# Creating a black background.... with no backdrop!



## SabrinaO (Feb 12, 2011)

How is this done? I know the lighting has to be on the subject, but how does the background get completely black w/o post processing? I mean doesn't the light spill over? Would I have to set my shutter speed faster? How is this done? I'm just curious!


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## RockstarPhotography (Feb 12, 2011)

set your shutter speed to the fastest sync speed your camera allows, increase the aperture untill the background goes black,  fill your subjects with flash, if flash is spilling over get further away from the background!!!!

nutshell


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## SabrinaO (Feb 12, 2011)

RockstarPhotography said:


> set your shutter speed to the fastest sync speed your camera allows, increase the aperture untill the background goes black, fill your subjects with flash, if flash is spilling over get further away from the background!!!!
> 
> nutshell


 

SWEET!! I can't wait to practice! Thanks!! Can it be on camera flash, or does it have to be angled differently?


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## RockstarPhotography (Feb 12, 2011)

SabrinaO said:


> RockstarPhotography said:
> 
> 
> > set your shutter speed to the fastest sync speed your camera allows, increase the aperture untill the background goes black, fill your subjects with flash, if flash is spilling over get further away from the background!!!!
> ...



i'm sure it can, you just have to make sure that you far enough away from a wall so the flash won't spill over onto it.  going off camera gives you more options for angles to keep it from spilling.


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## OrionsByte (Feb 12, 2011)

Think of light falloff like depth of field - it's kind of the same principle.  Keep your flash-to-subject distance short and your subject-to-background to distance long, so the subject gets the full brunt of the flash while the background gets a lot less.  If your flash is on-camera, that means your camera is going to be very close to your subject too, so taking it off-camera would make things easier.

One tip I can recommend is once you have your settings where you want them, take a shot _without _the flash to make sure it comes out _completely _black.  That way, when you turn the flash on, anything you see can only possibly be lit by the flash, and not ambient light (since your ambient-only exposure was black).  That should help you make the adjustments you need to make to get the effect to work.

Also, it would probably go a lot smoother if you set your flash power manually rather than letting your camera do it, because depending on the metering mode it might try to expose the whole scene instead of just the part you want lit.


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## OrionsByte (Feb 12, 2011)

Here's the relevant post on Strobist:

Strobist: Lighting 102: 1.2 - Position | Distance


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## SabrinaO (Feb 12, 2011)

OrionsByte said:


> Think of light falloff like depth of field - it's kind of the same principle.  Keep your flash-to-subject distance short and your subject-to-background to distance long, so the subject gets the full brunt of the flash while the background gets a lot less.  If your flash is on-camera, that means your camera is going to be very close to your subject too, so taking it off-camera would make things easier.
> 
> One tip I can recommend is once you have your settings where you want them, take a shot _without _the flash to make sure it comes out _completely _black.  That way, when you turn the flash on, anything you see can only possibly be lit by the flash, and not ambient light (since your ambient-only exposure was black).  That should help you make the adjustments you need to make to get the effect to work.
> 
> Also, it would probably go a lot smoother if you set your flash power manually rather than letting your camera do it, because depending on the metering mode it might try to expose the whole scene instead of just the part you want lit.




Oh my goodness! Thank you! You are so helpful too! Loads of good info here. I cant wait to go home and pick up my cam and try this.


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## KmH (Feb 12, 2011)

Outside in daylight it's likely your camera's regular flash sync speed of 1/200 won't be fast enough to take the ambient light all the way to black.

At a faster shutter speed at least one, and possible both shutter curtains will be seen in the photo becuase the shutter is never fully open at shutter speeds quicker than 1/200. That can be accounted for by using a special flash mode called Auto FP-sync, which your D5000 does not have.

To make a photo in FP sync mode the flash unit has to fire several times during the exposure. Because of recycle time issues the flash unit cannot fire at full power for each flash of light. So you need a really powerful flash unit capable of producing enough light at reduced power to not only light your subject but also allow it to recycle in fractions of a second.


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## eccs19 (Feb 12, 2011)

Doing this outdoors is difficult.  Indoors, not so much.  Off camera would be easier than on board flash.  If your doing off camera flash, and having trouble with light spilling onto your background, and you can't move further away, you could always put a flag on the side of your flash that is closer to your background, that way the flag will help to prevent light spilling.


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## RockstarPhotography (Feb 12, 2011)

KmH said:


> Outside in daylight it's likely your camera's regular flash sync speed of 1/200 won't be fast enough to take the ambient light all the way to black.
> 
> At a faster shutter speed at least one, and possible both shutter curtains will be seen in the photo becuase the shutter is never fully open at shutter speeds quicker than 1/200. That can be accounted for by using a special flash mode called Auto FP-sync, which your D5000 does not have.
> 
> To make a photo in FP sync mode the flash unit has to fire several times during the exposure. Because of recycle time issues the flash unit cannot fire at full power for each flash of light. So you need a really powerful flash unit capable of producing enough light at reduced power to not only light your subject but also allow it to recycle in fractions of a second.



Why are you explaining how to do something that her camera has no capability of doing?  One step at a time there big shooter.


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## KmH (Feb 12, 2011)

So she knows there is a way to do it.

So she considers how her camera works, so she can figure out on her own, how to do what she wants to do.

That's why.


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## kundalini (Feb 12, 2011)

^^^   Knowledge is power.


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## reznap (Feb 12, 2011)

RockstarPhotography said:


> Why are you explaining how to do something that her camera has no capability of doing?



Also, it's helpful to both other forum members and people who stumble on to this thread from internet search engines.


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