Having a nice white finish line is critical to having quality images for the photo finish timing system. Painting the Finish Line with a flat white paint, a day or two (2) prior to competition, helps your photo finish operator a great deal. The bright (flat) white background gives a nice contrast to the objects (runners) as they cross the finish line, making it easier to read the image quickly and efficiently. Placing a white board opposite the camera outside the running lanes will help provide a contrasting background for those runners in the farthest lanes from the camera.
The intersection of the Lane Lines with the Finish Line should be painted with flat black paint. The 5 cm by 5 cm intersection of the two lines will then appear on the image screen as a dark line. This helps differentiate the individual lanes and helps to associate the runner with the correct lane. Hip numbers should definitely be used to identify the runners. Things happen during the course of competition and having the black finish line markings helps as an alternate way to identify runners in the lane races.