Silverrails

As a Advanced Beginner, and still learning, I want to learn and Understand how I may create a totally Black background in my Photo, and make my subject, a person or object, really "stand-out", with no distraction in the background.

shadows creation Loc: san antonio

Use black velvet

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That topic has come up often. Lots of links below.

http://digital-photography-school.com/get-an-invisible-black-background-to-your-portraits-shooting-anywhere-video/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Photograph-a-Black-Background/
http://www.adorama.com/alc/0014344/article/Get-Absolute-Black-Background-for-Portraits
http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/7762/what-do-i-need-to-get-photos-with-a-unifom-black-background-not-with-post
http://petapixel.com/2013/06/01/quick-and-easy-trick-for-adding-a-black-background-to-your-shots-anywhere/
http://www.apogeephoto.com/may2004/jaltengarten5_2004.shtml">http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-464859-1.htmlhttp://www.apogeephoto.com/may2004/jaltengarten5_2004.shtml

Old Timer Loc: Greenfield, In.

You can achieve that by using a flash and setting your aperture and shutter speed about two stops under exposed and using your flash for fill light. I usually set camera setting to hi-speed sync. At night I use a small flash light on subject to set focus.

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

You can come close with lighting - using a speedlight about 10" - 15" so from the subject, without shedding any light on the background. The background should be as far away as possible. However, the best way is to use post processing to achieve a 100% black background. To do this, you make a selection of the subject, save it as a layer, create a black-filled layer, and place it below the subject layer in the layer stack.

I've had mixed results using black cloth behind the subject, and in many settings it is impractical. The speedlight approach with the light flagged to eliminate illuminating the background, and close to create a dramatic light falloff across the field, and at an angle close to 90° from the lens axis will allow you to shoot with a high enough shutter speed to create a 4-5 stop difference between a proper exposure for the scene if the speedlight was set for the entire scene. The key is using a high shutter speed to minimize the addition of ambient light.

First example is done this with a mask and layers.

Second example is done entirely with lighting, in the original, and the edited one uses a black paintbrush to paint over the hint of a green leaf in the lower right hand corner.

.

original

(Download)

black layer with flower layer above.

(Download)

original

(Download)

background painted out with a black brush

(Download)

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I find the black background a little too distracting and not very authentic for the object of the photo. Perhaps I would use a black background to photograph store windows during Holiday time. I would use it to block out street reflections.

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

It's really not a question of authenticity. This is a photo style that is used for illustration, where the subject is the only element in the image.

I don't completely understand how you use a black background to shoot store windows. I typically use a polarizing filter. I am interested to understand your technique.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

IF you have the space create a 'black box' by making a physical separation from your shooting area. Make sure there is nothing is reflective in there and that no light hit anything inside. In this situation you can use different or traditional light setups and are not restricted on how to use them (other than light going inside the box.).

If you have space but no so much to create a 'black box' make sure your model stands at least four to six feet from a flat mat black or dark grey background. Makes no light hits the background. Your camera should be at an angle from the said background (80~70 degrees. Note that will restrict your shooting space.

If you do not have space, use your lighting (flash) and camera settings to obliterate the background. In daylight, for flowers, by example, use a flash set +4 against the daylight. Just make sure it is not straight on. Some PP clean up will be needed.

Addendum: Consider black reflectors too. Something few photographers think of since it appears counter productive.

domcomm Loc: Denver, CO

Most black cloth will not do the job. The only real and easy way to do it is with black velvet, which gives you a rich black. We used that in the studio for many years, and it worked great.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

If you’re outside (or even inside for that matter), you can set your camera for High Speed Sync, use a TTL flash and use a very high shutter speed. Using flash, there are two sources of light, ambient and the flash. Put your camera in Manual mode, aperture at 4.5 or so, ISO at 400, and a minimum shutter of 1/200, or go very high if out in bright sun. The flash will expose the subject and the high shutter speed will darken the background. The aperture can be adjusted for DoF and the ISO increased for a bit more reach from the flash.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

I go to HOBBYCRAFT (U.K.) and get a large card, A2 will suffice for most uses, otherwise A1. If you go for this option get a couple of different colours and treat yourself to a folio to keep them in.

I did buy some satin from a haberdashers but cannot recommend this as it reflects light in an odd way - reverse can be used but not so black.

Brokenland

Here, I used the sunlight entering through our front window. Although it was a thin sliver of light it was enough to catch the edge of the container and smoke. I set the camera up on a tripod and focused on just the smoke. Not seen in this image is a chair & lamp in the background. though it was light or bright enough in the room to have seen both of these background elements. The camera's aperture adjusted to just see the smoke and blanked out the background. No other props were used or needed and no image enhancements done. What you see is what you get, or in this case it's what I ended up getting.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

You could get a good effect using a long telephoto, shoot wide open, and have the person a good distance from the back ground. No, the background would not necessary be black but would be blown out of focus. One of my favorite lenses for Portraits is the 70-200, I like to shoot at 200 f2.8 and have the background at least 20 feet away.

RWCRNC Loc: Pennsylvania

You Tube is your friend. You don’t need black velvet. It can be done in camera. Search topics like eliminating ambient light. There are several good videos. Don’t have time to look them up right now. Good luck.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

You can make a background black in several different ways.

The following were all done with flash.... fairly strong flash, at that.... setting the camera so that the ambient exposure was largely eliminated, while the flash illuminated the subjects....

These two macro shots were done in broad daylight, using "full" flash at a fairly strong setting. A busy background (a tangle of leaves and branches) would have made the subject difficult to see, if flash hadn't been used to help "isolate" them.



Here a similar flash technique was used for non-macro shots...



The left hand image above of the long-tailed macaque family was shot midday in a shaded forest. The right hand image was shot in low light at dusk, plus it was overcast and starting to rain. Both were shot with film around ISO 100 or 200, at most, so flash was necessary anyway.

Sometimes ambient lighting naturally makes for a dark or black background. The two images below were shot indoors with very limited artificial light... no flash was used, but a high ISO 1600 was needed. The left hand image was illuminated only by the modeling lights in a very large soft box off to the side... the right hand images was only illuminated by a projector and the reflection of the image off the screen.



Below is an indoor example where only window lighting was used. In fact, behind the cat the background was a white painted wall, it just wasn't illuminated nearly as much. I did Photoshop away some faint background that showed in the original image. 50mm lens was used (film camera).



Also look for situations outdoors that naturally lend themselves to black or nearly black backgrounds. In the left hand image below the spider was backlit by the sun, while a distant background of trees was in deep shade. Some "gentle" fill flash was used for this shot. The right hand image of a rose bud was done without flash... simply a sunlit subject against a darker, shaded background. Notice that in both these the background isn't entirely blacked out, but is strongly blurred due to the close focus distances (Note: It's not directly related to the way the backgrounds were rendered, but both shots were done with extension tubes used on non-macro lenses, to allow them to focus closer than normally possible.... The spider image was shot with a 70-200mm zoom, while the rose bud was shot with a 50mm lens. They were fitted with a 25mm extension tube.)



Finally, if needed, backdrops of some sort can be used too. The pink amaryllis below (left) was shot outdoors in shade using a black cloth to hide an ugly gray wall that was close behind the subject. Some very weak fill flash was also used. The image of the lady slipper orchid (right) was shot indoors by window light alone, using a deep maroon, velvet backdrop that seemed to complement the flower. Both shots were done with a 100mm macro lens, although magnification isn't all that high.



Something I don't do very often is digitally remove backgrounds. To me that often looks "faked". I might retouch, as noted in one or two examples above... and I sometimes will replace a sky or do a photo composite from two or more images... but I rarely do a complete "background removal". Below is a composite, where I don't try to "hide" the fact that it's made up of two different images.... The wolf (Dakota) was photographed on film using a 28-135mm lens and with flash that conveniently made for a nearly black background. The moon was photographed a couple years later using a DSLR with 1000mm worth of lens and teleconverter. The first image was my favorite photo of her, but still needed "something". I got the idea of taking a shot of the moon and making the composite as a fitting tribute for this wonderful "wolf ambassador" after she died.