Kelly IrvinDoug Westfall bulbmeister@bulbmeister.com1111 Claiborne Dr. Long Beach, CA > Might I inquire from the photographers in the group your most favored > method for producing the black background effect for bloom images, > including lighting? Kelly, I use an Olympus digital camera. One of the settings directs the camera to darken the background and focus on the subject. It does not always cause the background to be BLACK, but it does darken it significantly. Doug