Taking a digital photo of an image and getting white bground

Hi,
I would like to know if anyone has any experience of taking photos of products to put on a website.
I need to take some photos of shoes, where the company does not supply images, is there a special way to get the perfect white background?
I have tried using white paper as background but it still comes out greyish, and i need pure white.
Any hints, tips for this would be much appreciated.

 

Tweak your color balance manually in your camera. If shooting inside use "full spectrum" 5000K+ bulbs for the lighting. Don't use the flash and use white cloth instead of paper for less reflection of the background.

You can also tweak the colors in your graphics program though I don't recall which one you adjust.

Some combination of the above will get you the shot you want.

 

Nice, thanks that should be just the ticket.

 

I have a really cheap quick trick for you.

Shoot outside! What's happening here is that you do not have enough light and or the color temperature of your light source is off (yes, also the settings on your camera must be set to daylight balance if you are shooting in daylight). I'm not sure where you're located so the strength of the sun is different all around the world but if you wait for a somewhat cloudy day (to diffuse harsh sunlight) or photograph in early morning when it's not too bright out this will work. Be careful to not shoot under trees (you'll get a green overcast) or too close to a building that is painting anything other than white or gray (again, color cast).

A cloudy/overcast day is the perfect natural light box!

Do you have many products to shoot over many weeks? If you do then this is not practical and you'll need to buy/rent a light source. If you're located near Chicago/New York you can rent lights as well.

Does this help???

Kimberly

 

yeah shoot outside on a white background, and adjust levels in photoshop if its still alittle grey

 

i WOULD GIVE 5/5 FOR THAT REPLY !!!! DAY SUNLIGHT IS THE BEST WAY TO CAPTURE IMAGE WITH SUPER WHITE TEXTURE !!!!
AND IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED USE PHOTOSHOP CS3 OR ANY OTHER SOFTWARE WHICH HAVE WHITE BALANCE....
YOU CAN MAKE THE PICTURE QUALITY BETTER IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE SOME GRAPHIC SOLUTION

HOPE YOU HAVE IDEA TO MAKE IT BETTER

 

A good tip for someone who needs a light box: Ikea sells white plastic boxes that can be used -
just put 2 large lights next to them, a large piece of white paper in it, and you have a good diffusing lightbox.
Ideal for shooting small (reflecting) things.
Once the lights are cooled off you can store them in the plastic box itself

Further check the manual of your camera , if you can set a manual whitebalance or select a correct preset.
If possible on your camera shoot in raw format instead of jpeg and set the whitebalance later in editing.. that's how pros do it.

 

You might also try this. In photoshop use your magic background eraser. Duplicate your background image then add a lalyer inbetween, fill with white. On the top layer use the MBE as long as there are no hot spots near the edges you should be good to go. flatten the image and save.

 

a white sheet?
a white wall?
check your lighting?
a canvas?
basically something hard and white