maryo Loc: Santa fe

I would like to go to the flower section of our grocery store and take pictures. Any suggestion of what to use in the store as a background?

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

If they’ll let you, use black foamcore, it’s $1 at the Dollar Store.
Black velvet is the best but it’s quite expensive!
Good luck
SS

maryo Loc: Santa fe

thanks

SierraP Loc: Eastern Sierras

Black Velvet is the best, I made a flag with mine. I have been thinking of a dark maroon also. A 20-24 inch dowel. I stapled the narrow side of a 18 X22 inch piece of Black Velvet to it. I hand hold the camera in my one hand and hold the flag behind the flower with the other. Check in the yardage shops, JoAnn's or Michaels for a scrap piece. Generally, they are happy to be able to sell the scrap and may give you a deal.
Many years ago I used wallpaper samples as a backdrop. I choose a natural looking design and held it far enough behind the flower so it looked like a natural setting.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

They probably won't let you, but if they do, careful lighting and some simple post processing will get you what you are looking for. I use a handheld speedlight, set to 1/8 power, with a large bounce card reflector attached to it - similar to a Rogue Flash Bender 2 XL, or a Better Bounce Card Studio XL. The camera is in my other hand.

If I feel a little more energetic, or if the lighting I want on the flower is also shedding too much light on the background, I will create a mask of the flower and replace the background with a layer of black.

Your biggest problem is getting the store to let you shoot their flowers. I took these images at the NY Botanical Garden in NYC (no tripods allowed), and at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Sq, PA (they allow tripods with a free permit until noon).

the post processing on the ones with just careful lighting typically takes about 2 mins per flower. The masked ones take a couple of minutes more. I use Lightroom to do most of the heavy lifting, darkening the background etc. and On1 to do some sharpening, masking if I go that route, and general cleanup. You really don't need foamcore or velvet.

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careful lighting, no spill on background

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careful lighting, no spill on background

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candidate for mask technique

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black mask applied

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candidate for mask technique

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black mask applied

(Download)

maryo Loc: Santa fe

Great shots and lighting!

Rongnongno Loc: FL

What I did with a black background...

Stuff was from hobby-lobby, inexpensive black/white foam/cardboard.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Out of common decency, I would buy the flowers, take them home and place them in front of whatever background I wanted.

maryo Loc: Santa fe

They told me I could since I have been going there tor 25 years.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thank you!

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Great. It would be good to go when there are not many customers. Enjoy!

rdubreuil Loc: Dummer, NH USA

More than likely the store will tell you if you want to photograph flowers, buy some flowers and take pictures at home.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I would suggest a TTL flash on your camera with a Lite Scoop to soften th flash. Set camera on Manual, F4, ISO 400, and shutter at least 1/200 to control ambient light. High speed sync can let you go much higher to darken the background. A moderate to long zoom would be handy to give some distance to the subject. With this configuration the TTL feature of the flash will control exposure on the subject, not the shutter speed. You can go higher on the ISO to get a little more reach on the flash or stop down for DoF and the flash's TTL will adjust accordingly.

spraguead Loc: Boston, MA

If you're looking to save money on some black background material, I've used landscape fabric for large areas I needed to cover. It's cheap (actually cheaper in the fall). If there's any backlighting, you just have to double up the coverage.

ABJanes Loc: Jersey Boy now Virginia

You should be able to create a black background by selecting your aperture F8-F16, spot meter off of the flower/s, then under expose by (3) stops to reduce the ambient light, use your flash and adjust as needed. Tinker & try..... Exceeding your maximum sync speed** might be effective too depending on your distance (soft touch of light). This will only work with an on or off the camera flash, not your in-camera flash**. I read a lot :o)