How to achieve thi s effect?

Hi to all ;-)

 

This is my first post in photo.net.

I have the following question. What technique I have to use to achieve effect

like this shown on this picture.

 

For me the way is to use spot light and black background?

Please advice.

 

Thank you very much about your replies!

 

Examples:

http://www.photo.net/photo/4662430

http://www.photo.net/photo/5705712

Well the first image looks like the image was taken in late afternoon sun and had a black background added in post processing. I suppose it could've been shot in the studio... but the color balance isn't right in that case.

 

In the second image, the cups are probably placed upon black velvet. The table with the cups is then placed far enough from the background to prevent any light spilling. The lighting is fairly simple: a light in the back and maybe a softbox or umbrella in the front.

Hello Kamen, it would be worth contacting the individual photographers to ask. The bird shot will have been taken in bright, low-angle sunlight. By exposing for the white plumage and pushing the contrast a little, the background will darken appreciably.

 

I think the cups will have been shot on a black background with well defused lighting and with a large-ish aperture like f2.

 

Hope this helps.

This look is easily obtainable with high speed sync flash photography and appropriately open lens. E.g. D70 camera with two or more flashes set at low power output, sync at 1/4000 sec or so, aperture appropriate for desired depth of field and effects of total background darkness, as dictated by the amount of ambient light, if the ambient light cannot be controllable. In a studio low or near darkness would allow for more freedom to use wider range of aperture values.

 

Of course the same or practically any effect could be abtained in Photoshop or other software by painting background, use of layers - but that is not picture taking, but after all you are asking about "How to achieve this effect?" - and not necessarily about how to make this kind of photograph.

These particular photographers have selected the subject matter (bird, cups) and then chosen the inverse portion of the images (background) - and painted/ burned those black.

 

You can see this by opening the images in a programme like Photoshop and boosting the luminosity levels : in both cases the backgrounds are at 0% luminosity - pure black....no detail whatsoever. The painting (masking) is quite evident.

 

(It is possible to achieve this in camera however...very bright detail on dark background will show the background near black depending on aperture.)

You can use the Magic Wand (in Photoshop) or a similar tool in other editors to select the entire background and then set brightness and contrast to -100. I did this in some of my pictures. If you look at my portfolio you find several examples such as the bird on the ice cream cup, the Thai women on the boat, or the black sky in some of my pictures from Paris.