Introduction: Shoot Flowers With a Black Background With a Cellphone Under $2

By Thomas Neubauer
About: I have always been tech support for just about everyone. I am an Autodidact. There is nothing I can't teach myself. I was a Auto Tech for more than 20 years. I was ASE Master certified. I was in the top 10 div…

You are going to love this one. We see the results of very skilled photographers shooting flowers with black backgrounds all the time. They are always stunning. I will show you how to get this effect with a cell phone without any editing software.

I used my Galaxy Mega 6.3 for this one.

You will need

Your cellphone

Large piece of card board

Flat black paint

Let's get started..................

Step 1:

Here I have used a Shop Vac box. You could also use black foam core (but the paint may react with it and melt it).

Cut out the cardboard as needed for your desired size. Here I cut the end flaps off the main side piece. I saved these two pieces for use later. I may need a smaller card for other pictures.

Step 2: The Magical World of Paint

I used the cheap flat black paint available at Walmart.

This part is important. You will need to make many passes with the paint. The key hear is to put on very thin coats. You want to stack it up so it has a slight texture. Check the pictures and you will see the progress. I did about 12 coats; basically until the can was empty. Yes this sounds like a lot of paint but you are after the texture. If this was done in one pass the card would be slightly reflective. We want as flat as possible.

Take your time.....

When done make sure you take the time to let the card completely dry. Otherwise it will be very easy to damage the texture before it cures.

Step 3: Cellphone Settings

Here is the part that many get wrong and this is the part that is the easiest.

Now lets go into the settings and get your camera ready. I have provided screenshots of the steps.

Step 4: Setting Up the Shot

To get the best results you will need to hold your card about 10" behind your subject while shooting the picture. Here is where you may have to experiment a bit. For my shot (unedited) I used 100 ISO and a 10-12" spacing between flower and the card.

You should not have to edit the photo at all. If you do, then make sure you are adjusting only the blacks in the photo. If you need to 'crush' the blacks you should refine your methods a bit.

Now get out there and impress your friends...............