How to shoot dark pictures?

Mohamed.Ghuloom · April 11, 2009

Hello,
Well, I'm preparing for this photo session where I have to take dark pictures like these below, where the background is black.

How this is achieved without using a studio and lighting equipments? :scratch

The Mack · April 11, 2009

Mohamed.Ghuloom wrote:

How this is achieved without using a studio and lighting equipments?

It's not.

Toshido · April 11, 2009

Seems almost like a trick question. After so many threads and comments about pictures that look like they were shot in a cave. You know the type, subject lit by flash and background almost black. Almost always unintentional.
Now that the effect is wanted it is not achievable?

Now with no lighting equipment i would agree, impossible. But with a flash, even a hotshoe flash or, ick, pop-up flash you should be able to approximate the effect. At least the dark background.

Simple starting point is to move the subject away from backgrounds. Expose for 2-3 stops underexposed (maybe) using ambient light, then use a flash to light up the subject.

Add a snoot if needed and experiment.

All the above is purely hypothetical but sounds good in my head. Even last night experimenting with my home made flash diffuser I was getting similar results taking a picture of my kid in his room. The door frame actually blocked most of the light from shining behind him and I got a pretty dark background, just messing around taking a couple snaps to see the diffuser effects.

Mohamed.Ghuloom · April 11, 2009

Toshido could you please share some of those pictures you toke, so I see if they are similar to what I'm trying to achieve or not.

I'm trying to shoot for a perfume advertisement where I have to get the best out of the least equipments. I can use my external flash for it. My idea was a total black picture, light only on the model (wearing white suite and looking to the left-down) and a female hand with a perfume spraying it to the chest of that model. I want the small dots of perfume to be visible in the shot. Something like what is in the attachments

lolz

Art Scott · April 11, 2009

Mohamed.Ghuloom wrote:

Toshido could you please share some of those pictures you toke, so I see if they are similar to what I'm trying to achieve or not.

I'm trying to shoot for a perfume advertisement where I have to get the best out of the least equipments. I can use my external flash for it. My idea was a total black picture, light only on the model (wearing white suite and looking to the left-down) and a female hand with a perfume spraying it to the chest of that model. I want the small dots of perfume to be visible in the shot. Something like what is in the attachments lolz

This is not a simple 1 flash type of shoot.....first of all you need a black background....either black dyed muslin of a wall and floor painted black......
Next your going to need OFF CAMERA FLASH....whether it is studio lighting (prefered) or a couple of speedlights on light stands and triggered by remote RF triggers....also you will need large soft boxes and before the shoot you need to practice trying to get shot os water sprayed out of a bottle....the water drops will be larger and heavier than pefume but it is a starting point......you will need to be using side lighting for model and perfume spray...with 1 or 2 lights dramatically lighting the model from the side (side facing light will be lit and other side will be dark going to blk and this is done with controling your aperture)....for this you really should use an incident light (flash) meter and the second light for lighting the perfume spray......unless the hand model(model spraying the perfume) has really exquisite hands with very long red finger nails then shoot her hold the perfume and spraying it and then reshoot wit the perfume at exactr height on a black stand that does not reflect (flat black) and cut and paste the bottle floating the the air and spraying the model you will actually see..........

hope that helps

ziggy53 · April 11, 2009

I suggest that you want "low key" lighting and a spot or snoot or tight grid for the spray itself. Realistically you would probably need around 3 lights. A key light with reflector fill and then the "effect" light might also work for a 2 light setup.

For some hints on low key lighting see the following links:

http://www.diyphotography.net/lighting-low-key-lighting-setups
http://www.studioonashoestring.com/30/studio-lighting-for-small-spaces-part-2/

Instead of using perfume (bad idea) or water you might try a glycerin solution to see if that yields larger droplets if required for the shot.

eL eSs Vee · April 11, 2009

Mohamed.Ghuloom wrote:

Hello,
Well, I'm preparing for this photo session where I have to take dark pictures like these below, where the background is black. How this is achieved without using a studio and lighting equipment?

Easy. I've seen this done before and you can do it, too. Let's take this one, as an example. http://www.flickr.com/photos/digiography/1335665023/

I can see how this image could have been created with a north-facing window (or a south-facing window with diffusion material) to camera right. One or two white or silver reflectors to camera left, if any, depending on the amount of fill you want. (You can make silver reflectors out of posterboard and foil, if needed.) Black paper or fabric hanging a few feet behind the subject. The time of day when the light is strongest through the window. You can use a spot meter aimed at your subject to get the exposure, or an incident meter aimed at the window.

Your ISO will most likely be high, which will mean noise. You can lower the ISO and lengthen the exposure time, which will give the spray a bit of a blur that can be a nice effect. Experiment a bit until you get what you want. I highly recommend using a tripod.

One last tip: While your model is getting prepared to shoot, experiment with a spray bottle of water to get the effect you want with the spray. 1/30th of a second often gives a slight blurr. Then, when the model is ready, remove the towel you were spraying toward so that the model has a dry place to sit, and then you can take just a few shots with the perfume or glycerin solution. This way, you won't empty the perfume bottle before the shoot begins, which can be expensive. Not to mention that a full bottle of perfume looks better in the finished photo.

I look forward to seeing your results.

Toshido · April 11, 2009

i messed around a little tonight with my son as a model. Not much luck though unfortunately. Of course I also don't have a black background. All the walls here are white and I don't think I even have a dark sheet to use if I could find it.
It really is not that hard to make your subject brighter than the background though.

Best of luck and if in doubt, refer to the experienced. Like Art and Ziggy

Art Scott · April 11, 2009

instead of actual perfume get wood alcohol or ethyl alcohol and fill and perfume bottle....that way it evaporates and doesn't send people home smelling like a FRENCH House if Ilrepute

not to mention it is a lot cheaper...........

pathfinder · April 12, 2009

For a dark background, you really are going to need a dark/black background, unless you have a studio where you can meticulously control the light spilling around off your subject. It is true that a white background with no light whatsoever shining on it will photograph as pure black, but that is not easy to actually do in the real world with light bouncing around everywhere. Some photo studios have all their walls painted flat black, so that only light added can be carefully controlled and monitored. No bouncing allowed.

I use a 4 x 6 foot sheet of flat ( not glossy ) black vinyl for a background for dark B&W images, and find it quite effective, even in my garage/quasi-studio with white walls.

Then a source of light that can be controlled with gobos and flags, and you are good to go.

Art Scott · April 12, 2009

pathfinder wrote:

Then a source of light that can be controlled with gobos and flags, and you are good to go.

What type and brand of gobo do you use??
Are you using custom made gobos?.....those are very expensive starting at around $65 and going up depending on intricacy of the design(s)

My experience with gobos is that they are for special effects (stained glass, city scapes, a heart with bride and gooms name projected on walls and dance floors) rather than light control....to be used in the middle slot of ellipsoidal lights...some of the best are made of glass and do not burn up the way the metal ones do.

pathfinder · April 12, 2009

Art,

I am thinking more of flat black painted cardboard flat sheets, tubes, or plywood panels to control the spread of light, rather than commercial devices.

Controlling light is more a matter of understanding, than fancy tools isn't it? White or silver or gold to reflect, flat black to absorb and prevent reflection. And a stand to hold the panels or flags in place.

You are correct that a gobo technically is a screen to go into a light beam to place a shadow pattern on a subject, but by that line of definition, a window frame casting a shadow on a face is a gobo also.

Wiki gives a secondary, more general definition as follows - "Gobos control light by blocking, coloring, or diffusing some portion of the beam before it reaches the lens." This is the sense I was thinking of.

Mohamed.Ghuloom · April 12, 2009

I have read all of what you said and i was just experimenting. I am going to buy a black muslin background and lets see if i'm gonna get any lucky.

Without a muslin, I believe if get an infinite black background (at night and an open place), then I use the built-in flash of my camera and having my external flash on the right side of the subject, it will give me what I am looking for.

Also I need to get something to make the flash light look softer, maybe a hand made softbox.

What you guys think?

Art Scott · April 12, 2009

pathfinder wrote:

Art,

I am thinking more of flat black painted cardboard flat sheets, tubes, or plywood panels to control the spread of light, rather than commercial devices.

Controlling light is more a matter of understanding, than fancy tools isn't it? White or silver or gold to reflect, flat black to absorb and prevent reflection. And a stand to hold the panels or flags in place.

You are correct that a gobo technically is a screen to go into a light beam to place a shadow pattern on a subject, but by that line of definition, a window frame casting a shadow on a face is a gobo also.

Wiki gives a secondary, more general definition as follows - "Gobos control light by blocking, coloring, or diffusing some portion of the beam before it reaches the lens." This is the sense I was thinking of.

Gotcha......THANX

Art Scott · April 12, 2009

Mohamed.Ghuloom wrote:

I have read all of what you said and i was just experimenting. I am going to buy a black muslin background and lets see if i'm gonna get any lucky.

Without a muslin, I believe if get an infinite black background (at night and an open place), then I use the built-in flash of my camera and having my external flash on the right side of the subject, it will give me what I am looking for.

Also I need to get something to make the flash light look softer, maybe a hand made softbox.

What you guys think?

try wax paper.....it might be too dense tho.....a white nylon stocking (womens hose) work well also.....I have used kleenix, and other paper i would find on site of a shoot when in a pinch......make yourself a light scoop for a couple of dollars........your on board flash, I do not believe will be much good for this kind of shoot......

How to shoot dark pictures?

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