Green Stuff World "Maxx Darth" photo backdrop

[Malebolgia]

Green Stuff World released their "Maxx Darth" mats some weeks ago and I really wanted to try one. Apparently it's a mat that absorbs 99.9% of the light, giving a pure black background. Ideal if you want to have your miniatures stand out and especially when using OSL (Object Source Lighting). So I ordered one from a local Dutch shop (Een Kleine Wereld, really nice shop!) for less than €15 and received it today.
It comes in a box that protects it well. Inside you find the mat, a nylon-like mat with a pure black polyfibre on top. It's very soft and a bit like a gaming mat with a very dense layer of static fibres. The side of the box does state to be careful with heavy objects as the fibres may come off and thus the effect will be lessened. But time to try it out!

I used my usual setup with two cheap IKEA lamps and 2 strong bulbs (normal, no daylight or whatever). I then imported the photo into Photoshop and saw the effect. Hot darn, as black as you can want! The only thing I did in Photoshop was to remove dust specks and crop the image.

So all in all I am really happy with the mat, how easy it is to use and how black the background really is.

[Daeothar]

I followed the link in your Warzone thread, and 'm not disappointed!

I struggle with taking pictures all the time, so this might be worth a punt.  Only downside is that the thing is from Greenstuff World, and I dislike their business practices. But I know Kleine Wereld and they're well worth supporting... 

[Doug ex-em4]

Excellent effect - very atmospheric.

Doug

[Chairface]

That's an excellent review. Many thanks

[fred]

Very effective- and some great painting too!

[Daeothar]

So... I took the plunge last week and ordered one of these. Occasion was a finished mini which I completely painted OSL (a ranger holding aloft a lamp) and I figured the effect would be best visible against a really black background.

So the day it arrived, I took it out of the box and immediately put it to use. However, the results were nothing short of dire... 

It would not register as true black on my phone camera, but worse; it appeared to contain loads of little white flecks! Now, I'm not the best house keeper in the world, but I do keep my hobbyroom clean and that piece of cloth was literally a couple of minutes out of the box when I first used it!

So the way I see it, there are three possibilities;

1) I suck at photography and no fancy background can change that (a very plausible option)
2) I was sent a used or returned item that already contained all that dust etc when I opened the box
3) Both of the above

Mind; when I look at the sheet with the naked eye, it looks absolutely pitch black and those white specks don't even register. But when I use my camera(phone), it looks like a frickin' night sky.

I am using a daylight lamp and two LED units that are significantly more red. Would this have anything to do with it perhaps? Do I need to diffuse the lights maybe?

[Malebolgia]

Yeah, the mat attracts dust like mad. So it helps to dust it off and use a soft brush to brush away the specks. But I always use Photoshop too to get rid of them. But I don't use Photoshop to darken the image. I always shoot photos with two IKEA lamps and bright bulbs. No diffusing. But I do use a DSLR, maybe that's something to try? One other thing to try is to turn the mat around, flip it around. From one angle I do get a more black finish in the photos than from the other one. So don't place it upside down, but turn it around sideways.
Ever since I got the mat I have used for about all of my paintjobs. And it worked well for all photos.

[Malebolgia]

And your mat looks very weird on your photos as if it doesn't absorb the light at all. Even with my phone it gets super black.

[BeneathALeadMountain]

That mat doesn’t look right at all. I bought some of the paint but opted out of the mat as I didn’t think it would stay usable in my pet heavy household 

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[Daeothar]

Well, like I said; in real life, it does look like the surface of a black hole, but no matter what I tried, I could not get it to look like that on camera 

The hair on the foreground is totally mine. I only noticed it whan I checked the pictures and I would just crop it off anyway. But the rest was all on the mat straight out of the box...

I'll try rotating it, although I used it in portrait position, which seems the best way when taking pics. Also; I do not have a DSLR, but one has been on my to-get list for ages. The better sensor  (and less autocorrecting software) on those might be a solution too.

I'll faff around with it some more, trying the rotating etc. Because after that first try I just rolled it back up and put it back in the box, contemplating just returning it...