Paper over cloth

[Lee Bold]

I'm in the market to buy a couple of plain backdrops to compliment my new lighting, I'm going for plain over picturesque as the costs are ouch.
Am i better to go for cloth or paper. The bed sheet i'm using at the moment is a wrinkly bunching pain, so are the cloth backdrops just the same or easier to flattern out.
Hope that sound right, i write like i speak.
Lee

[Paul Jones]

Am i better to go for cloth or paper?

The answer I guess is 'it depends'. On your intended usage and needs.

Paper colorama rolls are certainly the backdrop of choice in studios. They come in large sizes, in a variety of colours, and roll up when not in use. But you do need something suitable to hang them from.

Cloth, muslin, velvet backdrops can work well and can be folded away when not in use. If you want a deep black backdrop for low-key work black velvet is a good choice.

Ideally, you want the focus to be on the subject so the backdrop should be almost inconspicuous. You can achieve this with a combination of distance from the subject and lighting.

As for colours, well I'd say to avoid anything garish. Mid-grey is always a popular choice as you can change the colour to make it go from white to black depending upon how you light it. Don't forget that you can also alter the colour of the backdrop by the the use of coloured gels over the background lights.

Best regards

[oakeycoke]

Lee,

http://www.colourscape.co.uk/
As mentioned by Burt I think the other week for cloth backdrops, they are reasonably priced. You can pick them up from his home address in Stalybridge to avoid the postage if you want.

As for creasing etc, well yes they do, so you have two options, you iron it before use, or just scrunch it all up so its creased all over then get your model to pose some way in front of it with an f stop of f4 or less to blur the background or do some trickery pockery in photoshop to achieve the same effect.

I cant speak for paper backgrounds but looking at those at the club they are on a roll, so you'd probably need to keep them like that to avoid creasing.

You could always try posing a model in front of some plain curtains.

Phil

[oakeycoke]

OOPS,

Sorry Paul,

Whilst replying to this I was answering questions on the phone about connecting an Adsl Buffalo wireless router to Talk Talk so missed your post.

Phil

[Lee Bold]

Thanks guys i've got a small frame at the moment but plan to upgrade to a standard backdrop frame soon which is made for paper or cloth.
I think i will try an artic white to light up with 2 lights and 1 light for the subject and i was going to get a black one but may be inclined to go for the grey, as you say paul you can vary its colour by moving the subject.
And my grandmas got some lovely dark velvet curtains hanging in her living room i might buy her some new updated ones for christmas. Ha Ha
Lee

[Lee Bold]

Oops i forgot to ask about chroma key backdrops are they as good as they say in that can they isolate around hair and fine detail, if so this could be an option as i have loads of backgrounds on file.
Lee

[Lee Bold]

Hi paul just been having a look around and the main jist of people is it works well in moving picture but has limited passability in stills and that to get spot on results easily there is special software that is expensive so i'll stick to original plan and maybe try chroma some time in the future. For now i'll stick with masking my images and transplanting backgrounds.
The long way Ha Ha
Lee

[Theo Dibbits]

Lee

I got an 8 x 12 ft sheet of black muslin for some product pictures from a guy on ebay. It worked OK but the stuff creases badly and I ended up ironing the thing. Which easier said then done. What ever you get make sure it is long enough so that if you want to take full lenth photos you can make a continues backdrop. Have fun. Theo

[Theo Dibbits]

sorry I forgot
Have a look at fotosense in bolton (http://www.fotosense.co.uk) They appear to be specialising in lighting equipment. Theo

[Lee Bold]

Thanks Theo, i got my lighting from them so i will have a look what they have re backgrounds, idealy i want 2.75 x 11m which should cover me for full lengths.
Lee