I hate to hit you with the importance of Mentors but I am. One of my Mentors, Art Ketchum once told me “You aren’t sh!t” if you can’t shoot white on white and keep the integrity of the clothing. Do THAT and hell, I’ll say you’re good”

Of course after he said that, I went out and tried to shoot white on white. It was then that I found it to be more difficult than just throwing light everywhere like I always say. I had to pay attention to what I was doing and it was then that I discovered if I make the backdrop lights lower power than the key, I have more flexibility! Now when I teach workshops or even mention this here on my blog people think I’ve lost my mind. Trust me, I haven’t.

Give it a try! These photos were set to the following: Backdrop lights @ f/8 and key at f/11. This works because light is reflective meaning the backdrop lights will take care of what they do but won’t really reach up front to the subject depending how far away from the drop they are.

I’ve included a photo of the images in their RAW status so you can see what they look light right out of the camera. It has been years since I’ve touched a white backdrop to specifically get it white. This is one of those “get it right in camera” things I agree with.

The model is Alyssa and she’s a dancer. The thing I LOVE about shooting dancers? I don’t talk during the shoot. I often say “Good thing the music is up loud! Why? cause if it wasn’t, with as many flashes as I’ve taken, it’d be weird hearing *heavy breathing/panting/*click*/heavy breathing/panting/*click*” Works great and gets them to relax.