The price is right, but is the equipment?

BBones · December 11, 2007

http://www.backdropsource.com/Productinfo.asp?id=1304&pname=10ft-x-12ft-white-backdrop-with-a-stand

Looking to start doing some in house portraits and white seems to be the most simple. Anyone have a word on recommending this company or a company that they have dealt with that is especially good.

Feel free to move this thread if it is not in the right place.

Shane422 · December 11, 2007

I bought a similar backdrop stand from Adorama for $139. But it doesn;t come with a white backdrop. But I don't think a 10x12 sheet of white fabric is worth the $35 difference. I got a 11x20 white muslin for $50 a while back.
Here is the link to the stand I got.
http://www.adorama.com/JTB1012.html

You might want white seamless paper instead. Its about $65 for a 9ft wide roll and you won't have to deal with the wrinkles.

For backgrounds, I have bought from two eBay sellers.
This is where I got the $50 white 11x20. They also have some nice background stands.
http://stores.ebay.com/J-and-K-Group

The other vendor was www.backdropoutlet.com
But their prices are cheaper on eBay.

BBones · December 16, 2007

Thanks I went ahead and ordered that one, I think you are right, this is the same or really close to the same model, but without a generic muslin.

Now that it has been ordered let the great debate begin between muslin or paper for a backdrop

My possible issue with paper rolls is that it would be 10 feet long or so and may not fit in my PT Cruiser. Muslin however gets wrinkled. Most often the studio will be here at my house, but there are times that I would need it to be able to be broken down and taken with me on location.

Shane422 · December 17, 2007

I have muslins, but I spend a lot of time fixing the wrinkles when I want a clean white or black. But paper only works if you have a hard surface to work on. Over plush carpet, paper would crease quite a bit.

BBones · December 18, 2007

In my house I have hardwood floors, eventually I will be converting my garage to a studio

Art Scott · December 18, 2007

When converting your garage, consider this.....what ever color of back ground you think you will use most, pain the wall and floor that color with a top grade floor paint/stain.....now the top grades of floor paint/stain can be tinted.........I found many years ago that black was my most used background color as I could color it with gels (on my 2 back lights) and it would turn an almost unlimited amount of colors (blk hold the color of the gels, where as white and grey reflect it and the colors are very very light)...also if you want to get into using gobos for background images (a scene of the eifel tower, london bridge, twin towers[may still be available], empire state bldg etc etc) blk is also best for theses as most are meant to be shiloute and with the proper holders you can even add colored gels to these.......I only had one occaision to have a client ask for a High Key shoot and had to rent a white back ground....for small commericail shoots needing a white gbackground I have muslin flat sheets to make a product tent out of (actually a product studio with 4 walls and a roof tall enuff to walk into and set up but it was all made out of PVC, elastic and velcro)
Got off track from the garage....I have seen a great way of doing the wall and floor seamless, using either luan plywood or masonite (of the very thing type so it bends into a curve easily.....attaching the first piece of plywood at the ceiling level this will leave approx 1 foot from the bottom of plywood to floor , so attach 2 (for an 8'wide background or 3 for a 12' wide and I recommend going with 12' wide) and then attaching the bottom pieces to the floor and wall, this is sort of tricky but you need to start with placing the bottom pieces up against the wall piece and have an assistant (wife, drinking buddy etc etc) to help hold this piece once the curve is inplce attace to garage floor using concrete anchors, I ahd to do this process twice as I had friend hold plywood in place while I drilled small marker holes then I redrilled the full 1/4 inch hole for the anchor and had pilort holes in the plywood for the screws to go thru....did this 3 times to get my 12' wide and 20' long background.....then it is a matter of using a water mixable wood filler to fill the cracks and make ready for painting with a good primer and then the good top quality floor paint/stain.

With any good quality backdrop, make sure it is washable, I take my 30' hand painted blk to the laundrey and use one of the largest fronloaders they have ....so twice a year I spend $10 for washing and drying a 10' X 30" blk backdrop to get the foot prints off it.

Also in your garage or even in your living room or wherever you first set up is going to be, I would recommend a cable system to hand the drops from so they can be moved like a drape to one side and the next one can be pulled out for use....I personally never cared for stands unless you make the big jump to motorized rollers that will hold muslin, again I have only purchased 1 roll of seamless paper and the first paint of stilletos that walked across it tore it ( I had it less than 48 hours) so I went to muslin win less than a week and never looked back.

Good Luck HTH

The price is right, but is the equipment?

Comments