Black Velvet....

Most fashion photographers I know have a huge amount of respect for black fabrics.  I honestly still have restless nights prior to shooting a collection that has black garments, especially if the fabric is a velvet or velour or the nightmare of them all, silk panne-velvet.

Black fabrics really suck up the light - guess why they are used as backdrops -  and to try and bring the required detail out one needs to pay special attention to exposure and lighting or risk the possibility of "closed blacks" that are not recoverable regardless of your post processing abilities.

One of my solutions to the problem - and believe me I wouldn't have sleepless nights if I had all the answers - is to expose at least half a stop more on the fabric if I have a fair skinned model and up to one and a half times more if the model is dark. If the garment has pleats and folds I position lighting to express these details as much possible in the same manner you would carefully skim light over a models torso, if you were looking for muscle definition.

The best velvets are still made from pure silk and have a sheen that can cause additional problems and require the softest most diffused light source you can lay your hands on as fill, with a snappier harder light source to skim the fabric as a side light.

When I browse through the clients garments and fabrics prior to a shoot I try to get involved with model selection if there are black fabrics involved. Hey, even if there aren't I still interfere. Seriously though, if the post production budget is tight, the client will simply be better rewarded with choosing a darker skin tone. If the funds and time are there, I am happy to shoot Nordic "Ice Maidens" in black panne all day long.

For me shooting digital medium format at as low ISO as the back is capable, allows a bit more tolerance when trying to draw out fill light in post production using Capture One.  Ideally though, get the lighting right and use fill as a bonus.  As both a Phase and Leaf user I personally feel my Leaf Aptus backs handle these conditions better than my P45+ but that is a very subjective comment.

Finally thanks to Alessandro for the crop suggestion on the above image which was shot this week during a "time out" break at Studio Yellow.Simon Stewart - Fashion & Beauty