making a non-reflective black background

[doctorjames]

further to my steam thread...

Any quick, cheap and easy methods (apart from shooting at night )

Thanks in advance,

James

[metallion58]

My guess would be matte black paint on thick cardboard.

[SwissJon]

I'm told black velvet is about as non-reflective as it gets.

Don't get any hard surfaces and paint them, no matter how "matt" the paint is, it's still reflect the light. You need a soft backdrop.. Velvet has all the hairs sticking at 90 degrees from the surface, so the light hits it at its least reflective angle.. Anything like that would work.. A black rug or blanket. But no matter what you use, if you expose the surface for mid range on the histogram, it's not going to come out black.

More than anything, manage your lighting, speed and aperture.. Make sure little or no light hits the backdrop, keep the speed as fast as possible to ensure the environment is under exposed, and manage the exposure of the subject using the speedlight power settings and your aperture.

Speed manages the brightness of the things on which no flash light falls, aperture controls the brightness of things that it does fall on, flash power manages what the light falls on. You should be able to set your systems up so the background is 3 stops under exposed, which should give you jet black, then use the flash to selectively light your subject. It's tricky, but it works MUCH better than just trying to manage it by getting a black backdrop.

[KurtM]

Here are a couple ideas from astronomical telescope making, where we tend to take anti-reflection measures pretty seriously:

1. The flattest flat black paint is a hot topic, and two consistently rise to the top: ordinary Krylon flat black spray cans from the hardware store, and Rose Brand Rosco Supersaturated™ Paint, where the black is made for "disappearing" theatrical stage prop parts.

Rosco Supersaturated? Paint from Rose Brand

2. Flocking paper. Protostar Telescope Making & Upgrading

Don't get any hard surfaces and paint them, no matter how "matt" the paint is, it's still reflect the light.

^^^ Pretty good advice. I feel a little silly trying to add anything to what Jon says, actually....

[IABoomer]

Jon's advice regarding flash seems to be spot on. Dial in an ambient that's completely dark, then add controlled light on your subject to get them exposed properly.

A quick and dirty sample video from Dom Bower. If you have a high-speed sync capability, that will probably help.

Low Key photography anywhere (flash tips) - YouTube

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by KurtM

Here are a couple ideas from astronomical telescope making, where we tend to take anti-reflection measures pretty seriously:

1. The flattest flat black paint is a hot topic, and two consistently rise to the top: ordinary Krylon flat black spray cans from the hardware store, and Rose Brand Rosco Supersaturated™ Paint, where the black is made for "disappearing" theatrical stage prop parts.

Rosco Supersaturated? Paint from Rose Brand

2. Flocking paper. Protostar Telescope Making & Upgrading




^^^ Pretty good advice. I feel a little silly trying to add anything to what Jon says, actually....

LoL.. I think you did pretty well with the flock wallpaper.. I hadn't thought about that.. Been looking into this subject a fair bit myself recently, which explains a lot! Nice to know my research was spot on. I'll be looking into the wallpaper.

[Biomech]

I use black cloth in my photo booth which gives no reflections. It feels velvety, but I didn't buy it so I don't know :P One side is shinier than the other though.

[NgaiHill]

I use black velvet, very non-reflective. Just remember to roll it up inwards so it doesn't get dust on it.

[doctorjames]

Thanks for all your replies Black velvet is is then... kind of nice to know I was on the right track with a black sheet