Dark Backgrounds

Every background is generated, not photographed. A single parametric renderer ( cfgen/bg.py ) draws each plate as a simulated optical field (defocused flow, haze breath, light shafts cleared out of the paper rather than added to it), then grades it in Lab with an ambient cast, band-limited grain, and lateral chromatic aberration. 16 plates, one file, every variation re-renderable from code.