Black out background?

Fred Kim · Aug 24, 2008

I know this is probably a "dumb question", but how do you go about making the background of an image completely pitch black? How do you make it so no light touches behind the subject?

This just completely stumps me. I hope this doesn't involve any black walls.

For example:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toma01/2697834739/

this photo. (i can't copy it, supposedly)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bangyougotme/2794576767/
Another fine example

I'm really into dark lighting photography. Knowing how to pull this off would be an extreme joy to me.

Also, another problem. When my Nikon D80 is around 1/250 shutter with off camera flash, my camera only picks up about 3/4th's of the photo. The other 1/4th is completely black as if something was in front of the lens. It's really weird, and when I point it out the window, it works fine.

Bifurcator · Aug 25, 2008

http://thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132358&highlight=black+background

Tolyk · Aug 25, 2008

Strobist has a great tutorial for this effect as well, using off-camera flash (or studio lights)

zandman · Aug 25, 2008

Fred Kim said:
Also, another problem. When my Nikon D80 is around 1/250 shutter with off camera flash, my camera only picks up about 3/4th's of the photo. The other 1/4th is completely black as if something was in front of the lens. It's really weird, and when I point it out the window, it works fine.

maybe hood lens??

Fred Kim · Aug 25, 2008

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1359392#post1359392

Here's whats going on. No hood lens.

Fred Kim · Aug 25, 2008

Here, I managed to black the background, but I can only achieve this by going outside at night time standing 20 ft away from my garage. I have a DIY ringlight, but the lighting shows that it's obviously taken at night.

How do I make it look more natural like in the first 2 photos I posted?

Samriel · Aug 25, 2008

Good use of gobos and black background maybe? I used a gobo on a off-camera flash and black cloth as background (not even a meter behind the model - the room was very small) for the shots in the thread below.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131778

Also, you seem to blast the subject away with the flash. Lowering the flash power makes it easier to black out the background, if any light should spill (in case the gobos were not / could not be placed properly).

And it doesn't really show that the picture was taken by night, just that the light is too direct - use something to diffuse it, or soften is as they say.

Fred Kim · Aug 25, 2008

How do I go about making a black wall or mounting a cloth?

Haha I have this old Metz flash from like 30 years ago that has only 4 settings (low, medium, high, blindness) and since it's so old, It randomly picks which power setting to flash. My eyes hurt a lot haha.

And I'm using a diy ringlight and forgot to make a diffuser for it =/

Samriel · Aug 25, 2008

You can mount a black piece of cloth on anything... I'm no pro, but in studios they have special contraptions just for holding the backgrounds (or huge pieces of diffusion cloth...). I'll eventually build one of these things, but until then I'll improvise - I have hanged my black cloth from curtain holders (i.E. in the shots you saw), taped it to the ceiling, layed it on the floor/bed/couch if the model was laying down and so on. You'll figure something out.

nanny32 · Aug 25, 2008

what i do now is

Note Down ^_^

Bifurcator · Aug 25, 2008

Fred Kim said:
Here, I managed to black the background, but I can only achieve this by going outside at night time standing 20 ft away from my garage. I have a DIY ringlight, but the lighting shows that it's obviously taken at night.

How do I make it look more natural like in the first 2 photos I posted?

If you want the black BG without the harsh lighting use a diffuser. B4 or larger in size.
Click these links:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1296455&postcount=5
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1292354

JerryPH · Aug 25, 2008

EASY! Most people tell you how but do not understand. Light has depth of field!

From my blog:

http://jerryphpics.blogspot.com/2008/03/3-dof-of-light.html

Enjoy!

William Petruzzo · Aug 25, 2008

JerryPH said:
EASY! Most people tell you how but do not understand. Light has depth of field!

From my blog:

http://jerryphpics.blogspot.com/2008/03/3-dof-of-light.html

Enjoy!

Great answer. Read that blog, there's some quality stuff there. Marry that technique to a cheap roll of black background paper and you'll have the effect your looking for every time without thinking twice about it.

kellylindseyphotography · Aug 25, 2008

If you have a garage, garage light is AWESOME for getting a dark background. Position your subject in the open shade. Meter correctly, note their eyes for catchlights and position accordingly. SEt a wide open aperature, spot meter on them, and the background should be significantly dark. Thats one way of using natural light to achieve the results.

As for studio setups with dark backgrounds, well thats a lot of learning, technical knowledge, experience and equiptment you will have to achieve that goes beyond "how can i get this affect?"

Samriel · Aug 25, 2008

JerryPH said:
EASY! Most people tell you how but do not understand. Light has depth of field!

Is this an actual technical term for it? I mean, is there a term for "Depth of Field" of light? Or is it just your way of saying that you can control the "actual DoF" by controling light falloff?
I understand what you're saying, just wondering if there actually is an actual technical term for DoF of light (only heard falloff until now).