White Background for Stuff?

[kevin11951]

Does anyone know of an easy, cheap way to make pictures of stuff have a white background.

And in a way that they still look professional?

I mean something like this:

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/17-366-004-S01?$S640W$

Notice how the background is perfectly white... I need to take a few pictures like that to sell something...


How do I do it?

[CharlesA]

Use a white backdrop or use GIMP.

[themarker0]

You have to knock it out with the magic wand.

[wojox]

GIMP.

ADD ALPHA CHANNEL Layer (http://aplawrence.com/Linux/crousegif.html)

[Marlonsm]

One easy way to do it is using a background with a color like green or blue (in a tone that is not present in the object) and take it to a well lit place.
Take the picture and open it in GIMP (or any other good image editing software).
Use the magic wand tool to select the background and paint the selection white (adjust the tolerance so that only the background is selected, and make sure to use the smoothing option if available).
You can also use the level curves tool(not sure about its name) to adjust the brightness.

Or, if you can't find something to use as background, you can try using the pen tool in GIMP, to remove the background. It takes a little longer, and depending on the object, must be done very carefully, but you'll also get a good final result.

[kevin11951]

I tried the GIMP thing, but there is one problem, the products are both shiny and semi transparent... I will post an example when I can get one...

[kevin11951]

I tried the GIMP thing, but there is one problem, the products are both shiny and semi transparent... I will post an example when I can get one...

Here is one example:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ETSyczwO2XI/TCqu46B7WGI/AAAAAAAAAOc/r4B6B5LrwYc/Tweeter.jpg

Notice the brown border, thats my table...

[wojox]

What did it look like before?

Can you layer it again and remove the brown?

Personally I think it looks sell-able. Better than most of the pic's you see online.

The first picture was probably taken with a high end camera. Without a flash using back-lighting.

[LowSky]

professional photgraphers use something called a light box or light tent

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent

[Marlonsm]

For a transparent product a green background as I said isn't going to work...
I would take a picture of it over some sheets of white paper and use GIMP's pen tool to make the background white.
But that image is very good already, I see no problem in using it.

[ninjaaron]

professional photgraphers use something called a light box or light tent

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent

This is the right way to do it. Photo software will never get as nice of results as this method.

My brother is a professional photographer, and he does something like this. He has a giant sheet of white paper on a spindle (and one black, and one gray), and he lights it with white lights and diffusers. It's more expensive to set up than a small light box, obviously, but It can do much larger objects, including people.

He used it to take this picture of my guitar pedal board.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/ninjaaron_0/IMG_0118.jpg