DarkSlide 0 Posted February 22, 2017 I’ve been reading Kenny J’s post from 23.12.15. regarding white background shots with a slight bluish tint. It has made me think about my experience with the type of background used in cubelites,being very patchy as regards colour balance anyway. I can never get them to register say,250/250/250 all over. There are areas that are 250/250/249 or similar. Is this ok for submission? Or do they have to be 250/250/250 or 255/255/255 throughout? Would I be better with coloured backgrounds. Do they sell? I only have PSE so no pen tool to isolate backgrounds, and I find the magic wand too imprecise especially when there is white in the subject matter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Betty LaRue 2,646 Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) If you use Photoshop, you can create a layer, then fill it with pale blue. Then use the opacity slider to further reduce the amount of blue to suit. At this point, you take a hard brush with foreground in black, and brush the effect off the subject. This works with products that have clean lines but difficult with things like hair, feathers, fuzzy edges, and so forth. But with most products, they have clean lines. Betty Edit spellchecker mess. Grrr. Edited February 22, 2017 by Betty LaRue 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wiskerke 2,928 Posted February 22, 2017 Or select all white areas and decrease saturation. wim 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DarkSlide 0 Posted February 23, 2017 But will they fail a white background that doesn't colour balance exactly? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Ashmore 1,103 Posted February 23, 2017 But will they fail a white background that doesn't colour balance exactly? You could always do a search on alamy.com for 'white background' and see what you think... there are some 63k results so hopefully they will give you an idea! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Betty LaRue 2,646 Posted February 23, 2017 But will they fail a white background that doesn't colour balance exactly? I have quite a few isolated images, and the only thing that has ever brought a fail is when I forgot to inspect at 100% and there was a dim dust bunny. Don't obsess, just make sure the BGs are clean and reasonably bright. I shoot raw, and always use the white balance dropper to get any color correction needed. Betty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DarkSlide 0 Posted February 26, 2017 Thanks for all the replies, they really helped. D. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David_Buzzard 16 Posted February 26, 2017 Take a wide, soft Photoshop brush and just paint out the background in white. Done and done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M.Chapman 1,394 Posted February 26, 2017 But will they fail a white background that doesn't colour balance exactly? They won't fail but if the white has a slight colour cast it will look rather amateurish. Remember you work for a professional market expecting professional quality. Cheers, Philippe Agreed, especially as it's not too difficult to achieve in PS. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DarkSlide 0 Posted March 1, 2017 Just out of interest should your backgrounds be 255 or 250,245 etc.? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David_Buzzard 16 Posted March 2, 2017 Pick a pure white, 255, 255, 255 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bryan 12,692 Posted March 2, 2017 From memory, and it's a while since I did this, but when making cutouts I seem to recall just deleting the background. Will try Philippe's technique for accurate selection next time I do this, I normally use the pen tool at high magnification. Maybe a combination of the two? Nobody has mentioned a drop shadow as yet - forgotten how to do that, but a quick Google will no doubt reveal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DarkSlide 0 Posted March 5, 2017 Again, thanks for the input guys. D. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
