Photo Help..

Re: Photo Help..

Sam Dean

>From a friend who is a professional photographer, he suggested that I use black velvet because it absorbs all of the shadows. It made my photo's look 100% better.

Thanks,

Sam

Re: Photo Help..

John Lucas

>I don't think black is the best because pieces sometimes look like they are floating is space. You won't have any shadows under the piece however depending on what black you use.

www.porters.com sells a black velvet lookalike background. It's much less expensive than velvet and rolls up for easy storage. Keep it clean it really shows dust and lint. I use a lint brush.

Black seamless paper aften photographs as dark gray. I use it a lot because I can make the background behind the piece very black while keeping the foreground gray which looks real nice.

Black Formica looks fabulous but is hard to work with. I would leave it alone unless you are using professional lighting.

There are two problems with black backgrounds. One is exposure and the other is printing. Black backgrounds will fool your meter and make your camera overexpose the piece. Take a meter reading off of a Kodak 18% gray card and use manual settings on the camera. This will solve that problem. If you don't have those options use the over/under exposure compensation on your camera. Set the dial to -1/2 or -1. This will usually get you in the ballpark to a correct exposure.

When you have prints made you run into the same problem. The automatic processors won't usally print solid black so the object in the photo comes out too light. Use a custom lab or print your own photos.

Re: Photo Help..

Dave Winters, Steamboat Springs, CO

>John, thanks. So should I get black or go for a dark grey or ? What about a graduated black background? Those are kinda spendy.

Re: Photo Help..

John Lucas

>Dave

I use what's called Thunder gray for most things I shoot. If you want the background darker simply move it further from the lights or cast a shadow on the background. You may need to shred the edge of the cardboard if you use it to cast a shadow on the background. You don't want a sharp line.

If you can't do the above either because of space or if you are using a light tent or light box then you will need to go with a graduated background. They are fairly expensive and scratch very easily but they look so nice it's worth it. Keep them rolled up and protected between use. If you set a piece on them Never, I mean Never rotate the piece. It will scratch the back ground. Pick it up and move it if necessary.

Sometimes if you are using a light tent or some call it a photo booth then you may be able to shade the background by putting paper on the top and sides to keep the light from hitting the background. This works but is much harder to control because the light is bouncing around inside the booth.