background light for solid black backdrop?

Just curious if anyone uses a background light for solid black fabric backgrounds. I started recently using a black Boss wrinkle-free background and have not been using a background light on it so I could achieve that rich black appearance. Just wondering what the possibilities are.

You deffinately can use a light on a black background, but I more often find myself wanting to eliminate light from reaching a black background so that it goes completely black (no data black).

I sometimes use a snoot or grid on a black background to create a gradient too.

doidinho wrote in post #15389252
I sometimes use a snoot or grid on a black background to create a gradient too.

Can you elaborate?

Sure, a light with either a snoot or grid will create a circle of light when shot directly perpendicular to the background. The grid will create a solid circle of light with feathered edges and the snoot will create more of a radial gradient.

The effect looks cool and can also help to separate the shadows of the subject from the dark background.

The size of the circle can be controlled by the size of the grid/snoot and by managing the background lights distance from the background.

If you angle the gridded/snooted light at the background, it will create an ellipse, rather than a circle, so you can experiment with different angles get different different shapes as well.

Hope that helps.

If you want true blacks keep the light from falling on the drop. If you need background separation use a rimlight instead. The closer your key and fill are to the subject the quicker the light will falloff so that you have less light from the front spilling on the drop as well.