Using a black background

Rosiebud

Rosiebud

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Ellie
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I'm trying to get some decent shots of my dogs against a black background but although I've Googled away and tried to follow said found instructions the best I'm getting is a grey background.

Any help/advice much appreciated as my little pack are getting fed up with me :eek:
 
Meter for the background
Adjust your settings until You get a black shot
Turn on your flash (on camera or external)
Use the flash to light your subject(s) (so i would advise using lowest setting possible then adjust upwards if needed)
Shoot away :)

:)
 
As previous poster said, expose for the background using either manual exposure or on auto (A / S/ or P - Nikon ) (AV / TV / P - Canon).

The problem with doing that is your dog is now going to be too dark so you will have to to light him separately, so use a flash and keep the dog as far away from the background as possible, obviously if he's too close to the background, you will light it!

An alternative method would be to open a back door (say), put the dog about 2 or 3 feet inside, then you stand outside and shoot into the room. Because the dog is so well lit (you may need to underexpose depending on how much of your dog fills the frame), the background will go very dark, even black if the room is not brightly decorated.

Cheers,
Bernie
 
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Flash-to-subject-to-background distances are key.... the closer the light source is to the subject, the easier it should be to create a black bg by killing the ambient (at max sync of course), providing there's enough distance between the subject and the background.

It's also worth investing in some proper black velvet for full length shots - velvet with the nap swept in one direction suck up light like nobody's business.
 
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If I'm tight for space and want blank backgrounds black I use gridded lights and fire them parallel or almost parallel to the background.

I would ideally use two lights to shoot your dog - one diagonally in from behind to give a rim light for seperation and another light opposite it as the key light. I'd have fido facing the key light.

Phil
 
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