Shadow color issue

[akazoly]

I shoot my picture with home-made light tent. I use a daylight bulb (6400K).
The picture is beautiful but I hate the shadow because the shadow color is not pure black...

And I don't like the shadow:

If you see, the shadow is not black... Is possible to improve this ? I have the same problem with more lighting, for example 3x25Watt Daylight bulb.

Thanks so much!

 

[passerby]

Maybe you need a bit more light source from this direction?

 

[Garbz]

Is it supposed to be? You have a reasonably soft light source here. It looks like a lot of spill light from the paper and the handle is softening the shadow. Personally I think this is good.

If you want to get a blacker shadow you may need to bump up the contrast slightly. (Do this in RAW so you don't lose definition in the gradient)

Finally remember the paper is white. If you do try and set things up so it gets the shadow black you may loose definition in the head which is black. You may wish to use selective contrast via a layer mask in photoshop or a similar feature in other programs.

As for the colour that is what happens when the white paper reflects white light onto the handle which reflects brown light back down onto the paper. This is natural and I wouldn't think it would be something that needs "improvement".

 

[christopher walrath]

Not much short of a spot would cause a crisp shadow like you want. The flood is bouncing from the sides of the tent and reflecting onto the surface beneath the brush and thus brightening it up. Only directioanl light would give you a sharp and deep shadow.

 

[brileyphotog]

A darker shadow would look very unnatural...not really sure why you would want that. The above posters are correct, you either need a spot or to bump up the contrast (however that will make your object look kind of strange).

Still wondering what you are taking a picture of in your profile pic with your lens cap on