Backdrop cloth that does not wrinkle?

[cmo]

I just had a long shooting on location. I use white backdrop molleton because it is much easier to transport than those extra-wide paper rolls for photos of groups.
Unfortunately, there are lots and lots of wrinkles in the molleton. I do not have enough studio strobes to over-expose the background to make the wrinkles invisible.
Are there any transportable backdrops that never ever wrinkle? What kind of cloth does the job?

 

[lxdude]

I you can find some double-knit polyester like what was used to make the horrid clothing my Mom bought for me back in the 70's...
That stuff seemed to never wrinkle.

 

[polyglot]

What if you wrinkle the hell out of it so that it's uniformly textured? I've no idea if that's compatible with the look you seek but if it's out of focus, the ergodic unevenness might still work well where you would've normally used rolls of seamless.

Edit: a decent example of this appeared on LFPF recently (not my photo!).

 

[M Carter]

I know I've seen vinyl backdrops for sale - might take some searching. I'd guess they need to be rolled though, which would put you back in the seamless paper hassle category. But maybe not.

I use a garment steamer for greenscreen shoots - it works pretty quickly and I've used it on white muslin for the smooth look. I just have the consumer model, runs about $150 and gets a lot of use for apparel shots. The hanger-pole pops out which makes it easier to transport. You can even take the hose off with an adjustable wrench which makes it even easier (and you can drain the leftover water from the hose more easily when it's off).

They're really handy things to own, it's much quicker to do a quick de-wrinkling of a shirt with one, if you don't need that "pressed" look. My wife's hijacked it to the laundry room.

 

[cliveh]

Black velvet has something like a 99.9% absorption of light and as such is a great background.

 

[hoffy]

I have given up on cloths and am planning to go with paper rolls and painted walls (when I get my studio gear back from a friend!)

 

[M Carter]

Black velvet has something like a 99.9% absorption of light and as such is a great background.

Unless of course you need a white background, per the OP!

Though I do keep yards & yards of black felt around. Very inexpensive so I don't mind, say, cutting a hole in it or tearing a strip off. It's sort of like velcro where lint is concerned, but it's lightweight and blocks a lot of light - really handy for negative fill, killing a window, etc. You can tape it up with painter's tape and it actually stays put! I buy it by the yard on line.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I prefer random wrinkles overthe obvious folds. hence,Istuff the cloth into a duffle bag to make sure it is wrinkled all over. makes for a nice uniforn background in my view. if you can't beat it,embrace and enjoy it.