A still life back ground question

[John Kasaian]

Trigger..well I changed his/her name to Seabiscuit is my 7" long Sea Horse specimen. I'm shooting him/her on 8x10 ortho film for contact prints and while Seabiscuit is a willing sitter (layer?) finding a satifying back ground is the problem. Wood grain just looks too distracting so I'm thinking of either sand (for a lighter back ground) or dried seaweed (for a darker back ground) Plain white paper seems too "blah" but there has to be a way to get ol' Seabiscuit to "pop" without distracting shadows---I just haven't found it yet:rolleyes: Perhaps you've a suggestion for me? Perhaps some plastic product? I'm using natural lighting and reflectors.

[dsphotog]

Sand sounds great, nice texture, plus it's associated with sea life.
Maybe even take him along on a trip to the dunes or the beach.
As for lighting, you might try a "tent" of diffusion fabric, or use a reflector for fill light.

[jb7]

How about some biscuits?

[Steven Barall]

I was thinking some sort of metallic something places a few feet behind the tank. It might give sort of an infinite water look. Good luck. I look forward to seeing an 8x10 of a seahorse. Very cool.

[Robert Ley]

John,
Wow...Macro with an 8x10. How are you planning to shot this little guy? What camera and lens, what is the reproduction ratio, the bellows draw, what film and soup? The thing that I am most interested is how are you going to light this subject with natural light?

Have you thought of trans-lume? The only problem is getting enough light in behind it, but if you can you will be able to control your shadows. The sand would probably be the best bet except you probably wouldn't even know it was sand because of your limited dof.

Keep us informed of your progress.

[Daniel Stone]

look at Andreas Feininger's work with still lifes. He shot shells, but the idea is still somewhat the same.
pt 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXGua_YjiUg
pt 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Iby7p7BN-k&feature=related
pt3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTFF_FUP33U&feature=related
pt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7jN-4OSJRc&feature=related


-Dan

[dsphotog]

I guess the "modern" way would be to shoot digital color on green screen & later drop in any background you want.;)