Black background

[HighlandPark]

Paul Bretland, how do you get that pitch black background as in the Lancia photos?
I'm using black paper from Hobbycraft but it comes out grey in the photos.

Thanks

[Paul]

I use a black background which i then darken with photo editing software, your camera setting can help too.

[PilotMM]

There are a few different ways to get a solid black background without using photo editing software. The key is to make sure the subject is bright enough that when you expose for the subject the background isn't producing enough light to be picked up by the camera sensor (or FILM). You could also use a manual flash but that's a lesson for another day.

When using your card stock or black muslin cloth make sure it is a good distance away from your model (subject) and that the light is angled in such a way that it will evenly light the subject but not spill on the the background. You can even use your mobile phone to take such a photo with some "forced perspective" if you're clever enough.

A note on lighting too, it's best if you soften up the light so it envelops your subject. There are a few different ways to make soft light; 1.) Large light source close to your subject 2.) diffusing your light using what's called a "GOBO" 3.) finding good north light. I recommend trying to use option 2 or 3. You can make a GOBO by finding a large piece of opaque plastic and putting it in front of your light source. Just know this is going to decrease the output of your light (sounds obvious but its important to note). Also lookout for plastics that are not pure white as they can cause a tint to your light.

For the inquiring minds GOBO is a photography term that literally means "Go Before" or "Go Between." It is a "light modifier" that "goes before" the subject to give you the desired effect you are after.

Hope this helps
-M

[PilotMM]

Paul Bretland, how do you get that pitch black background as in the Lancia photos?
I'm using black paper from Hobbycraft but it comes out grey in the photos.

Thanks

One last thing!

I reread your post, the black paper is coming out grey because your camera is working the way it is suppose to. You are overexposing the image. When metering make sure you are metering your subject and not the scene. The camera is trying to balance exposure and making blacks brighter — ergo grey.

-M

[Geraldtique]

looking for a black photogrphy background
if anyone has one for sale

or if anyone can give me a web site to look at

tks

Ben

[bfrd]

Depending on your budget, photo editing software may help. I like Adobe Lightroom, it has tons of features aimed directly at digital photo post-processing. It isn't as full-featured as Photoshop, but it has some very nice tools for correcting white balance and making minor exposure adjustments. None of this is to take away from using proper photographs in the first place the points @PilotMM has made are top-notch and should always be considered. It is always much better to get proper exposure and white balance in the camera. The software is just a helper tool to make some fine adjustments. I don't like the subscription model for software, but they have a plan for Lightroom that is only a few dollars per month. It is also a photo management tool with links to sites like Flickr for publishing. And no, I don't work for Adobe, I just really like their products and have been using them for more than 2 decades. Damn, I am getting old.

To build on some of the points made earlier, light is the key ingredient. Without enough light, no photo will look great. There are three things that a camera uses to make a photograph; they are Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. Most modern cameras will automatically control all three but also give you the ability to choose some of the settings (or all depending on the camera). I don't know much about phone cameras so I am not sure about them. There is no single setting that will take a properly exposed picture every time no matter what. That is why the camera must do a lot of background work depending on the scene. The better the camera, the better job it does of choosing the proper settings.
What are the "proper" settings? A proper exposure simply means that the three settings complement each other in such a way that the final image is both in focus and is neither too dark or too light. An image that is too dark is considered under-exposed and an image that is blown-out or too light is over-exposed. A single scene may have many different settings that still achieve proper exposure. So, the amount of light reaching the camera sensor is the only factor that determines a properly exposed image. Over-exposed images have let in too much light and under-exposed images haven’t let in enough light.

So, how do we control how much light gets to the camera’s sensor? DSLR cameras, like the one I use, have a few basic modes. They are Aperture Priority (Ax), Shutter Priority (Tx), Manual, and Scene. The scene is several settings for inside, outside, portrait, sport, etc. Manual requires the explicit setting of each element in the trinity. Aperture and Shutter priority modes allow the photographer to manually set either Aperture or Shutter Speed and then let the camera manage the other settings automatically.

Let's talk about the photographic trinity of elements that makes up a proper exposure. ISO is often referred to as the speed of film being used but has the same corollary in digital photography. It can be thought of as a picture quality setting. If we think back to our film days, we will remember picking the right "speed" of film. 400 ISO was usually the go-to for outside shots. It worked OK inside if there was enough light. If you wanted the best quality images you could use 100 ISO, but if your subject was moving you may get blurry images. ISO is almost always managed separately. My camera (and many others) has an Auto option that will automatically select the best ISO setting or static settings. For example, my camera can be set from Auto, 100 - 25600 in 1/3 stops. Aperture is the size of the opening in the lens. More light can reach the sensor if the opening is larger. This value is constrained by the quality of the lens. More expensive lenses will have a lower aperture number (a little counter-intuitive here – smaller numbers mean larger openings). The camera itself will constrain the other end of the setting. The shutter is a physical device that normally closed. When you click the button, the shutter is opened for a specific amount of time. These times are usually a fraction of a second but can be up to 30 seconds for specialty shots (long exposure). A small aperture can still achieve proper exposure if the shutter time is long. There is a bit of difference in properly exposed images at different apertures. The depth of field (DOF) is usually shallower when using the largest apertures. A shallow DOF is characterized by certain elements of a photograph being sharp and in focus while other elements are blurry. This can be an issue when photographing models as you generally want the entire subject in focus. Longer shutter times gives your subject (or you) a greater chance of moving and becoming blurry.

Let’s think about proper exposure another way. Imagine we have an empty bucket. There is a line on the inside of the bucket that tells us what the “right” exposure is. Now we also have an apparatus that dispenses sand into the bucket. It has a variable opening that will control how big the hole is going to be when opened. This is the aperture. The apparatus also has a time setting that controls how long the hole is opened. This is the shutter speed. We can think of the last setting (ISO) as the size of the sand being used. If we use the finest sand possible the bucket when filled to the line will have the most sand particles and the least amount of air gaps but will take the longest to reach the correct level. If we use the largest sand particle, the bucket will fill up faster but have larger air gaps and therefore fewer sand particles and reach the line faster. Air gaps are noise.

I didn’t research writing this and this is just the way I think about photography. My understanding could be incorrect this is just another hobby for me. Please take my comments as an opinion rather than an exact statement of fact.

I have found that for modeling, a good light tent is very helpful. Many of us have made our own from foam board and strip LED lights. I did this at first but didn't have enough space to keep it setup. The homemade light tents don't usually stand up to well to being moved around. I bought one off of Amazon for a reasonable price. It is very large when setup but still folds down to a good size. It has a removable backdrop but so far I only have the white one that comes with the unit.


**Image links to Amazon.com