How is this background done?

Fast shutter - small aperture - to reduce effect of ambient light and give depth of field - ISO 100 - and use a flash or ring flash.

Great Input! Thanks a million!

AirBrontosaurus & Homerdog - NICE shots!

I am an unschooled photographer (sort of) back in 1973 (9th grade) I took photography which thumped me with the interest. That and a grandfather who was a professional sculpture that always taught me that there is beauty in EVERYTHING ...

I finally got to where I can afford a little something to spring board with ....

Just to share two of my favorite shots ... The first week with my camera!

Could be a number of things.

Likely a studio. But I once shot a flower in my living room. The black couch created a nice black background for the flower.

I think its a combination of PS and a fast,really fast shutter speed using the flash as the only souce of illumination. The flash was toned down to illuminate the utmost foreground, the faster shutter speed did not allow the sensor to even capture the little if lit background. Then a little PS to polish it off

Use flash

These two images were both shot at f16 outside, the first at 1/13s without flash the second at 1/250s with flash. No other photoshop work was done. Not perfectly black but that could be easily fixed with a little more care.

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i have done similar things with flowers. - see my website. i simply used black card blu tacked to a wall to form a background.

Xpri...I'm just guessing here. Correct me if I'm wrong.
The flower with the dark background was shot using Av (aperture priority)mode. Flash sync speed in AV mode was set to 1/250sec. (fixed) in Custom function.

I like your eye for great shots!

Awesome!!

The photos above are what I am dying to do - the red really pops against the dark background!

Nature is such a giving subject . . . Thank God for the beauty!

The flower definitely looks like a studio shot (advantage: no wind, and easy to set up a tripod). I made my own tabletop studio some time ago (see footer for a detailed account) - photographing simple things like flowers, fruit and vegetables can be so rewarding.

Besides that, flowers are fantastic against a black background. The colours stand out nicely and if you want to, you can easily change the background in photoshop.

P.

To answer about the original post-

I am no expert, but I think the photographer was standing slightly West of Launch Pad 39B during a Space Shuttle Launch -the last one conducted at night, so the photo is at least 5 years old- and then he waited until the shuttle was about 12 miles uprange, and took this picture.

anyhow, as I said I am no expert, but I think his camera was set to M, 1/4000 with f/32 and a 10-22mm Lens.

???

I agree with the idea of writing the photographer and asking him. This world of Photos is about making connections and meeting people. And I have yet to meet a photographer who is not eager to tell everyone else how he achieved such great results on a photo.

Cheers.

I like the pic with the wood in the water! My wife is more in the flowers thing, but since I'm also making furniture and lampstands my eyes are set on pieces of wood everywhere I go. Must say I learnt a lot on this subject of making the background dark. Good job everyone.

What we also should mention is the role of post processing.

Compare these both versions of the same image:

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Digital_Duck wrote:
A local photographer has a flower with a totally black background - how is that done?

THIS IS -> THE LINK <- TO THE PICTURE...

It may be a silly question, but have you asked the photographer?

othomas wrote:
It may be a silly question, but have you asked the photographer?

I couldn't find a contact for him - I'll look again ...