How to get pure white backgrounds

Give studio shots the professional look with Lightroom’s new masking tools

- Sean McCormack

The white background – a must for LinkedIn headshots and Amazon products – is a Holy Grail for new studio photographers. Lighting a background to pure white in the studio, though, can mean that the background itself becomes a light source. You can get blowback, where the edges of your subject fade into white and lose all edge detail. It takes time to perfect – and when you’ve a lot of headshots or products to shoot, that can mean a lot of additional work. Fortunately, Lightroom’s new Masking tool can help.

For the best results, use a white background and position the subject close to it. You may perceive the background as white at this point, but really it’s light grey – and your aim is pure white. Use a soft light for the subject, but try to avoid having too much visible shadow.

Generally speaking, you should do the bulk of your colour and tonal edits before tackling the masking, as this is the order in which Lightroom processes the file.