Lighting White Seamless Pt. 1 

9 years later, still the best white seamless tutorial. Thanks Zack.

The white seamless tutorial on your blog was really helpful for me and now this is like a hundred times better than that. The high quality makes me think I should be paying for this, but as a student with a very limited budget I really appreciate the fact that I don't have to. Thanks, Zack!

So far,this is the best video on how to make white background in RU-vid. I know this took years for you to learn it and you just shared it for free. Excellent, Thank you!!

Zack, no one has explained the process with this amount of detail and understanding. You are truly masterful sir.

Your tag line 'more signal, less noise' applies to this video a 100%. Great explanation of how this stuff works and great demo of all of the different configurations. Such quality work. Keep it up.

Literally the only white seamless background tutorial that anybody ever needs to watch! Your voice is also soothing and clear and your speech is so accurate and well paced. Great video editing too.

I literally logged into RU-vid just so I could like and subscribe to this guy. Outstanding video- if only all RU-vid videos were held up to this standard.

This is neither the best tut video, nor the best tutor BUT the VERY BEST of both! Oh thanks guys and Page for sharing it!

dear Zack i hope you get to read this, i am photographer in my country Bolivia I built my studio following you instructions, I can work in what i love thanks to you

Oh my goodness!! I have been searching tirelessly on how I can get my boutique's photos with a full length white background and you are the first to guide me in a way I can do it! Thank you!

Hybrid photographer videographer trying to accomplish high key background for video and photo. I had many questions as to what equipment to purchase continuous lighting strobes speed-lights soft-boxes umbrellas, like scramble eggs in my head. After all my research and watching many other videos Finally came across this video best explained video on the subject of High Key or seamless background…Thank you for sharing Zack…

I’ve watched this video 5 or 6 times already. This is the most helpful video I’ve ever seen on RU-vid. Thank you!

Hey Zack, I just wanted to let you know since i first saw you guessed on DigitalRevTV, That I've been hooked to your Teachings and Style. You are one of my Inspirations to keep pursuing my love of Photography. Thank you! and I know you will keep showing us great contents. Cheers!

Ace photographer, master educator and all round good guy Zack Arias takes his original blogpost on lighting a white seamless background, which in itself was awesome, and totally grinds it into the dust with a SUPERB new video production spanning two parts and delivers what is surely a photographic masterclass on using off camera flash to get the classic all-white seamless look. This is part 1 of 2 and covers space considerations, theory, set up, lighting types/ratios, controlling light spill, problem solving etc as well as how to easily and quickly alter the scene at will to produce non-white backgrounds, all through the clever manipulation of lighting. Running at almost half an hour per episode it's truly a great way to learn how to pull this technique off in camera, with almost zero photoshop required except some basic cleaning up in post and elevate those photography skills to a whole new level. Oh, and this is totally FREE education by the way which deserves massive respect to the guy and his team. If you're new to or feel intimidated by the thought of using off camera flash (as God surely intended us to do) then I'd recommend you to head on over to the DEDPXL website for more enlightenment. Zack's One LIght education material is about the best there is and after recently purchasing it during the 7DayDeal offer that ran a while back I'd have to say, it has helped me massively get to grips with lighting in my own photography and boosted my confidence and knowledge beyond measure. Highly recommended. Enjoy ;) #education #lighting #offcameraflash #strobist #zackarias #seamless #dedpxl #LightingWeek

This is one of the most clear, most helpful tutorials I've ever seen. It's just what the doctor ordered. I'm amazed you're offering this for free because it could've easily been charged for. Subscribed.

BEST! white background tutorial i have ever seen, imposible not understand it, thanks zack, you are the best!

Extremely helpful... I searched all over for a tutorial and until i found you, nothing as thorough came up.... Thank you so much.

couple years old now but holy hell, this was informative. I just starting moving into more strobe and studio work, and this has to be one of the best videos i've come across for advice. thanks!!!

I like the way and method of your teaching, very clear and easy to understand. It's goes the saying a great teacher imparts knowledge flawlessly. Thank you so much.

This is by far the most educational video on lighting theory, explained visually. Thank you!

This was the best explanation I've ever seen concerning the subject. You sir are an amazing teacher. Thank you

I'm shooting on a white seamless tomorrow and needed a few pointers so you posted this at the perfect time! And this is great!

Thank you. Best tutorial I've watched to help me understand lighting and white background shoots.

Excellent tutorial. It's so helpful to see these demonstrations in order to fully grasp the behavior of light. Thanks Zack.

Such a great way to explain and demonstrate all the inter-dependencies between light power, distance and exposure. This makes me question the habit of taking a reading of the strobe and exposing for that reading. It makes one parameter absolute and I see in this video that you are playing with the three of them in a relative fashion...

You are without a doubt my favorite youtube instructor. Thanks for your time and for sharing your knowledge. Cheers from Mexico

This is one of the best tutorial videos I've ever seen.

This really is the best video showing how lights affect the scene. The explanation and real time examples are very helpful. Even if I could make this setup before, now i truly understand how it works.

Very very nice Lighting Class!!! I wish I could have a video light, I mean, like this some years ago… How much money and time I’ve spent learning all this and you’ve perfectly summarized in less than 25min!!

Wow, thank you, this video is the best description I have seen on describing how to properly light a white background, understanding exposure and properly lighting the talent. I have learnt so much from this video and it has helped me fine tune my lighting in the right way for better results. Thanks again for a really outstanding educational video

Now this is what I call a proper video on lighting. Very useful, thank you.

Again, best video I've seen with regards white background. Been struggling to correctly light my home made infinity/cycloramic white room. Cannot thank you enough for how perfect and detailed this video was taking us through all the steps and how to manipulate light in these settings!

This is one of the best explanations of using white seamless I have seen. I have been researching for a while and this is extremely helpful. Thank You!!!! I am now a fan and subscriber

Thank you for the response on the flashes,stay safe enjoy the upcoming weekend

Best video on youtube on how to do this. You are a good teacher and I loved the detailed explanations.

"And into the shadows she goes..." LOL!! Great video and approach to teaching this subject!!!

You're just a killer teacher! Great great idea to show this with video lights and a continous aperture lens. The info in the video is old but the way you teach it is the future and I can't wait to see the rest of Lighting Week!

Thank you for reminding me why I always preferred the white. Now I can go back to it.

Woww. I just saw this out of curiosity of white backgrounds. now i want to study photography after you showed me how photography is simply about getting LIGHT right. cheers

one of the best and most meticulous tutorial on white background. Love to see how the light changes as you vidotape and turn strobe lights on and off. Luckily my studio is an old barn, I don't have to worry about side or top...and the split screen was great!!! I photograph animals and always working with black, white, tan fur and want to get animal and backdrop perfectly.

Richard Avedon work is a best example how white backdrop can make a portrait truly dramatic. Interesting enough he achieved this kind of look even with just natural light. Great portrait doesn't have to be tack sharp, but emotionally engaging. Nothing wrong though with using strobes.

Wow! This has got to be one of the most easy to follow, professionally shot free tutorial I've seen to date on explaining the whole white and black background theory. I can't thank you enough and wholeheartedly can't explain just how helpful this has been 🙏🙏 I'm very excited to see what else you continue to bring in the future

Thank you, Zack, for a comprehensive explanation, I felt pity for Paige when her eyes got exposed to harsh light I appreciate her efforts and blessings to the boys who operated the lights.

Thank you so much the video you shared us! It helps me a lot especially with that small white till panel idea!

Really awesome video. My five-year-old is also called Caleb so was very happy to watch this.

Very detailed and informative content. Thanks for sharing.

Great video, extraordinary teaching skills my man. Also wanted to say I REALLY dig your DEDPXL intro and branding, really nailed it!

Zack will you please host all tutorial videos and gear reviews on the internet? Thanks for this great freebie. I love learning from you. Wish I would have found your stuff years earlier. Wonderful production as well. You guys leave in all the best "extra" stuff. I'm a big fan.

thanks, thanks for taking the time to describe the exact board to lay on the floor. I have several books and I've viewed tutorials that just say get plexiglass without anymore info. It was worth watching this just for that nugget of ino.

Back in the 1980s, I learned how to do this on Savage Thunder Gray seamless paper. Our teachers made Thunder Gray go completely white to middle gray to absolutely black, We were god-smacked amazed. In order for us to see our results, we used Polaroid backs on 4 x 5 cameras. It was easier to get nice light hot spots with smooth gradients on the background for separations for the subject with thunder gray. It was also very important to learn how to make colors do exactly the same thing on the same color background. Light blue was turned to dark blues. Light red was turned to dark reds etc etc etc... It was not possible to know what the original background color was once you really learned how to control light in the studio.

Thanks for addressing the space issues right from the bat. Sadly tile board doesn't exist in Australia. Keep up the amazing teaching Zack Arias

thanks for going to hardware store and giving us exactly the correct item, that was especially appreciated. So much stuff at Home Depot...then, when you get an associate, they give you all type of answers you don't want. ........

Thanks Zack this is very informative and let's hear it for Page! I was watching this video for about 4 minutes before I realized it was in black and white! For what you're showing in this video, and in my opinion, this is a perfect choice.

Hey Zack, I want you to know that your videos are really eye opening and inspiring. That continuous light demonstration of how each of the 3 lights affect the picture as a whole is just an AHA moment for me! You are one of my career's inspiration and I salute you for that! You keep planting more seeds of knowledge - next thing you know you have a forest. Cheers mate.

Thanks a lot for this video Zack. You really know what you are doing. You know your ways around your craft. It's great to see the level of expertise that you have and share. Your technical and artistic skills are great. Is not about lighting diagrams. It's about understanding the physics of light. Keep'em coming.

This answered so many questions in one video, the best demo by far on lighting, thanks so much for making this, I now know what to do!

Hey Zack, I really appreciate you sharing this! I think I learned a lot.

Thanks Zack for the setting up of lighting. Awesome

Zack, thank. you so very much for taking the time and effort to demonstrate how light.works in a studio. That was a clear and complete explanation of it. Your work is truly inspiring. I look forward to any other videos your produce!

👏🏽 👏🏽 👏🏽 the best video I’ve seen so far ! Helped me a lot Thank you

Awesome tutorial, simplified and easy to understand. Thank you!

So helpful and informative, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us Zack

Great vid man... Really good explanation for folks just getting into this.

great tutorial sir!!!! loved all the details you mentioned.

Zack we have to search for the 16 people who disliked that great video which took from you time n effort to show us and teach your knowledge. Thanks you, great video

Zack-excellent help this is. We have both tungsten and LED. I will experiment with both mixing the color temperatures and post the result, giving you credit of course, onto my you tube page in the next week. You are such a wealth of information and it is fun to watch you do your tutorials! Give my best to Kaleb and Paige.

Incredibly helpful and really well produced. Thanks man! You have some great ideas that will help me build my setup for some interviews.

Great Video! Thanks for taking the time to make and share this! Very clear, concise, and well thought out! Thanks again!

Excellent demonstrations. Thank you for sharing this with us. Phelix

this is the best tutorial I have seen on this subject....thanks

you did a great job breaking down this lighting. thank you for your time

Amazingly coherent Zack. A seamless tutorial, you could say.

Very useful and helpful! Thank you so much for your easy-to-understand teaching!

Never TRULY understood the inverse square law until watching this video, wow!! 👏

Thanks a lot Zack. Happy weekend!!!

your videos are very thorough! Glad that I found you, and Thank You!

I always used to ask myself this question: which color seamless should I get. And honestly today, I just tell people to buy a white seamless because it's like 3 backgrounds in one: a white one (if you light it fully with lights), a gray background (if you partially light it or just have a lot of ambient light) or a black background (when you up your shutter speed and close down your aperture). And in some cases, if you have enough lights, or powerful enough lights, you can gel the background to a different color. I've pretty much stopped using anything but white because it's so versatile, unless know I'm going for a specific type of shoot that requires a specific color, but my go-to color is generally white (like I did a moods and color shoot once with a photo group and it helped to have different colors because I didn't have enough gels or flashes at the time to properly illuminate everything to get a gelled color on a white background).

Congratulations a very good tutorial for newbies.....

Very helpful and easy to understand,Thanks Zack.

Fantastic video. Thanks for this.

Don Zacarías muchas gracias. Aprendi de sus tecnicas y las usare. Deseo ir a home depot y adquirir esos elementos. Se le agradece su empeño y dedicaciòn.

Very nice video! Question...what specific lights did you use to light the white backdrop and how much power (Watts) was necessary? Also would it matter if the lights are halogen vs. flourescent vs. LED?

Wow, thank you so much. Just the part about fixing the light on the subject first was a big help.

wow thank you. this is very easy to follow and understand. Taught me that I need more lighting gear for my video shots! Cheers

Thanks for coming on the podcast PHOTOBIZ Xposed Zack, Loved this video, great visual explanations!! Cant wait to try this technique at home with my furry subjects. :)

Thank you! This was really well produced.

Cant belive this tutorial is free !!! Wow !!! Thank you so much !

This is a great tutorial; really love it. Could you please provide link to all the three lights used? Thanks

Such a good video on lighting a background up! Best one I've seen on RU-vid to date, great info and editing/shooting skills. Thank you

This is the best video of making a white background and lighting it RU-vid Excellent Thank you

best studio lighting demonstration on youtube! thank you 🙏

Hi Zach, this is very good tips

Absolutely brilliant and helpful tutorial. It is very appreciated, thanks.

Thank you so much for this excellent video, Zack!

Thank you lord Arias with this video. I have been aching for this video and more of your content! Btw you are the photographer that began my photography journey, thanks for that!

Thank You. Finally someone with a definitive answer to how much room. Omg, you have no idea what you just did for me. Lol

Very well made and helpful. Thank you very much for sharing.

Thanks, Zack. A good tutorial...and Paige was a good sport.

Great information. Thanks for sharing, Zack.

Thank you, Zack. A very informative pair of videos. Owing to serious space constraints, I have learned from your video that I can only hope for headshots though lol. Thanks again. :-)