Black background in macro photos

[Shizz]

Hi,
Maybe this has been asked before (if so, I'm sorry, I tried to search the forums), but I wanted to know how people get the nice black background in their macro photos. Like this:

Praying Mantid (Dark Eyed) Macro Photo

Is it artificial or natural? And if it is artificial, how do they do it?

Thanks in advance,
Matthijs

[i speak in math]

If you use a flash to light the subject, then you can close up your aperture, both to get more of the subject in focus, as well as to kill the ambient light. If the flash has the power to properly expose the subject, then the background will be black.

You can see below, at 1/180 (max sync speed for Pentax) and f/13, there is no ambient light left. Without a flash, you would just get blackness. Use the flash to light the subject and the background will still look black.



Model: PENTAX K20D
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/180 sec
Aperture: f/13
Focal Length: 50mm reversed on 68mm extension tubes
Flash Used: Yes

[Jo.T]

+1 to i speak in math

Also a lot of the pics look like they are done in a light tent.

Cheers Jo

[Shizz]

Thanks I speak in math. So one totaly relies on their flash. Is this, in your case, a macro dedicated flash, or a "normal" flash.
Also, I read that stopping down your lens increases your DOF ofcourse, but at a certain aperture the image will get blury because of diffraction. At what F/stop would this start to be a problem?

[RichardTaylor]

Here's another example outside on a bright sunny day.

The flash was off camera.


Camera Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200) (max synch speed)
Aperture f/29.0
Focal Length 100 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash On, Fired

As far as diffraction issues goes I havn't noticed any problems when publish at web sizes or smaller prints (which is rare).

[Steve_S]

You can also do this naturally , by having your subject in good light, and the background a very dark color. Doesn't have to be black, just much darker than the subject. When you expose for the subject, the background will become even darker. Then in post, you can clip the background to pure black.

[o0chad0o]

Originally Posted by Shizz

Hi,
Maybe this has been asked before (if so, I'm sorry, I tried to search the forums), but I wanted to know how people get the nice black background in their macro photos. Like this:

Praying Mantid (Dark Eyed) Macro Photo

Is it artificial or natural? And if it is artificial, how do they do it?

Thanks in advance,
Matthijs

Check out the link below...four minute video of Bryan Peterson explaining how this can be done with off-camera flash.

Creating Contrast with a Flash--AdoramaTV

[Shizz]

Chad, Thanks for the video.

Matthijs