How to Light a Seamless White Backdrop on YouTube
Shooting against a seamless white backdrop can create the impression of infinite space and add instant production value to any YouTube video. The trick to lighting a seamless white backdrop is to light uniformly across the white surface and slightly overexpose it compared to your subject. If you do not add enough light, you will create shadows that will ruin the illusion and add endpoints to your seamless background.
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Instructions
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Unroll your seamless white paper roll, creating a seamless stretch from the ground to the roof.
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Place two of your production lights on both sides of the background at about a 45-degree angle. These lights can be anything from 400- to 750-watt tungsten or HMI production lights to Kino Flo lights, which create a soft uniform background. Whichever lights you use, they should both be the same.
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Place another two lights in front of your subject. These will be your key and fill lights. The key light, your main subject light, should be placed off to the side and slightly above your subject. Place the fill light, which is less intense than your key, on the opposite side of the subject and slightly below to fill in any shadows created by the key light. Good lights to use for the key and fill include a soft box and a smaller soft box or umbrella light, but any combination of lights will do.
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Use the light meter to set exposure for the background so that it is 1.5 stops above the subject lighting. For example, if the main light on the subject reads f8, then the background should have a reading of f11.5 and the back of the subject should have a reading of f8. If the background has the same reading as the subject, it will come out underexposed. If the background and back of the subject are too hot, it will wash out the subject.
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References
- Photo Credit Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
