shooting black subjects....best method?

[Ardy]

Very hard and you rarely if ever see a black subject in a good photographers portfolio. I have hit the same problem with frog fish but also black ribbon eels. The only thing you can do once you have fooled the camera into over exposure assuming you wont have a background that is totally distracting, is to try to get the flash reflected in the eye. Apart from this I have no idea, tried several times but nothing great or even keep-able if I admit it to myself (I do anyway). Not my best of a black subject but the quickest to get i.e. an apology or appeal for mercy?

 

[chile7236]

shooting black subjects....best method? .

I was shocked to read that title. I was thinking that this was a KKK thread or something.

Any way the police will fire one shot into the air and yell "Police, Freeze". After that it is anyones guess.

i spit out my drink just now...was so consumed with tips that i forgot to really look at the title...should i be ashamed?

 

[Superlyte27]

So this isn't a george zimmerman tutorial?

 

[alcina]

Black subjects like those froggies are biatches to shoot. The best options I've seen have been shooting a little wider so they are part of a scene - for some reason those images seem to show the subject off better than filling the frame.

Good luck, they're toughies.

 

[chile7236]

 

[chile7236]

Since I was in a hurry (always a bad thing to be when shooting)....some very noticeable particulate and less than ideal strobe positioning

 

[Interceptor121]

I have looked at my set and could not really find anything black that was decent
The issue is always the lack of highlights and whites as here


However if I look at video such as this one Philippines Diving Moalboal December 2011 1080p.mov - YouTube that I shot this Xmas in Moalboal you can see around 13:58 there is footage of a black frogfish without lights I had a blue water filter. You can see that the water colour greatly enhances the frogfish

I would think that instead of shooting at speeds of 1/250 and faster shooting at 1/60 and pointing upwards so that the water can be seen instead of the reef together with a wide aperture could achieve a better result however I have no practical examples as the ribbon eel is quite erratic so you need minimum 1/100 and even there is quite blurry because of movement. I have looked at older frogfishes that I have and the better results go to old shots taken with an Ixus 65 that was full auto and shoot at 1/60 F4 confirming the theory

Next black frogfish here I come hahaha!

 

[highdesert]

Good to know I'm not alone .... I had the same problems.

 

[Interceptor121]

You seem to be lacking a strobe?

Good to know I'm not alone .... I had the same problems.

 

[dna77054]

I too have had this problem with ribbon eels and frogfish and I do not have a solution. Real shame we cannot share such cool creatures. These things are really black, black-hole black, no light comes back.

For those who catch the reference, the following quote is most appropriate:

"How much more black could it be?"
"The answer is none, it could be none more black."