Studio Backgrounds

will-jumwill-jum Registered Users Posts: 105 Major grins
edited January 31, 2008 in Accessories
Hi,

I'm setting up my very own studio and want a plain white background for it. Though i don't really know what to get/ do.
I was thinking of building a structure out of flexible hardboard and painting it white, but this could be expensive and take alot of time, any suggestions?!

Many thanks

Comments

  • SavedByZeroSavedByZero Registered Users Posts: 226 Major grins
    edited January 30, 2008
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited January 30, 2008
    will-jum wrote:
    Hi,

    I'm setting up my very own studio and want a plain white background for it. Though i don't really know what to get/ do.
    I was thinking of building a structure out of flexible hardboard and painting it white, but this could be expensive and take alot of time, any suggestions?!

    Many thanks

    Actually depending on how lumber is measured over there it should only take 9 pieces of hardboard ( in the us it comes 4feet by 8 feet and smaller....normally) this would give you a back drop of 12 feet wide and approx . 14 feet long depending on the amount of curve in the bottom portion of your background......this would give you a "PERMANENT" white background........White paint is usually the less expensive of all paint and I would use a wood filler to fill in all seams and sand it a bit to get it even and then paint it and even use a few coats of clear lacquer on it to make it washable...but he lacquer and paint need to be matte for fewer reflection of light off it.......

    Or you can do as suggested above and be just like 99.999% of the other photogs out there and have your work look just like theirs....do not get me wrong there is notheing wrong with white , black and the supers of those colrs in seamless paper...but paper is paper and it cannot be washed, it does tear and rip and has been around for ever......personally I want my work to NOT be like the other 200-500 photogs in my surrounding area, so I have only shot with 1 roll of Savage Paper (THUNDER GREY) before I went and purchased a 10 feet wide by 30 feet long piece of muslin and painted it black....I painted it with hap-hazard roller strokes on a wooden deck, so it has got lines and uneveness to the eye until light hits it.....here is a pic done on it with colored gels on my backlights...........LINKY 1
    LINKY 2............ For me I enjoy what can be done with a blk backdrop and colored gels as my color mixes are almost infinite, limited by only my imagination orthat of the client and I only have the 1 back drop to worry about.....if I need to shoot HIGH KEY for a client ( talking commerical shoots here ) then the cleint gets billed for the white paper and when the shoot is done I give it to them since they paid for it......for product tent shoots, I do almost like in the photo supplied by SEYMORE....but mine is actually a PVC CUBE with 4walls and a roof....but the same principal...actually I can shoot people in it if they are sitting and not standing......

    For muslin and gels as i was mentioning above...I buy for a local threatrical supplier and pay a few extra $ to ahve them sew a pipe loop into the top so if I want I can run a pipe thru it to hang....the gels I buy come in a sheet 2 feet by 4 feet which i cut to approx 1 foot by 1 foot for my gel holders (Z-FRAME was the brand and name for the holder....I believe adorama crry them since they seem to have taken over a lot of what SPIRATONE carried prior to their demise....and I bet that some of the larger photo suppliers in the UK also have them, ....really neat device that mounts to the light stand beneath your strobe or hot light and then has ball jointed arms to brint the gel holder up and in front of your lights)............

    Good Luck
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • claudermilkclaudermilk Registered Users Posts: 2,756 Major grins
    edited January 31, 2008
    I have no idea if you have a similar resource available, but here's what I did. First, I bought a JTL backdrop stand (local shop actually beat internet, I got to support the local place & save some bucks. :D ). Then got my wife to drag me along on one of her costuming supply trips to the LA fabric district & found some wide white & black fabric. She hemmed the ends & sewed a pocket in one end. Now I have a nice pro-level fabric backdrop for a fraction of the price.

    Any local fabric shop ought to have the necessary materials if you can't get to a wholesaler's area.
  • will-jumwill-jum Registered Users Posts: 105 Major grins
    edited January 31, 2008
    Thanks for all the replies guys, all helped. I do agree with what art scott is saying and over a period of time it could be more cost effective to have a permanant backdrop.
    Thanks again!
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