p.1 #1 · How to shoot still life's with a black background?
I know the obvious.
Black Background (preferably velvet)
Keep light 2-3 stops below subject
Move subject away from background
Use grids or light modifiers to avoid spillage
etc.
Am I missing anything?
Here is an image that I shot and a lighting diagram. In the image, I had to select the background in photoshop and make it pure black because even with a softbox lighting the flower behind it and at a 45 degree angle, enough light spills back on the BG that it's no longer pure black.
In the diagram, the reflector is a silver reflector facing the softbox. The back of the reflector is actually black but I wasn't sure how to illustrated that...
p.1 #4 · How to shoot still life's with a black background?
BrianO wrote: Keep which light 2-3 stops below subject? And below the subject what?
jzucker wrote:
any light hitting the background. Are you not able to see the pix?
Yes, I can see the pics, but your discription wasn't clear to me. If you had said "Keep any light spilling onto the background at least 3 stops below the subject lighting" it would have made sense to me. As it was, I wasn't sure if you were talking about key:fill ratio, an actual BG light (which wouldn't make any sense, but one never knows), etc.
Anyway, you already named the key points in your first post. To amplify one of them, not only should you move the subject as far from the BG as possible, you should also move the lights/reflectors as close to the subject as possible.
With the lights close to the subject, you can decrease their intensity, and -- as the Inverse Square Law dictates -- the intensity of any light spilling or bouncing onto the BG will be lower due to fall-off than if the lights had been further from the subject.
Something I've done when I was shooting in a studio was to turn off all the room lights once everything was set up and there weren't a lot of people moving about. Even with small apertures and max sync shutter speeds, ambient light can sometimes brighten a background enough to be seen in the image.
p.1 #7 · How to shoot still life's with a black background?
jzucker wrote:
what about the background material ? I've heard that velvet is the best but most of the velvet i've seen has a sheen to it.
It shouldn’t matter, if you have the lighting right. With a high enough ratio: lights to background compared to lights to subject, then any non-reflective can be made to be jet black.
If you have objects actually sitting on the background surface, then flock is better than velvet, and some prefer felt. The sheen from velvet depends on the material composition of the velvet – it can be anything from silk to nylon.
p.1 #8 · How to shoot still life's with a black background?
hugowolf wrote:
It shouldn’t matter, if you have the lighting right. With a high enough ratio: lights to background compared to lights to subject, then any non-reflective can be made to be jet black.
If you have objects actually sitting on the background surface, then flock is better than velvet, and some prefer felt. The sheen from velvet depends on the material composition of the velvet – it can be anything from silk to nylon.
Brian A
What I should probably do is get a grid for my softbox. I think that would avoid light spill a little better. I may try using a grid on my dish but I don't think that'll give me the look i'm going for when used from behind.
In my case, I am getting close to 3 stops difference between the subject and background but some parts of my felt background are reflecting some light so it's not a pure black.
p.1 #10 · How to shoot still life's with a black background?
jzucker wrote:
what about the background material ? I've heard that velvet is the best but most of the velvet i've seen has a sheen to it.
Duvetyne. It's a black, matte finished fabric available in various weights and widths from pretty much any large photo, movie, or theatrical supply store. Soaks up light like a sponge.
p.1 #12 · How to shoot still life's with a black background?
I hope you don't mind my posting my image. I created the black void by flagging the light source, and also using black cards. This was achieved all in-camera.
p.1 #18 · How to shoot still life's with a black background?
Skarkowtsky wrote:
I hope you don't mind my posting my image. I created the black void by flagging the light source, and also using black cards. This was achieved all in-camera.
p.1 #19 · How to shoot still life's with a black background?
I don't, sorry. Really, it's different every time. I start with building a black set, which is dependent on the subject matter's scale, depth, color, etc. It's typically built up of flags and black cards placed around and throughout the composition. If I'm shooting reflective material, then extra care goes into placement so it won't be seen by the viewer.
The placement of my lights determine how I'll flag them to further cut the stops of light down for quick falloff. It's a trial and error process when you're first approaching it, then you'll start to full understand how to sculpt it for your needs. It usually takes me only a few minutes to put it together, then 20-40 to tweak it how I want it.
p.1 #20 · How to shoot still life's with a black background?
Does anyone have a problem with the black background "blocking" out. Meaning that the background has these weird spots when you look at them on a larger screen that the lcd on your camera I heard that it was because I didn't have enough light on the background, but that doesn't sound right to me. I don't know, what do you think?
Keep which light 2-3 stops below subject? And below the subject what?
