Backdrops?

[Nicole123]

I'm still a newbie...very very new...and not exactly sure where I should post particular question, so I'm sorry if this is in the wrong place.

I'm looking to purchase one or two backdrops...white and black to start off with. I have no idea what type of material backdrop I should be buying? Are there any rules to what you should buy? I see muslin everywhere??? Thanks!

[joswigf]

Hi,
I am not a pro either and watch how i spend my money.
For white back drop I bought King size flat sheets at WalMart. You have to get a high enough thread count so the material is not see through.

Fo black I went to the fabric store and bought a few yards fo material. My wife sewed them together.

I hung a line of cord across the ceiling joists in the basement and then use clothes pegs to hand the material.

It is not the best but good enough for now. The sheets will likely have to be ironed to get the cresses out.
I found the fitted sheets were cheaper than buying the material bulk at the fabric store.

Some of the pictures in this set were taken with the black cloth background.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankjc...7611191019826/

[JoesPhotos]

I created a DIY backdrop thread Backdrops It gas lots of info on backdrops.

To answer your question. The material is actually balled Muslin. You can purchase it from most any craft store, some Wal-marts carry it. If it's not in the right color, RIT dye will fix that easily & it's inexpensive.

[oldwolf]

here's a link to another blog about backdrops. how you can use a white backdrop and make it black in pictures and stuff. it's a fairly cheap setup as far as the doors are concerned and how he explains the lighting kinda makes sense to me hehe.

http://www.zarias.com/?p=71

here's where he used the white background and made it black with just different lighting.

http://www.zarias.com/?p=101


oh, i have a white muslin backdrop (~$30?) that i bought from jo-anne's fabrics and i bought a grey and black one online. i think the black one i bought from adorama. i was too lazy to dye my own black one.

[Dizzle]

oldwolf that site is AWESOME! I had learned some of that in a workshop, but he made it sound much easier in plain language...now to find a decent white backdrop and stand.

[Xposurepro]

Here's another idea you can play with ... I like to hand-paint backdrops every once in awhile to give me something fresh to play with ... that or I build a set. As for painting just get some blank canvas sheets .. you can sometimes find them at hardware stores cheap in the painters drop cloth section but make sure you dont buy one that ends up having a huge ugly seam in it. Paint is best from places like home depot and lowes .. in the paint section they always have a returned section at a discount ... Somebody buys a gallon of pink then brings it back and they sell it for a few bucks rather than throw it away. Then just find some things to slap the paint on ... I like using waded up balls of newspaper as my paint brush.

[ejones]

Originally Posted by joswigf

Hi,
I am not a pro either and watch how i spend my money.
For white back drop I bought King size flat sheets at WalMart. You have to get a high enough thread count so the material is not see through.

Fo black I went to the fabric store and bought a few yards fo material. My wife sewed them together.

I hung a line of cord across the ceiling joists in the basement and then use clothes pegs to hand the material.

It is not the best but good enough for now. The sheets will likely have to be ironed to get the cresses out.
I found the fitted sheets were cheaper than buying the material bulk at the fabric store.

Some of the pictures in this set were taken with the black cloth background.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankjc...7611191019826/

I second Joswigf's motion...I did some family pictures a few years ago, and used a light brown sheet as a backdrop - it worked pretty well. I found two tall poles (something taller than a broomstick - I acutally used a telescoping window cleaning pole and long bamboo pole that my wife had in the basement) and let the sheet hang between them. I did have to iron the sheet first to get rid of the wrinkles. I think the natural arc of the sheet provided some nice soft wrinkles that added a little bit of texture to the backdrop without attracting too much attention.

One tip - as you set up, make sure your backdrop always covers your whole photo. I lost a few decent shots because the top or side of backdrop was visible.