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Getting your white seamless background paper to be a bright white can be tricky. Too little light and your white background will be gray. Too much light and your image will be overexposed.

However, once you find the right settings for your camera and your studio lights, you can achieve a pleasing, bright white effect.

The key to getting that bright white look is properly lighting your background. I find that seamless background paper works best because it is free of wrinkles and blemishes. It is also fairly inexpensive.

Take a look at the diagram below (click for larger image):

Another good tip is to use plexiglass underneath your subject. This will cause additional light to bounce up and help light the lower half of your subject, giving a pleasing result. You can usually find plexiglass at your local glass dealer or home improvement store.

It is best to just play around with your camera and light settings until you find the ones that work best. For me, here is a rundown of my equipment and settings:

Canon 20D set to 250 and 13
Alien Bees B800 with softbox for main light at 1/4 power
Alien Bees B800 with umbrella for fill light at 1/8 power
2 Alien Bees B800's pointed at background approx. 1 stop brighter than main light.

Here is an image using this setup:

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