dodging and burning or black background?

[pierods]

I often see portraits where somebody's face and maybe hands stand out from a black background.

Or maybe only half of the face is visible, and the other half is totally black.

What's the best way to do it? In-camera with lighting or dodge and burn?

I tend to think d&b because it's too much of an annoyance to try not to overexpose just a few parts of an image, or conversely, try to dramatically underexpose other parts.

Opinions?

[Dave Miller]

Its generally down to good lighting control, which is much better than after work IMO.

[Gary Holliday]

Most my formal male portraits are done like this. Black background , dark clothing and directional lighting over exposed by a stop or two. Split grade printing helps to retain the contrast between subject and background.

[Mike Crawford]

Black velvet is a wonderful thing for pure black backgrounds. It just eats up the light. Don't try using a dark colour like purple or David Lynch's favourite, blue, as it will show all the folds and highlights. You will then spend a long time in the darkroom trying to burn it all in. You may get the odd highlight with black, but the definition and seperation around the figure will be so good that you can easily burn or fog the offending lighter bits.
All the best
Mike
PS The only problem is that you now have to buy lots of velvet from a material shop and I haven't got a clue how expensive it is theses days!

[pierods]

I'll try the black velvet and lighting then.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Gary Holliday]

Look out for black velour. It doesn't crease and has a nice surface which as Mike says, easts up the light.

[Allen Friday]

I use black felt for my black backgrounds. Much cheaper than the alternative.

Another trick to getting a solid black in the background is to put the model as far away from the background as you can. In this case, the bigger the studio, the better. My studio is pretty small, however. I put my camera as near the far wall as possible and then move the subject around depending on if it is a head shot or full length portrait.

[panastasia]

Originally Posted by pierods

I'll try the black velvet and lighting then.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I agree with Dave Miller. Lighting control w/continuous lighting is what I would use, that way you can judge the lighting as a preview - block the light falling on the background material.

Paul

[eddym]

A grid on the light will help create a contrasty lighting effect and deep shadows.

[pierods]

What kind of grid?