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Black Black backgrounds
SO, my wife is expecting in a couple of weeks and I am wanting to take some pictures of the new guy shortly after he is born. The question is how to make a black background actually look dark black such as this:  This pic is from De Studios and not like this:  I have paper, but is fabric better? Feb 28 08 04:52 pm Link after uve done the photo.. photoshop all blacks BLACK =] sorry i don't know anything about 'photography' so i wouldnt know how to do it real. x Feb 28 08 04:54 pm Link photoshop Feb 28 08 04:54 pm Link Paper or fabric and light it correctly. You can make gray look black. You can make white look black. Feb 28 08 04:54 pm Link I have modelled in front of rich black velvet , cotton velvet , not the shiny kind... and it absorbs the light beautifully. Also black out theatrical fabric is a nice trick. Neither are cheap. Feb 28 08 04:54 pm Link * lil help, lighting for a black background. (Keeping it black) The short answer: keep light off the background, and it can be any color or brightness. Black velvet is "darker" than black paper, as it reflects less, but even gray paper can go pure black if light isn't hitting it. Feb 28 08 04:55 pm Link Black velvet works well. But most importantly, get your subject away from the background and control your light spill with grids, flags, etc. Feb 28 08 04:56 pm Link I've heard that using black velvet soaks up a lot of the spillover light creating a darker black background. Edit: I'm too slow,see above... Feb 28 08 04:56 pm Link You can make almost any background look black if you keep the subject far enough away from it and don't let any light hit it (the background). Black paper works fine. Feb 28 08 04:57 pm Link i use black fleece, works great and easy to throw into wash. got it at fabric store so it's 58" wide. not sure if that's wide enough for you. Feb 28 08 04:57 pm Link My avatar was shot with a standard black seamless background as was shown in the second pic in the OP. Pull the model away from it, control the lighting and spill, adjust the aperture (I think that shot was at f/8 or f/11) and make sure the area is as dark as you can get it. I shot that pic in my garage at night so that the sun wouldn't spill on the background. Feb 28 08 04:58 pm Link if you do it, and it still don't turn out BLACK. il happily photoshop a babys background for you for free if you want =] congrats ! Feb 28 08 05:01 pm Link Use black Velour material, it absorbs light from nearly any angle with vertually no reflectance. I have shots of my little ones on that and still use the same piece of fabric 16 years later for head shots. Have had them laying on it or propped up against it w/ no need to worry about light fall off to get a sharp stark black background. Second choice would be fleece or felt, but I haven't found a true black felt, I like felt in colors though. Feb 28 08 05:01 pm Link JMT Photography wrote: If you have the space its all about lighting, and this means you need seperation between the subject and the backgound, minimum of 6ft allmost allways more in my experiance. As with most things in this digital age its often alot easier in Photoshop. Feb 28 08 05:02 pm Link Light is still hitting your paper. You have to underexpose the paper if this is happening. You have to put more light on your model without adding more to the background (use snoots, flags, and honeycombs) and change your aperture/shutter to expose properly, that way the amount of light hitting the background won't be comparable to the amount hitting the model, so the background goes truly goes back. Thats why some photographers like using grey seamless backgrounds, you can make it white if you overexpose it, or make it black if you underexpose it. Sometimes its hard to put a lot more light on the model if you're working with hot lights, so the best way might be to try and get the light to stop hitting the background. After all is said and done, you are probably still going to have to change your blacks in photoshop. You add more contrast to a photo and the blacks get blacker instead of grayish. Feb 28 08 05:03 pm Link Taking all of the previous advice, if the background is STILL not black enough, you can choose ANY pixel, in the background, and set it as the "black point", by using a levels adjustment layer, and the black eyedropper in that box, to click on that pixel. The rest of the image will darken too, so you have to pick the right pixel. Usually, I only set the DARKEST pixel as black, by first finding it using a "threshold" adjustment layer. If you set a pixel that is NOT the darkest pixel as black, then that pixel, and ALL of the pixels that are the same, or darker will also be black, (destroying any detail in that range, which you might choose to do). -Don Feb 28 08 05:06 pm Link Here is an example of what I was talking about earlier...   Both images shot at the same spot. You can see a little light spillover in the bottom right corner of the second photo, but I think it demonstrates the principle fairy well. Feb 28 08 05:11 pm Link I think it's 5 or 6 stops difference will make the background black. Feb 28 08 05:13 pm Link try velveteen, a very short pile of velvet available in most fabric stores... it absorbs all the light and gives a very rich pure black... this was shot on it with no spill over and no retouching on the background  Feb 28 08 05:16 pm Link I went to the fabric store and ordered 9 yards of black velvet. My wife sewed it together and it works fabulously...cost close to $105 total...less than most decent muslins. AND I don't have to futz with photoshop afterward to "make" it black. Here's a shot-  Feb 28 08 05:16 pm Link Kevin Connery wrote: Exactly, you have no reason to light up the up the back ground. But, many reasons to lite the subject. If light still spills. Try using a flag or some type of board to block the light. Even, better use barns doors or snoot....... Feb 28 08 05:16 pm Link if space is an issue then black velvets the way forward you can have your subject quite close to the back ground and you still won't get any reflectance.. even if you have loads of space i would opt for the fabric still.. black paper roll is still quite reflective. flagging light does work to a certain extent but the fabric is easier and works a charm if you can save time by getting it right before it is recorded in camera you will not have to waste so much time in front of a computer screen photoshopping each picture your happy with... i cant understand the "i'll fix it in photoshop ethos" Feb 28 08 05:18 pm Link JSVPhotography wrote: Correct. Feb 28 08 05:18 pm Link If you are familiar with Photoshop... The best way and one artsy way I do it is: Take your photograph with ANY black background. Open the image in PS. Duplicate the layer. Set the duplicate layer to 'Multiply" Place a MASK onto that duplicate layer. With a SOFT BRUSH, opacity set to VERY LOW at first, begin to erase what you want to reveal a little more ON THE DUPLICATE LAYER ONLY As you see, the black bleeds into your original image nicely. With the mask and brush, you can adjust how much, ect ect... Hope that helps... Feb 28 08 05:18 pm Link Kevin Connery wrote: Is the search function not working? Nothing came up when I tried it. I really did try. Feb 28 08 05:20 pm Link I purchased a solid black Korean mink king sized blanket on EBay for about $25. Queen size should work just as well. Buddy uses a solid black Photek Background-in-a-Bag, has for many years, told me it just "eats up light". Feb 28 08 05:21 pm Link BryanJ wrote: Ok, here's my 2Cents.. Feb 28 08 05:22 pm Link I bought king size velveteen bed throws and use that for the majority of my shoots. Works great at absorbing almost ALL the light...including HD projection. Feb 28 08 05:23 pm Link FlirtynFun Photography wrote: on the strengh of this shot i''m off to the store this morning, lovely and a black black as well. Feb 28 08 05:23 pm Link paul cameron wrote: It is not an "ethos", it is the fact, that a properly exposed image will usually NOT yield any truly black pixels. When that is the case, you can set them as black in Photo Shop. You can also set the lightest pixel as white, giving the most punch possible to the image. There are also ways to totally redistribute the tones, and contrast, in Photo Shop, and, in my opinion, THAT is how you "get it right", as the camera, left to it's own abilities, CANNOT accomplish that much control over the image. Feb 28 08 05:28 pm Link Don't light it. use barndoors/pieces of black foamcore to block and keep your subject far in front to minimize spill. Feb 28 08 05:32 pm Link I shot this a few weeks ago with just a black sheet. She actually moved and the sheet fell and you can see a little bit of the white couch but I liked the picture too much. Just a black sheet on the couch with some pillows underneath to hold her up and an off camera flash.  PS: she was 6 days old Feb 28 08 05:36 pm Link Josh Gallo wrote: Very cute. That is what I am aiming for except maybe more of the body too. Thanks. Feb 28 08 05:38 pm Link like in my avatar...just use black paper background and light it properly. Feb 28 08 05:41 pm Link BryanJ wrote: Yeah I have tons of the body too. You could get away with a small piece of velvet. I used her little pillow from the crib to prop her up and she lifted her head for a split second. Feb 28 08 05:41 pm Link Matt Bushong wrote: should never be the answer Feb 28 08 05:45 pm Link I use black velvet Feb 28 08 05:47 pm Link Paper, cloth, subject distance, light bounce, # of stops less hitting the background, reflection, refraction, light falloff...you should be able to do it right after all the good advice. I prefer material myself but just one more thing to add to help you out. Velvet, velvateen, even fleece and landscaping material isn't cheap. I hit the fabric department at Wally World pretty often for different materials for all sorts of photo projects. Check out the dollar/yard section. Just last week I found a bolt of black that was very non-light absorbent. Their bolts are usually 15 yard lengths and widths vary. I would think that one could safely even sew the material together since you are going for black and keeping a majority of your light off the background. Black may be the only color I would sew and feel safe about but hey, buy the entire bolt for $15.00, sew it together and you have a nice big background at a cost you won't get anywhere else outside of stealing it. Sadly, the clerk informed me that just about all the material there comes from China now but at that cost, my loyalties go out the window. The last stuff I found was quite an intricate gauzy material with a slight print and metallic worked in. Something like that would've cost me at least 15 - 20ish dollars a yard at a specialty fabric store. Feb 28 08 05:47 pm Link Black velour. You can get it anywhere that sells backdrops. Paul Feb 28 08 05:48 pm Link I don't even know the last time I used photoshop for a picture. All my work flow is done in lightroom. Like someone mentioned earlier true 000 black is hard to get but with one slide of the black slider in lightroom its there. Feb 28 08 05:52 pm Link |
