Portrait image with a white background is perfect for company portraits, school photo portraits and other portraits where several people are to be photographed and presented in the same place on the web or other media. A white photo background gives the images a unison impression and simplifies photography, especially if photography will take place on several occasions over time.
We show you how to take nice portrait pictures with a white background with two light sources and a reflector screen.
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Simple setup for corporate portrait with white background only requires two flashes and reflective screen. With the right equipment and carefully placed light sources, post-editing is minimal or non-existent.
As a main light, an octa-shaped softbox with a size of 100 cm to 135 cm fits perfectly. The main light is placed high, obliquely in front of the subject, which means that reflections in any glasses are avoided. A reflective screen is placed on the opposite side of the subject to lighten up the shadow side. Both main light and reflector screen have an angle of about 45° to the subject. Tip! Use the Manfrotto HaloCompact reflector screen that can be easily mounted on a ball joint tripod.
For the background to be completely white, a light source must be dedicated for this. Place a flash behind the subject, aimed at the background. With an Elinchrom studio flash, the flash can be used without a reflector or with a wide-angle reflector. The design of the flash provides a very wide and even spread of light. If a flash with a narrow light angle is used, the background flash is used and the subject is moved further from the background so that unwanted vignetting is avoided.
If there is no white wall to add there are several portable options to add. Manfrotto has white foldable fabric backgrounds that are easy to transport and use in any environment. Alternatively, white background paper is used on roll with a width of 1.35 m or 2.72 m, which in combination with the background stand set becomes a flexible solution.
When shooting with studio flashes, the camera should always be set to manual exposure, a fixed ISO number and preferably manual white balance. Lenses with a wide aperture around 85 mm to 100 mm provide a nice perspective and a suitable shooting distance.Set the camera's shutter speed to 1/125 sec and ISO 100. For portrait photography with a plain or white background, the f/8 aperture is perfect.
When using more than one light source, always start by activating only one light source and set it to the desired effect. Then add the other light sources to be used during the photography.
Start by taking a picture of the background with just the background flash on. Keep an eye on your histogram so that it is almost, but not completely, flat and that the light doesn't shine over the edges of the subject.Then adjust the power of the main light so that the exposure is correct for the aperture selected, in this case f/8. Fine-tune the position of the flash to achieve the desired lighting and then align the reflector so that the shadow side of the subject is slightly lightened.
Here you will find the equipment you need for portrait photography with a white background.