Photo Backdrop Help

[JADoss23]

Amateur photographer with no formal training and looking into getting a photo backdrop stand and some sort of backdrop. Have minimal knowledge in relation to studio setups but wanted to get a basic setup for portraits that is simple and possibly transportable as well as budget friendly. Would some sort of stand and seamless paper be the best way to go? Or other options? thanks. Any advice helps.

 

[tedr1]

Yes plain backgrounds are useful, I improvise, I have made them using sheets of hardboard nailed to frames, using rolls of fabric hung from whatever I can find at that moment. A pair of metal uprights and rolls of seamless paper make it easy however the cost may be greater and paper has poor reusability, it creases very easily. However the variety of colors is a plus for some work.

 

[DWThomas]

I acquired a genuine background stand a number of years back; it was an ePrey purchase that I don't recollect as being a whole lot of money -- maybe a hundred bucks or so. It has two heavy duty adjustable uprights with tripod-like legs (think large heavy light stands) that can go up to 8 or 9 feet. There are four approximately 3 foot sections with fittings to slide together for a horizontal bar. The fittings allow setting up for 6, 9 or 12 feet of width. My wife stitched up a dark cloth with a buttonhole slit in the center and a pocket on one edge to slide onto the horizontal bar. This was all for a light baffle to stick the camera lens through and photograph paintings on site with very controlled light at some art shows I helped set up. I think it would be a fair amount of overkill for simple portraiture.

If I just wanted a three or four foot wide cloth hung vertically I might think about some creative super 'Tinker Toy' approach using 1 or 1-1/4 inch plastic pipe. I expect one could leave a few of the fittings uncemented so the frame could be slid apart for travel and storage. As I have the aforementioned alumin(i)um stand, I haven't given it much further thought. The plastic pipe is pretty cheap, the fittings a little less so, depending on which ones are needed. Many fabric stores have cloth in 36 to 54 inch or so widths that can be bought by the yard. There's a huge array of colors, textures, etc. that are not generally very expensive unless you get into exotic patterns and materials (which you'd not likely need for a backdrop).

 

[Pieter12]

Thin fabric, such as bedsheets are wrinkle and crease-prone. Of course, if you shoot with a long lens wide open, throwing the background out of focus it's less of an issue. But if you want to go the fabric route, I recommend canvas. It just drapes nicer if that's what you're after and pulls taut better. I have a canvas painters drop cloth that I frequently use, clipped to a 1-1/4" dowel with pony clamps and clamped to 2 light stands. Not very portable. Seamless paper comes in a couple of widths on a long roll and in many colors and is great in a studio. It creases and tears and gets dirty easily. The idea is you use it for a shoot and cut off the bad part and pull down some fresh paper until you run out. You can buy an inexpensive background stand kit that breaks down and comes with a carrying bag from most of the major camera stores online or try Cowboy Studios. Always use sandbags or some sort of weight to keep the background rig from tipping over.

 

[tezzasmall]

Type 'photographic background' into ebay.com and you will be given a plethora of different ones, varying in price, but there should be something within your budget.

I have got and used some large (about 3 metres x 4 metres I think) various coloured cloud type printed ones, which were quite reasonably priced in the UK, along with unbranded 'Lastolite' style pop up ones in various colours that are great if you are just doing up to 3/4 length portraits.

Good luck in your hunting.

Terry S

 

[winger]

There are also relatively cheap collapsible backgrounds - https://savageuniversal.com/products/collapsible-backdrops/. With a stand, theirs are $165ish. I'm pretty sure I've seen others for less somewhere, but I can't find them now. backdropoutlet.com has lots of choices and may give you ideas if you want to try and paint your own. I have one that's got a tunnel for the bar to hang it and then three pieces of paints canvas, but it's old and I can't find ones like it now.

 

[Rick A]

I use cheap untreated painters canvass drop cloth. They come in various sizes and can be painted or dyed to whatever you desire.

 

[Truzi]

Keep an eye on the Craig's List in your area. By me, old backdrops and stands appear on the list occasionally, at reasonable prices.

 

[Arklatexian]

Amateur photographer with no formal training and looking into getting a photo backdrop stand and some sort of backdrop. Have minimal knowledge in relation to studio setups but wanted to get a basic setup for portraits that is simple and possibly transportable as well as budget friendly. Would some sort of stand and seamless paper be the best way to go? Or other options? thanks. Any advice helps.

Are you going to shoot B&W or color or both? As has been said earlier, a paper background is usually the least-expensive and most useful type of background. For b&W (useful also for color), I would recommend "neutral grey". Depending on the brightness of your background light and ambient light in your "studio", grey will photograph from black to white. In color, you can sometimes make it photograph "blue" with experience. Some, who are shooting color, will prefer a "blue" background. With experience, this will photograph grey in B&W. If you have room, I would get a roll of each. As also been mentioned above, using plastic pipe, you can build a background paper holder that would hold two rolls. Good shooting. I started to wish you good luck but as almost always, you make your own "luck"..............Regards!

 

[Jim Jones]

As Pieter12 said in post #4, thin fabric like sheets shows creases after being folded for transportation. I wad them up and use those wrinkles to add texture to an otherwise bland background.
Electrical conduit makes more rigid supports for backdrops than plastic pipe.

 

[Photo Engineer]

I have several rolls of backdrop sheets from Calumet. They are in a variety of colors. After so many years, they have taken on a set, but they are free for anyone who can pick them up.

PE