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sudhi · Joined: 18 Dec 2004 Posts: 69 Location: Pune, India

Hello all,
I was trying to get a pitch black background, tried using a black sheet of paper inside my light tent as a backdrop, didn't work out. Ended up with lots of noise and patchy background.
Would like to know what kind of a lighting arrangement u people use in scenarios where a shiny object like a cdrom has to be photographed in a dark background and still get crisp edges?

Thnks,
Sudhi

fncdigital · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 1:21 pm

i use cheap felt, any black cotton that will absorb the light, however, thats when youre at a distance from object.
Make your shot then adjust your levels and or burn the areas in.

LizV · Joined: 07 Nov 2004 Posts: 290 Location: New York

I use black velvet .. sometimes you see some white dots, but I just use the repair tool and zap them. Just had some approved if you'd like to see the results.

reviewer · Admin Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Posts: 1627

True black paper is the best way to go.

Tim · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 458 Location: UK

One other tip (need to be careful with this one), move your lights closer so you have more fall off. Makes your pictures harsh though in terms of shadows.

My gallery has handshots that I did using this method.

StuartE · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:27 pm

Yeah, more light on the subject, with the subject further from the background, at a nice tight aperture, and your background is gone - easier when 'not lighting' the background in a portrait than for a macro shot, but it can still apply... if you have a 'dark' background, and only direct light at your subject, or block the light from hitting it, you'll find it easy to get seperated black... if you're using a light tent, that becomes much harder - one trick is to shoot on a bright blue background, and then use it to chromascreen the object onto a black backdrop - and if your subject has bright blue edges, you use a different colour for the chromakey... insides don't matter, it's the edge you need to mask quickly... however, lighting and shooting on a chromakey mask is much quicker than lighting to get a 'bad' textured black background out of your shot... ;-0

Cheers,
Stuart

HixnHix · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 23 Location: Iowa USA

I had problems with spots on my black background and I found out my new camera was shipped to me with dirt on the sensor. After i cleaned the the sensor thing were greatly improved. I use flash on black velvet with good results.

StuartE · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:50 pm

So you should have - that dirt on the sensor is the special factory installed dust - very, very hard to get hold of if you don't work for a manufacturer - that common dust out in the real world is easy to get hold of - just change a lens with the sensor charged and you'll get some - the factory issue dust is worth a packet... :-)

How did you clean the sensor, btw? Copperhill Method? I'm told the factory/service dept cleaning at Canon only clean to no visible dust at f/8 - that's why we find dust on the sensor when shutting down more - I have a technician who cleans for f/22, f/32 by request, but by george when he's cleaned it it's spotless...

Cheers,
Stuart

HixnHix · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 23 Location: Iowa USA

i used somewhat the copperhill method only with Kodak lens tissue an methanol and a plastic knife. i shapped the knife to work like a spatula. I wouldn't suggest anyone try this. It seemed get most of it than i used an old bulb from a pneumatic cable release and gave it a few puffs. most of my shots are at f32 and have some dust but i can live with that. i have shot about 3000 shots with this camera can anyone imagine if you were to shoot that much on film it would cost over $3000.
Have fun

Photoshow · Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:33 am

I just rolled over image number 20,000 on my D70 on a product shoot last night. 20K images since last June, I don't even want to think what thay would have cost with film.