NG - White Background Macro Photography

[masonsklut]

In a recent issue of National Geographic Magazine (February 2010), there is a section "One Cubic Foot", which displayed a magnificent selection of close-ups of ocean/land creatures with a pure white background. Some of these animals were in water when they were photographed. How can these macro pictures have such a perfect white background? Using Photoshop would take way too long, so what made this effect?

Thanks,
Mason

[masonsklut]

Does anyone have any possible ideas? I would appreciate some feedback.

[peeperita]

my first guess is that the creatures have been cut and pasted onto a white background.....

i say that because my husband and i have been in the pet trade for years and i can compare the natural size of these creatures against what is depicted in the image.....there's a trigger fish on the bottom that's the same size as the blue damsel and i know that not to be true.....the trigger is generally much larger....

so, anyway.....my guess is cut and paste...

peeper

[masonsklut]

Thanks. I just didn't think even with Photoshop, it would be possible to clean up a background so well. Maybe it's just the fact I am too impatient to work in Photoshop for long periods of time.

[wulf]

If the background is fairly light, it isn't too tricky to clean up a background. Compared to making a famous person look slim and smooth skinned (a common operation) it is relatively straightforward so I imagine that a tool like Photoshop probably was pressed into service for each and every picture.

Wulf

[Qanths]

It's not too hard to put a subject on a white background in photoshop all you have to do is quick select it and copy paste it to a white background. It might be hard if the animals have really thin tentacles, but all it takes is a max of 30mins with a 1 pixel quick select brush.

[aprillove20]

I'm agree with Qanths opinion.

[petren]

This is a real challenge. i have been fiddling with it for years and still dont have it right. my main expertise is in photographing for my opalmine site which requires macro work all the time. Its easier if you take the pics against a velvet black background if you can control the light source effectively, but some opals and jewelry need a white background. If you photograph them with a nice clean white sheet of paper that is as smooth as possible, without being shiny (in other words 'mat') you will get the best results. But even that, with a top quality macro camera and white fluero lighting, the background is still grey. You can lighten the grey using lighten and contrast options in your graphics program, or cleaning up the image manuarlly, or cutting and pasting it into a white background, but so far i have not found a way of doing it with just the camera. The editing options in paint programs take away from the natural background look and unless you spend a lot of time, the edges always look suspicious. But if anyone has more knowledge on this subject than me, i would love to hear from you. Best wishes Peter Brusaschi

[i speak in math]

Here's a macro that did on pure white background. I used a piece of paper and shot the fly when he landed on it. Its easy enough to make pure white in this situation



Here's a similar setup, but this one isn't quite white. I could have made it white with a few minutes of PS