Portrait against black

A portrait technique I’ve used many times on various photo tours is to photograph the subject against a black backdrop. I usually use black velvet because the fabric absorbs light and photographs solid black. This only works in diffused light. Direct sunlight on the subject won’t look good and the velvet won’t become solid black. This is a small boy from the Karo tribe here in Ethiopia, and he was walking around his village carrying a baby goat. It was so cute, so I asked him (through my local guide) to stand in front of the velvet for this shot. The Karo are known for their face and body painting which they wear every day -- not just for tourists. I used a 24-105mm lens, and my settings were 1/160, f/13, 2000 ISO. I used a fairly small aperture to make sure the head of the goat and the face of the boy were both sharp since they were not on the same plane.