smooth white background?

[Kellidascope82]

I use sheets as my backgrounds and so far black is the only one that comes out well. How do I get a clean smooth background using a white sheet. I own photshop cs3 and was wondering if I could use that to get the look that I want without it looking fake and that my subject is "floating".

Thanks.

[navcom]

The best way to get smooth white backgrounds is to use a roll of white background paper versus a sheet. About the only way I can think of doing it with a sheet without tons of PP is to position your subject quite a distance in front of the background and use a good telephoto lens which will produce a narrow depth of field, blurring your background.

Hope that helps!

[oldwolf]

You don't need to post process. Meter for the background and/or set up a flash to expose the background.

Easiest way to do it is to take a picture and figure out what shutter speed you need to get the background completely white/smooth. After you figure that out then put your model in front of it and take a picture adjusting your f/stop until the model is exposed correctly. You'll have more success if you have a flash though.

Just remember, shutter speed controls ambient light and f/stop controls the model's exposure.

[SusanH1970]

Aside from the other advice given here (which is great and I will also keep in mind) is that with white backgrounds, sometimes you need to light the background itself to show it's true color. Or, meter off the white BG. Over exposure compensation may work, as well.

In PP, it's easy to make a dark background look pitch black. Not so much to make a white background look white.