Photographing with a white background

[Ext User(Wolf)]

Hi all
Need expert advice.
Using Pannasonic FZ30 set on Auto.(Have tried manual settings)

I photograph an object on a white background then edit it in PS.
The white background is an A4 sheet of inkjet photo paper ( as white as I
can find).

No matter which method I use - outdoors/lightbbox/outdoor shade, I cannot
get a a background that is basically white.
I get grey/mild purples or other variations. Even after manipulating
"levels" the white result is not what I would expect.

Apprecaite any advice or guidance, or any online tutorials.

Cheers

[Ext User(John Phillips)]

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:10:52 GMT "Wolf" <Wolf@home.com> wrote:

> Apprecaite any advice or guidance, or any online tutorials.

Can you set Exposure Compensation in that model camera at all?

[Ext User(Wolf)]

Hi
Not that I'm aware of

"John Phillips" <flatulantdingo@deadspam.com> wrote in message
news:20071119193807.0b85a6fd@linux-k6os.site...
> On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:10:52 GMT "Wolf" <Wolf@home.com> wrote:
>
>> Apprecaite any advice or guidance, or any online tutorials.
>
> Can you set Exposure Compensation in that model camera at all?

[Ext User(Poxy)]

Wolf wrote:
> Hi all
> Need expert advice.
> Using Pannasonic FZ30 set on Auto.(Have tried manual settings)
>
> I photograph an object on a white background then edit it in PS.
> The white background is an A4 sheet of inkjet photo paper ( as white
> as I can find).
>
> No matter which method I use - outdoors/lightbbox/outdoor shade, I
> cannot get a a background that is basically white.
> I get grey/mild purples or other variations. Even after manipulating
> "levels" the white result is not what I would expect.

A friend bought an FZ-30 based on how people raved about the FZ-20. Apart
from being noisy, it does a terrible job judging exposure in "difficult"
conditions, and subsequently gets the white balance horribly wrong, leaving
a cyan/green cast over the image - in my friend's case, these were photos
taken at the snow, which sounds very similar to your "white background".
They found that just using the "Auto" button in Photoshop's levels dialogue
improved things a lot, but their little Canon P&S takes far better photos in
similar situations.

I've played with the FZ-30 and am frankly unimpressed - harsh, oversharp,
noisy images, problematic exposure metering no matter which mode you select,
and unpleasant colour casts.

[Ext User(Douglas)]

"Wolf" <Wolf@home.com> wrote in message
news:f3d0j.14587$CN4.6151@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Hi
> Not that I'm aware of
>
> "John Phillips" <flatulantdingo@deadspam.com> wrote in message
> news:20071119193807.0b85a6fd@linux-k6os.site...
>> On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:10:52 GMT "Wolf" <Wolf@home.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Apprecaite any advice or guidance, or any online tutorials.
>>
>> Can you set Exposure Compensation in that model camera at all?
>
>
You can set a custom function for the SCN mode which allows you to make some
exposure decisions automatically. Also you need to set the metering to spot
metering. The way you are describing what is happening, you are metering off
the background. You need to meter on the object only. That way the
background will be blown out if you have a medium to dark object, which is
what you what.

Other method is to read the manual. It describes how to meter on the centre
spot and how to set the custom functions for various scene (SCN) modes. They
call them point & shoot but they are more complicated to set up than most
DSLRs.

Douglas

[Ext User(k)]

"Wolf" <Wolf@home.com> wrote in message
news:gyb0j.14552$CN4.4218@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
| Hi all
| Need expert advice.
| Using Pannasonic FZ30 set on Auto.(Have tried manual settings)
|
| I photograph an object on a white background then edit it in PS.
| The white background is an A4 sheet of inkjet photo paper ( as white as I
| can find).
|
| No matter which method I use - outdoors/lightbbox/outdoor shade, I cannot
| get a a background that is basically white.
| I get grey/mild purples or other variations. Even after manipulating
| "levels" the white result is not what I would expect.
|
| Apprecaite any advice or guidance, or any online tutorials.

meter off a grey card (or failing that, a sheet of newsprint) and lock the
exposure to that.. or note the meter reading and set it manually to that.
Unfortunately the algorithm within the camera can still mangle the white to
whatever it was programmed to do so you may have to fiddle a bit..


an exercise we'd give the students with film was to shoot against a *grey*
background and make it

A. black in the final print
B. white in the final print

by modifying lighting,


and again but by modifying exposure and development

it was a good exercise