Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do you take pics with a perfectly black backround? Can it be done with just a normal camera and not a digital one or a fancy normal one? I have no clue when it comes to photography, but I'd like to take some pics of my snakes with a black background.
thanks,
Will

Yes, you get something that's black to fill the entire shot behind your subject, and don't light it. Make sure your subject is well lit though
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Axe
The Reptile Rooms

so i just use like a lamp or something from the side, just on the snake, and not use a flash?
thanks,
will

Getting a good, clean black background with the subject well exposed is not as easy as it might seem.

What are you calling a "normal" camera? This kind of shot is difficult to pull off if you don't have some control over the shutter and aperture of your camera.

One of the keys is to have some distance between the subject and the background. This is going to call for a large background. Then you need to use flash from the sides and top of the subject. It will take some experimentation to find the exact amount of light and lighting direction you need. You have to be able to control the lighting and the depth-of-field.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are several ways to do it.

One way, as Oldherper pointed out, is to angle your flash in such a way that it doesn't shed light on the background and use the fastest flash sync possible

or

Use a photo editing program like Photoshop to remove the background.

or

The easy way is to get a piece of black, non-reflective cloth and hang it behind the subject (a few feet back so it won't be in focus) - this is easiest with critters on branches.
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Chris Harrison

It's expensive but worth it for these type of shots. It absorbs light and shows very dark in the photo - if your technical detail is right.