Hobbies And Interests
Purpose
A solid black backdrop is useful for photographers when they want the viewer's attention drawn exclusively to a specific subject in their photographs. This subject could be a product when the photographer is creating images to accompany advertisements, or an individual. Employing a black background has the same effect of focusing attention on the subject in both black-and-white photography and in color.
Physical Backdrop
When the photographer is shooting against an actual black backdrop, there are a few considerations to keep in mind. If the photographer is using a large piece of black fabric as his backdrop, it must be free of wrinkles or creases that could appear as texture in the background. Wrinkles and texture will distract the eye from the picture's subject and disrupt the uniformity of the backdrop.
Digital Backdrop
Instead of shooting photographs against a physical black backdrop, a photographer using a digital camera can use digital imaging software to create a black background on the studio computer. This requires creating two layers in the digital project. The first will be a solid black layer that will act as the photograph's backdrop. The second will be an "alpha" layer, which means that it will be transparent, allowing the black backdrop to show through. The photographer will then paste the image he wishes to transpose onto the alpha layer. The result will look as if the subject was originally shot against a black backdrop.
Depth
In some situations, a photographer may be dissatisfied with the effect a uniform black backdrop has in a photograph. Specifically, he might not like that there is no sense of depth between the backdrop and the subject of the photo. For situations such as this, the photographer may wish to use a slightly reflective black material as his backdrop. By using such a material, he can specifically set up the intensity of light which will shine across the material to create the desired sense of separation between the subject and the backdrop.