Stopholt

Three ways to light a white set

Clean white, soft grey and a white that reads as a room: the same backdrop, three setups and what each one costs in time.

A white backdrop is three different backdrops depending on how much light reaches it. Before a shoot we agree which one we are making, because it changes the lighting plan and the time it takes.

Clean white

Two lights on the background, a stop over the subject, and the subject far enough forward that the spill does not wrap them. It is the e-commerce look and it needs the most space.

A photographer in a mustard sweater shooting a seated man on a white set.
ONSETW 02ADemo photo: Vitaly Gariev
Large octabox key, background lit separately.

Soft grey

Turn the background lights off and let the key fall away. The same white paper goes grey behind the subject, and the portrait gains depth for no extra time at all.

White as a room

Open the windows and let daylight do it. The backdrop reads as a wall in a room, not as paper, which is often what a brand means when it says it wants something natural.

A photographer shooting a woman in a leather jacket and white skirt against a white wall.
ONSETW 03ADemo photo: Vitaly Gariev
Daylight and one softbox: the white reads as a wall.