Black velvet (the geniune thing) seems to be a great texture-free
background for images. Film cameras don't pick black velvet up at
all, so the specimen seems to be hanging in space. Digital cameras
are more sensitive and do pick up a little reflected light from the
velvet's surface.

Other colors would be good too. Velvet is expensive. I found some by
perusing secondhand shops for velvet items eg curtains. What turned
up was a dress, which has been cannibalized. Cost about $2.00US...

I have been told that black is a memory hog. However I have compared
an image of a sinistral/dextral Clionella pair I was sent, with a
light-blue background, with the same image which I ran through
PhotoShop, removing the background and replacing it with black. the
original, converted to a PhotoShop file, is 160k; removing the blue
shrank this to 36k. From this I take it that my boss was wrong, and
that black (effectively inactive pixels on-screen) means no activity
and so no memory used.

With a black background it is far easier to merge images to make a
composite, too, though so far as I have been able to work it out,
composite images refuse to become a single image (try to select all
and you only get one part selected) and take a LOT more memory than
single images. Anyone know how to join 2 PhotoShop 5.0.2 images by
pasting so that the image isn't a composite? (I don't have the
manual).
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
64 (3) 473-8863
<[log in to unmask]>
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut
I want your sinistral gastropods!
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Q: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
A: Why is top posting frowned upon?