Easy and cheap blackground - for Isabel

[Marie Hass]

For Izzie -

Please, Izzie know that some cuts their lettuce and some tears it - meaning there are many ways to achieve the same result as what what I do. That said, here is my own setup:

1. You will shoot in a clearly delineated light to dark area. In this case, I shoot from my sun porch into my darkened livingroom. It would be better if I had a dark matte wall, but beige is what I've got.


2. Place your object to be photographed in front of the doorway.


3. Take your picture. I shoot manual. My settings were SS 1/100, focal length 82, f-stop 5.6, ISO 640


4. I processed in RAW, then in CS5.
I do lens corrections and noise control in RAW. I bring the image into photoshop, create a new layer, do levels - use the black eye dropper on the lightest part of the background and it will turn it black. My flower is now too dark, so I use my brush, set to clear, and brush away the dark layer from the flower only. I tried to do a screen shot, but I do not know how. I also cloned out the unwanted stem and debris at the bottom.

Here is the final image.


This is a very simple explanation of what I do. There are other small adjustments that i did make that were specific to this image. But, I hope this helps.

Marie

I hope this helps.

[Mike Buckley]

shoot in a clearly delineated light to dark area.

I'm not understanding something. What did that characteristic of your set up contribute to your image? I ask because it doesn't seem to be a necessary part of your setup.

You didn't mention the diffuse light, which is the most important characteristic. Either you had diffuse light the day you captured the image or the circumstances of that area of your porch always produce diffuse light.

[Glenn NK]

In Lightroom I use Automask and brush the entire BG, then lower Exposure to -4.0. The BG isn't important - it helps if the subject is sharp and the BG quite a bit less sharp, but the BG can have other foliage and the BG doesn't have to be one plain colour.

Glenn

[DanK]

Not quite sure what the original question was, but if it was something along the lines of 'how do I create an inexpensive black background:" my setup is below. The frame is an old wooden collapsible drying rack that my daughter left in the basement after college. The black cloth is a black fleece jacket I bought on closeout at REI. The only problem with it is that the nubby surface catches light. A smoother piece of cloth would be better.

If it catches enough light not to be black enough, I either select by color in photoshop and push the levels of the background all the way to black, or touch it up in lightroom.

PS: the trumpet, toner cartridge, and statistics software manual are optional, . They are piled up for holding a vase when I don't hole the flower in the wimberley plamp used in the photo.

[IzzieK]

Dave and for those that do not understand...a few posts ago, Frank Miller mentioned something about using a black background for the amaryllis that he shot, with his camera I mean...he said it is the same method that Marie had used. So I asked him exactly how he did it and he explained it to me. I thought that was neat because I am sometimes lazy to go up and down the stairs just to get some backdrop I can use for my shots, be it flower or something smaller. (Take note too that I have three dogs, 2 small rambunctious ones and a huge Texan Rottweiler. Two years ago, these 2 doggies tripped me over while I was running after them with a hairdryer one wet rainy slippery winter day where I ended up with a broken ankle and in an ambulance to the emergency at a nearby hospital.) My small-ist studio is upstairs across my den.

Anyway, Marie got to read my request to Frank and wrote how she did her system of a "cheap black background". I truly appreciate this step by step instructions. It will not only help me but also others...The rest of the "how she did" her photo does not really matter much because it all depends on the light and how she will want to correct it. Not that it is not important by any means but not really necessary for her to spell "fairy tale" letter by letter, if you get my drip...

Thank you Marie...one more to remember for me when I am in a hurry because I was running out of time and morning light. I will copy and paste this instructions in my word processor and print it just in case I forget it.

And thank you, Dan for showing us (me) you system. I truly appreciate it. I have a laundry dryer like what you have too but I think my backdrop holder will be useful too as I have a lot of different fabric backdrops that I can use upstairs in my studio. One more for my note when I decided to do it there. The clamp will be useful to me. Thanks for mentioning it too. Truly appreciate your help.

[Marie Hass]

Dear Mike, I am certainly not of your caliber and have a lot to learn, so thank you for pointing out that I did not mention what my lighting situation was. You are very right that diffuse light is a part of my set-up. I have a 3 sided sunroom that usually gets nice diffuse light, and more direct western light in the later afternoon to evening. If it is a rainy day and I really have to have that shot, I have also resorted to my off-camera flash and Joe Demb pro diffuser. On a really gray winter's day, I confess that i have used the porch light, and a tungsten painter's lamp as well. A mixed mess!!!!

Glenn, thank you for sharing your technique and you are right. It does not have to be a solid background, but I usually do take my picture down off the wall and knicknacks off of the console because it is easier for me to control. Those of you who use Lightroom will be interested.

Dan, thank you as well. As I said to Mike, I have a lot to learn. What I described is how i do it because I do not know many other ways, and this works. If there is something more efficient, I am all over it.

Izzie, I'll be excited to see what you come up with. No matter what you do, have a good time.

[Mike Buckley]

Something to consider, Marie: In that setup, the light naturally creates a very pleasing gradient in the background (unlike the style of your solid black background). You could go to the fabric store and get various colors of fabric from the $1 bin. Hang whatever color seems to go well with the subject you are photographing and you have a natural gradient that requires little or no post-processing.

[Shadowman]

Nice examples.

[Marie Hass]

Thanks, John. I am a cheapskate and this is stuff that did not cost me anything.

Thanks, Mike. Great idea. To be honest, I was seriously thinking of painting the wall a dark color. LOLs.

Marie

[Loose Canon]

Necessity is indeed the Mother of Invention Marie.

Excellent explanation of an excellent way of handling something. By using light (and lack thereof) to your advantage.

I like the original background as well as your nice black too.

No matter what you do, have a good time.

Words to live by!




Edit: I just wanted to mention to you and Dan that I love seeing set-up shots.

[Glenn NK]

In Lightroom I use Automask and brush the entire BG, then lower Exposure to -4.0. The BG isn't important - it helps if the subject is sharp and the BG quite a bit less sharp, but the BG can have other foliage and the BG doesn't have to be one plain colour.

Glenn

Just to clarify - none of the flowers with the black BG where my images are posted (see link below) were shot with a black cloth (with the exception of Red Lily at Night which was shot at night). The images were shot outdoors with their natural backgrounds - leaves, etc. - no black cloth or other background (like a darkened room).

The black was achieved in Lightroom by masking everything but the flower and setting the Exposure for the BG to -4.0. This make the BG completely black. In the odd image, the mask must be duplicated as some areas of the BG are too bright.

I use this method exclusively as it enables me to capture images of wild flowers without disturbing them in any way. If a piece of grass or another flower is sticking into the scene (in front of the flower) I will bend it away out of the frame temporarily.

G

[Marie Hass]

Thanks, Terry! My sunroom has been a blessing. I love shooting in natural light.

Glen, I like your technique. Thanks for explaining it. I certainly will try it, as I also like to shoot flowers in their environment.

Marie

[FrankMi]

An excellent Tutorial Marie, that offers an easy to apply technique!

Thinking along these lines, you may be able to use this approach in other situations as well. The Golden White-Eye in this image was shot in the aviary of a local zoo. The background of foliage was in complete shadow and the White-Eye was well lit by natural light so other than cloning out the bright leg band, there was almost no post processing done. The natural background was dark enough to not register at all.

[IzzieK]

Beautiful bird Frank....I think you should remove the green thingie at the 10 o'clock position to make it totally black. When you get it right on camera in the first place, there isn't much need to apply anything in PP but crop and perhaps removing some dust bunny or greenie spots. Nicely done!

An excellent Tutorial Marie, that offers an easy to apply technique!

Thinking along these lines, you may be able to use this approach in other situations as well. The Golden White-Eye in this image was shot in the aviary of a local zoo. The background of foliage was in complete shadow and the White-Eye was well lit by natural light so other than cloning out the bright leg band, there was almost no post processing done. The natural background was dark enough to not register at all.

[Marie Hass]

Nicely done, Frank! Lovely bird.

Yes, this technique applies to anywhere, as you and Glenn have shown.

Marie