get complex

[@SDA0271]

Great stuff! I always pick up some real world usable tips from your videos. I love how you break it down to the basics, step by step. Keep it coming!

[@LastXwitness]

Real world is what we really work in right?

[@rustywendlandt5160]

What a great video. Seth is always good at explaining things and having them make sense.

[@LastXwitness]

Really appreciate that thank you

[@henkkok9437]

Thank you, really appreciate the expertise, examples and matter of factness.

[@jerrym8140]

Seth nailed it with this tutorial.Perfection buddy!

[@LastXwitness]

Thank you 🙏 🫀

[@BrianKRoss101]

Seth, great demonstration! A tip I've learned over time when going for even white backgrounds in camera when tethering is you may need to correct for light falloff under your lens profile. If you find yourself troubleshooting slightly grey corners no matter how your lights are placed, or the amount of power, and you're going in circles, a slight light falloff correction for your lens profile in your tethering software may be all you need.

[@LastXwitness]

This is true it could definitely be a factor I will say some tether softwares are better than others when keeping up with lens profiles to where you might not even realize this at all if you keep things updated and I feel the key here is most people starting out need to stay up on noticing these issues while shooting instead of seeing it after the fact or never notice it and wonder why the shots look off once a client puts them on a site that has a white background showing how gray those corners are in comparison

[@JR-ro5kv]

Great video, I think I figured out why I didn’t get the results I was expecting when I used an umbrella for the background ( I didn’t think to raise it a bit). Thanks for sharing.

[@loihpatli]

Love to get some knowledge from Seth! Thx!

[@raulakis35]

Fantastic as always !! Wherever you go Seth you hit it !!!🎉🎉🎉

[@sharonvetalice1370]

Thank you for sharing great tips for lighting a white background. Your teaching style is easy to follow. Thanks

[@LastXwitness]

Glad it was helpful thank you 🙏

[@melviname4484]

Great tips! I always learn something new from you. You're a great instructor. Thanks!

[@vic_the_roman]

Best presentation I have seen out of you so far.💯Even I learned something about white backdrops today 😎I always give props to Zack Arias ( OneLight ), David Hobby ( Strobist ) and Joe Mcnally ( The Moment It Clicks ) for everything I have learned about OCF ( Of Camera Flash ) but today I give Props to you Seth ⚡. Thanks!

[@madhusoodanshimoga5725]

Thanks a ton Seth, this video cleared certain doubts that remained after watching some videos on the same subject by others. Specially taking the light meter reading hitting her head from behind to match the exposure set on camera.

[@LastXwitness]

If you don’t over expose the back based on your exposure on the front you won’t lose details to over exposure so it makes sense especially if that’s technically just the exposure for the light bounced back from the wall that’s getting hit direct which we only need to go white right? So it’s a good base point to mitigate a bunch of things at once

[@madhusoodanshimoga5725]

I agree 👍

[@ogonzilla]

Master class. 👍👍

[@LastXwitness]

No one’s ever associated me with any sort of “class” Omar. 🤪

[@JamelDeCasseres]

Nice! Thank God for light meters! I also noticed how you used the C stand to hold the reflector for the fill light. Noted!

[@pauldarville3843]

Very informational, Thanks!

[@LastXwitness]

Glad it was helpful 🙏🫀

[@ihknilsen]

I have never seen anyone meter the back of the model. I learn something new from Seth everyday!!

[@LastXwitness]

Appreciate you Ken !

[@hetsleb]

Liked and subscribed. Thanks Seth!

[@sigurdrille9693]

Perfectly explained, thank you. Now for the manual mode without TTL…😁

[@donbodat]

Awesome tutorial Seth. I look forward to the next one

[@LastXwitness]

Thank you very much. There’s so much on this channel and more coming don’t forget to poke around if you’re already subscribed

[@wendystumbaugh695]

Fantastic idea at 9:00! Love it! I’m not a huge fan of a lightmeter, so this works great for me!

[@LastXwitness]

Light meters are awesome but you may not have one in you TTL you most likely will have though. Really you’re just using your cameras light meter for a reflective metering just not a hand held one for an incident reading. Uses for both figured I’d show a method that would cover more situations for what you may have

[@calvinwerry5272]

For years, using transparency first, later digital, I used exposure of .7 stops over subject for a white background. I.e. 8.0 on subject, 8.7 for white background. Methods used in this vid are great.

[@johnyoung1606]

So Great!!!!!!!!! Learned a Lot!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Seth :) :) :)

[@geraldinebryce594]

Really enjoy you videos Thank you

[@LastXwitness]

Thank you for checking it out

[@DaveDickens-o5n]

Super Helpful!!!

[@LastXwitness]

Glad it was worthwhile thank you!

[@DonHuff]

Nice job, Seth. Thank you!

[@LastXwitness]

Thank you for swinging through 🙏

[@carlodipaolo5826]

Yes, good stuff

[@kevinnewcomen2747]

Top notch presentation.

[@LastXwitness]

Glad you found it worthwhile thank you

[@nelsono4315]

I think it was Dean Collins that said 3 times brighter than 18% grey is white without detail. Love the video

[@ronin5th]

Excellent. thanks

[@LastXwitness]

🙏🫀🙏

[@pattymattes7124]

Very helpful!!! I suppose one could bring some white foam core board for a background if no white wall. Then there are tradeoffs depending on the size of it. I didn't know about metering the back of the head. I always learn something new from you. Thank you!!!

[@LastXwitness]

As a guy that’s gotta hop on a train to get somewhere. Brining a big piece of foam core and hoping it stays pristine just isn’t realistic lol. The umbrella background set up is a more practical and controllable set up .. or a 53” roll of white paper isn’t the hardest thing to get around with either but yes like I said there’s infinite ways to pull off a white background

[@pattymattes7124]

@@LastXwitness Always love your tutorials!!!

[@donwhite332]

Great presentation, well explained.

[@Adorama]

💙

[@ourPPA]

💖💖

[@henrycartier]

Great breakdown! About the white umbrella as background, I use a medium/large softbox instead. In my case the Elinchrom 135 is a perfect fit for headshots. Then I don't have to worry about the flashhead and stand. I also make sure that the very middle of the softbox is not directly behind the models face, that gives uneven rimlight due to a subtle hotspot (most of it on the neck which isn't that good looking IMO). So I either keep the middle raised above head or lowered towards the back (I usually raise it). The 135 is big enough to have that wiggle room. But then again, it's a matter of taste. Also I try to underexpose the backdrop just a tad (around 245-250-ish) and then add a preset in LR/C1 to raise only the background with the fancy AI tools we get these days :-)

[@LastXwitness]

Yea like I said in the beginning there’s almost infinite ways to achieve white backgrounds and they all have subtleties as well. Choose your style and see who gravitates to it as an audience

[@isoawe1888]

Glad to know that I’m not the only person Shooting TTL with a light meter in my back pocket.

[@LastXwitness]

It’s all just tools 🤷‍♂️better to have on hand then not

[@AaronAubreyPhoto]

Interesting way to meter the back of the head.. I'll have to try that! One thing I've always done on white BG setups is to take a photo with just the BG lights, and have the key light off.. You can then look at the edges of your subjects hair and clothing for ghosting.. I like to get their silhouette crisp, and then dial in the key light. If I remember correctly, I learned this technique from Zack Arias.

[@LastXwitness]

Yea again infinite ways to get it In this method if you start with the light on your subject metered then you know where your threshold for the back of the subject is. So f8 front f8 back and that back of subject exposure is metering a bounced light thus thus the direct light hitting the white will def be over exposed in comparison giving you pure commercial white sooo I just felt this method mitigates a few things at once and also shows things to look for . If you’re no experienced balancing I feel you can get in a sand trap of starting with the back lights since all you need is white back there not a exposure to show something in frame where as the key light exposure gives you a base point for the entire set up to fall into line which is a more crucial exposure than anything else in the frame . This also changes based on the conditions of the environment like how much distance you have the luxury of working with or in my case having to deal with an all white room bouncing light everywhere pushing your sanity over the edge when you’re looking for more control. lol

[@AaronAubreyPhoto]

@@LastXwitness Yee!! I generally don't meter unless I'm shooting on white. I found that when doing the method of metering your white BG about 2/3 to a stop over what is on your subject, you can get that ghosting due to all those factors of the environment you talked about..I just always tried to tweak and find my way to where I wanted to be by getting a sharp silhouette of my subject first, while keeping my BG 255 white. Sometimes I'd be more than a stop over, sometimes 2/3 of a stop. But I really see where you're coming from in metering the back of the subject to match what you're putting onto them. I'm definitely going to give your method a go next time!!

[@fabiosteller]

I first set up the fill light 1&2/3 stops down, then the key light. That way I am not overexposing the skin tones and nice shadows.

[@isoawe1888]

And the sandbag … no problem. Daniel already warned us 🤪😂

[@em1016]

Today's word "NUCLEAR" thank you

[@LastXwitness]

Every cinematic scene with a Nuke ends up fading to white at some point right? lol. Thank you 🙏

[@JeahnLaffitte]

I don’t have an Ashley. Can I substitute a Jenny?

[@LinnyRaven]

Is the model called Miranda?

[@twinbehindthelens]

I’m pretty sure I met this guy at Adorama earlier this year lol cool ass dude

[@ourPPA]

One of the best! 💙

[@Jwitherow1964]

I am like a file of corn! All ears, Mr. merranda. Can you help me with gels for background my gels never shows up as good as I would like them to.

[@isoawe1888]

Thanks Seth. Another great video. Tried to send you a couple hundred bucks for your work , but, alas, this old man couldn’t get through “ buy me a coffee”. After 4 attempts, still ran into issues. Pretty sure it’s my fault, but, I’m only willing to work so hard to give money away.

[@LastXwitness]

Don’t sweat it lol appreciate the support. Free comments go a long way keep in mind how much goes into producing content and without engagement it goes into a void so appreciate you telling the algorithms you feel it’s worthwhile

[@stevesmith581]

Still don’t know why you feel the need to use TTL..! Just set your aperture, set you power and boom…!!! 100% consistent exposure. The distance between the model and the light aren’t changing so why add a ttl ‘algorithm’ to potentially get it wrong.?

[@rokg12]

f8,0 8 is almost f11 (just 2/10 off)

[@motorvelo]

I’d probably use a slightly longer lens too so that the nose wasn’t disproportionately large

[@lumosone858]

Thank you, but for my taste the background is still to bright...look at the earrings.. I would use the light meter at the wall, not at the back of the model. 254/254/254 is good enough. It save contrast and the wall is white, but not like a bounce card. This is how I work. Maybe I'm wrong. Great model. Thank you again.

[@Jwitherow1964]

I am like a file of corn! All ears, Mr. merranda. Can you help me with gels for background my gels never shows up as good as I would like them to.