Photographing orchids.

[bil]

So, when you photograph orchids, what's the best colour background to use?

[Ray]

Black velvet. It gobbles shadows right up.

[Paphluvr]

Totally agree with Ray. When I was still taking my photos with a film camera I was using a 2¼" format camera with 10" reflectors and diffusors and black (or very dark blue) velvet backdrop. Awesome results!

[bil]

Thanks for that.

[jkofferdahl]

Also agree with black velvet. I'm intending to get one!

[bethmarie]

I've struggled with black backgrounds. I'm a total novice at photography, to understate the matter.
When I take a picture with a black background, my camera displays the symbol for too little light, and I don't know how to compensate for that. Is there an easy way?

[naoki]

Originally Posted by bethmarie

I've struggled with black backgrounds. I'm a total novice at photography, to understate the matter.
When I take a picture with a black background, my camera displays the symbol for too little light, and I don't know how to compensate for that. Is there an easy way?

I'm guessing that you don't have enough light, so the slowest shutter speed on the camera is not slow enough? If so, you either need to add more light (better) or increase the ISO value.

If your subject is getting too bright and the background is gray instead of black because the black background is tricking the exposure meter in the camera, you need to use an exposure compensation (set it to a minus value).

If you tell which camera, maybe some people might be able to tell which buttons to push.

[Optimist]

Originally Posted by bethmarie

I've struggled with black backgrounds. I'm a total novice at photography, to understate the matter.
When I take a picture with a black background, my camera displays the symbol for too little light, and I don't know how to compensate for that. Is there an easy way?

Before digital cameras, you would put a white card in front of it. Maybe that will work. Do you use ISO/Aperture/F-stop settings or is it automatic? Focusing forward of the background to a lit orchid might work also if you do have those depth of field settings.

[naoki]

A lot of people like black backgrounds (especially orchid people), and it can look nice for some situations. But no-texture, pitch black backgrounds, which seems a bit unnatural, aren't my favorite. Here is another opinion:
Avoiding Black Backgrounds for Macro Photography | NatureScapes.Net – The Resource for Nature Photographers
In this web page, I like the mammal photos with black, but I think the ant photos with hint of colors look nicer.

Neutral gray is fairly versatile, and I use it most frequently (I use backdrop muslin you can see here). I also use deep blue, green, and brown because these are the color you frequently see in nature. For those, I just got smaller pieces from Jo-ann fabrics. By lighting, you can make the background almost black, but leave a touch of color. Creating a gradation can be a nice effects, but sometime it is difficult.

[Jacob Reitsma]

Interesting topic, in the future I was also planning to picture my orchids, now I only have my phone camera and I was wondering what is a good camera for a starter?