How To Get a Solid Black Background
How to get a solid black background, I get a lot of question about this especially from someone who just start taking out photography, well I’ve the answer, just wait for my next eBook, I’ll tell you the secret. I’m just kidding, there is no how to actually but just a common sense. I’m not going to sell anything here but wanted to share my technique about how to get a solid black background like the picture of my son above. Interested? Then read on.
I will go straight to the point here. First thing first, I did not take this shot in the studio, in fact I’ve never take my son photograph inside a photography studio, I use natural light here, meaning no flash. I did not use Photoshop to paint the background with a black paint, I did not do that, I did use Photoshop for some minor treatment here. The background is a piece of a large black velvet which you can bought quite cheaply compared to more expensive canvass backdrop which you normally see in a big photography studio.
Why I use black velvet and not other material? Very simple, velvet will absorb the light and will not reflect it and the color that you will get will be deeper, richer, in this case this the black will be solid black. Why? Because I was exposing for my son face and get a fast shutter speed that will underexposed the black velvet. I highly suggest you to use Spot Meter in your camera to get the reading from your subject face, in this case my son.
If you use average reading or use Matrix Metering like in the Nikon camera, you will not get a solid black because the camera will try to adjust for the black background and will make the exposure a bit longer in order to expose the black or the velvet behind. The easiest way is to use Spot Meter and take the reading from your subject face. In Photoshop, I just darken a bit the black with “selective color” and choose black and drag the black slider to the right a bit to get rock solid black background, pretty simple.
I took this shot of my son just outside the door of my house in late afternoon. The velvet was hang onto the door, and I use a duct tape to stick it temporarily to the door in case you can’t figure it how. Another tips is, why I use a snow cap here? Very simple, because if there is nothing in my son head, then my son hair will blend together with the black background which will not look that good, that’s why I put a snow cap on my son head, to create a separation between my son head and the black background and most importantly to “frame” my son head.
There is a reason why most of my black and white picture of my son have this snow cap on his head, well, now you know the secret, here’s another one, did you know just one week after my son HaiQal was born, I was busy searching for a perfect “hat” for my son, I go through one shopping mall to another shopping mall to find the right “hat”.
In fact, I got a lot of email asking me, where to get the “hat”. Mostly you can get it from winter section in the shopping mall, Kuala Lumpur doesn’t have snow and it is hot so this kind of “hat” are not easy to get because people normally won’t wear it but I bought it for the purpose of photography not because I want my son to wear it all day long. Just go to any winter section in the shopping mall and definitely you will get one, this one I get from Mid Valley shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur.
Thank you if you have read it until here, it took just a simple common sense to make it happen. Let’s get creative without burning a hole in your pocket.
Get The Secret HERE
11 Comments
PeQ GaRaGe
gud info.. i’ll try this setup =)
afif
salam wazari,
could you mind to share with us this picture before and after treatment?
i still wonder how do u do until it manage to be a perfect B&W…
terima kasih.
-afif-
dian nais
aiyah.. why did not i think of that..? btw, i used Mahjong paper to get white background as well.. (simply talking about DIY, w/out burning a hole in a pocket).. i shot few simple portraits of me.. and did use the same metering mode.. 🙂 i guess it is the best mode available…
i am just wondering a photo of an ‘iban dancer’ (if im not mistaken) posted inside your flickr (last year).. did it goes through equal treatment too?
admin
Dian Nais | About the Iban Dancer that I took at KLCC on my flickr there, no, I did not use the same process, I mean I did not take a large black velvet and put behind the dancer to make a backdrop. It is my lucky day I guess.
The dancer perform inside KLCC, Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, she perform the dance quite close to a large window glass where there is plenty of available light shining through there and it happen that the background was quite dark, not totally black but dark.
So when I took a metering from the dancer face, I get a fast shutter speed, good enough to get a nice exposure on the dancer face and good enough to darken aout the background. It did not turn out that the background totally become solid black but with a minor photoshop touch, I manage to darken it out with “Black Slider” in Photoshop… 🙂
Andz
salam.. Thanks bro.. useful tips & info..
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Syedz
Salam,usually where you get the velvet? how big is velvet standard size?
admin
@Syedz, Actually I don’t buy Velvet regularly but I bought that Velvet from Petaling Street, where there is rows of textile shops there but I think it is not so difficult to find it out, and I think any textiles store should have it. How big the size, Enough to cover the whole door and enough to cover for two people full body standing, actually, it is two piece of a velvet stitch together.
rilgis
Thank bro wazari…. very good tips… saya pn memang mencari setup yg terbaik utk Solid Black Background nie.
Amogh Sood
hey interesting info.
But what I really need is how to get black bgs for wildlife and flower macro work..
Flowers I can prop on velvet..not so sure with stuff like bugs, or monkeys..
I am guessing u need some flash over there…not exactly how to set it up.. 🙂 some help would great
Leepad
I learn a lot from this post! the way subjects stands out looks so 3D and embossed. Btw I found a lot of these hats at Camron Highlands and bought a lot for my baby daughter. Instead of black velvet, can I use black reflector intead? would it be as dark and deep like this?