i try to keep the background far away and keep the light off it. I also use a black bedsheet in the back. Shield the lights with some cardboard or something to keep light from getting on the sheet.
A lot of times when you use black backgrounds you'll end up with something that is more dark grey than black. You can select that dark grey to be your black in Curves using Photoshop. There's 3 eyedroppers. One black, one grey, and one white. Choose the black dropper and click into your grey/black background. Same can be done for whites that take on a slightly different shade than white.
mk, thanks guys. i have yet to get photoshop, but if i turn the flash on my camera down low, then i think i can take a shot far away from all background. thanks again.
Use black velvet as a background, nothing eats light like it
I beg to differ. Nothing eats light like black holes so just jet ur model up there and grab your Hubble Space Telescope and dont forget the Canon EOS to Hubble adapter its only 22,000 dollars!
If your getting grey backgrounds you aren't exposing correctly. IF you are using constant lighting, meter from a grey card, a good black b/g should go nearly solid black.
Agreeing with what's already been said, here's something else to keep in mind:
Light falls off with the square of the distance. Therefore, if your subject and background are at the same distance, they receive the same amount of light. But if the background is twice as far away from the light as the subject, then it only receives 1/4th the light.
So what does this mean? Keep the light source close to the subject, and the subject far from the background.
Ditto to kiwinick - I picked up a sheet of "velveteen" (fake velvet) at a local fabric store for cheap. I got way to much, but a few yards should do the trick.
