I've been really impressed by Scratchs white background shots so thought I'd have a go;



The white was a bit too grey so photoshop had to do a bit much to get things white. I guess I need to play with exposure compensation to sort that out. The white also has a gradient so only blends in to the page at the bottom, do I need to sort that with the lighting or is it best to use photoshop trickery (layer masks and the like)?

Any help greatfully received - Cheers Steve

Hi Steve, only just noticed this. As you know, with Photoshop, there's always about 10 ways to skin a cat. Best starting point though... as always is to get it as close as you can with the original image from the camera. Easier said than done though - rarely, if ever does the camera reproduce pure white (255 in Photshop's tonal range) when we want it to. Even with a custom white balance set, and serious attention to detail and exposure etc, we're lucky to get as close as 250; even 252/253 is enough to stand out against pure white. As long as we get in that ball-park though, we can then tweak in photoshop without the adjustment compromising the rest of the tones too much.

I rarely need to use layers to achieve the pure white background for this kind of shot - setting the white balance on the RAW, then a couple of tweaks to the Jpeg or TIFF or whatever in PS usually does the trick.

Try messing with your white point tool in 'Curves' or 'Levels' for starters. And don't forget to make use of a soft-edge brush, selecting pure white, and a 50/50 opacity/flow.

Hope this helps mate.

__________________
Too much Saturn, not enough Moon.

Buzzers 2012


Fly Clips & Stands

That's what I use - quickest fix for most situations. Select white point dropper, select in pic the "darkest" white area, bingo!.

__________________

Rob,

Thanks for the reply, I’m a bit embarrassed to be honest because it probably took you more effort to respond than it did for me to take the picture, it really was a quick snap without much thought (I didn’t even use any bracketing).

I used the white dropper in the levels tool to get the background mainly white because it was decidedly grey to begin with; it’s still very grey around the fly.

I’ll have another go tonight, this time putting a bit more thought and effort in!

Incidentally I was looking at a DSLR at the weekend (EOS 500D), but I would struggle to justify the cost, especially when you add in a decent macro lens - I appreciate that it’s technique that makes the biggest difference anyway.

If I do talk myself (and more importantly the wife) into it I get the impression that a cheaper body + better lens would be a better combo than expensive body and cheap lens – does that make sense?

Good demo noeyedeer, I shy away from the curves tool a bit because the slightest slip and everything goes a bit Andy Warhol, I’ll give it a whirl, but stick to the droppers not the actual curve.

Cheers for the help - Steve

Perfect sense mate




Do a 'Photoshop Curves' search on Youtube mate.... loadsa tutorials The trick with curves is to get a thorough understanding of what the 'curve' actually represents, and does.... then go easy - a slight 'S' curve invariably lifts an image. The Black,Grey and White points are very useful too.

__________________
Too much Saturn, not enough Moon.

Buzzers 2012


Fly Clips & Stands

The fly composition isn't great this time, but happy with the background!



Cheers for the help gents.