black reflectiv object on black background

Would you place the object on black glass or separate it from the base.

I'd take a photo from top to bottom.

You need to provide A LOT more info. Why black and black? What is the object? What is the background? Seamless, velvet, black cloth?

Start your journey to an answer by buying and studying a copy of Light Science and Magic.

Amazon.com - Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting: 5th Edition - Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, Paul Fuqua

jazja said:

Would you place the object on black glass or separate it from the base.

I'd take a photo from top to bottom

Click to expand...

First question: Why do you want to shoot it that way? Is that what the client is asking or because you want to learn how to do it or because it is a class assignment?

Second question: do you )or the client or the teacher) want the object to “float” in a seemingly infinite space or do you want the product to be grounded on a reflective foreground?

My idea.

I am just an amateur photographer but I want to learn this shot. Why? because it's hard

It would be much easier shot on a white and then a little exercise in Photoshop.


I want the item to be separated from the base: with RIM and gradient.

This is probably the answer to my question.

The subject must be separated from the base-becouse I need light from below.

jazja said:

My idea.

I am just an amateur photographer but I want to learn this shot. Why? because it's hard

It would be much easier shot on a white and then a little exercise in Photoshop.

I want the item to be separated from the base: with RIM and gradient.

This is probably the answer to my question.

The subject must be separated from the base-becouse I need light from below.

Click to expand...

With lighting you need to remember two things that seem obvious but some don’t get. When shooting a white object, the shadows define it’s shape. With a dark or black object, you have to work with the highlights. Mainly “specular” highlights.

So yeah, if you need to define the edge of an area of an object that is shot against black, it will need to have a highlight on it.

If there is one person who taught this like no one else it’s Dean Collins. Here is a link where he explains exactly what your trying to do. Well, it explains lighting in general. And no one, and I mean no one taught it better than Dean.

It would depend on the object, but I’d probably place it on a black granite floor tile, and light it with some variation of dark field lighting.