Working with the World’s Blackest Backdrop

Photography Tips

Black backdrops are very useful in photography. For instance, they are widely used in portrait and product photography. They’re great when you don’t want any unnecessary shadows and reflections. Also, very black materials can be used to block any unnecessary light coming into the scene. They work pretty well but once you see what photographer Mathieu Stern uses, you’d want to reconsider the black material you’ve been using. In this video, he shares what using the world’s blackest material as a photography backdrop is like and also compares it with a normal professional black background. The results are rather surprising:

Stern uses the black background made of Visible Light Absorbing Flock Sheet material which absorbs more than 99 percent of the light falling on it. In comparison, regular black materials only absorb around 94 percent. And the results, as you can see, are absolutely mindblowing.

The Flock Sheet maintains its dark appearance even under direct sunlight and works great to hide those unwanted shadows. Moreover, as Stern demonstrates in the video, product photography is a breeze. It is quite easy to take a photo of the product alone. And surprisingly, the professional black backgrounds appear greyish in front of the Flock Sheet.

It sure seems like the Flock Sheet has the potential to make working with lights so much easier. Do you see yourself working with this material for your photo and video works? Let us know in the comments.