# Best (inexpensive) type of backgrounds for Studio/Portrait type photos



## astroNikon

I'm venturing into doing portrait type shots for a few people (no charge stuff because I don't really know what I'm doing but I'm reading, experimenting and learning alot).

But I know the background is important even if defocused.  I've seen kits with a bright green sheet.  Though I haven't bought a kit or anything yet I think the green background would be a distraction and maybe cause lighting issues.

What and where to get, nice but generic backgrounds for these type of shots for an "in home studio" type setup?
I should also mention that getting a large sheet at a fabric store wouldn't be out of the question, I just don't know what color(s) / texture(s).

Thanks


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## Derrel

Seamless paper is actually EASIER to work with and easier to keep wrinkle-free. FABRIC does or can work, but tends to wrinkle. If you want fabric of decent size at affordable prices, you might look into some of the microfiber blankets that Target stores sell. They have a dark gray and a white one that are pretty nice, reasonably light in weight. these are available in King size for a reasonable price, and are washable.

Threshold? Microplush Blanket : Target

I think a dark gray paper roll is the single most-versatile color.


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## tirediron

I like seamless paper; I do 99% of my work against either seamless paper or a blank wall.  The beauty is, you can turn either one almost any colour you want!


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## cgipson1

Seamless paper is great. I also like textured vinyl.. re-usable, and come with a texture, non reflective side, and a glossy side. Fun to do different things with.

A plain white vinyl is great... light it properly and it is black, white or any shade of grey. Used colored flash filters... and it can be any color in the world. (of course,  you can do all that with a black or gray vinyl too)


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## astroNikon

tirediron said:


> I like seamless paper; I do 99% of my work against either seamless paper or a blank wall.  The beauty is, you can turn either one almost any colour you want!



How do you change it's colour (or color for us Americans) ?


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## tirediron

Gelled flash!

























All of those were shot against the same roll of Savage Thunder Grey with a single speedlight (SB600) on 1/4 power IIRC, using coloured flash gels to colour the background, except for the white which was shot without a gel at full power.


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## Designer

astroNikon said:


> I've seen kits with a bright green sheet.  Though I haven't bought a kit or anything yet I think the green background would be a distraction and maybe cause lighting issues.



The green background is used in certain substitution photographs where the green is later turned into something else.  If you use the green background, you can then substitute some other scene in the photo later in Photoshop.  Something like a mountain background for instance and you don't even have to visit a mountain to do it.


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## astroNikon

That is so COOL !!
Now i have to experiment with those gels on the flash on my white board before i try it bigger


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## DiskoJoe

piece of dry wall. Or multiple pieces. I read an article that darrel posted where a guy was using dry wall to make a little cube (he'd shoot through an opening in one corner) and then bouncing a single flash all around in it. Really ingenious idea and the results were really nice. Good way to go on a budget since dry wall is uber cheap and easily replaceable.


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## tirediron

DiskoJoe said:


> piece of dry wall. Or multiple pieces. I read an article that darrel posted where a guy was using dry wall to make a little cube (he'd shoot through an opening in one corner) and then bouncing a single flash all around in it. Really ingenious idea and the results were really nice. Good way to go on a budget since dry wall is uber cheap and easily replaceable.


I like the idea, but I'd suggest Coroplast (the stuff they make signs out of); a little more money, but MUCH more durable, and it's not going to get dust and crumbs everywhere!


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## raventepes

I use a very wide assortment of fabrics for backdrops, most of which I bought at a Jo Ann's. It's all fairly cheap, especially if you can get it on sale. Trick to this though, don't get anything less than 6 yards.


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## astroNikon

I did a quick test this morning.  I use white poster board which comes glossy on one side and matte on the other (kid's project poster board).  I definitely see how "simple" this concept is, in my very small test area.

Midwest Photo Exchange has alot of backdrop - paper and vinyl.  I'm also going to check out Jo-Ann Fabrics / Michaels.  But so far a great concept.  I also definitely see power and distance having a great effect.  The middle one the power was too much and the entire middle was washed out, I also added a home made snoop to the subject flash which helped alot too.  Though on the last one I need more power on the subject to prevent the yellow to overwhelm it.

I'm going to stay away from drywall as I used to do alot of home wall construction .. with kids around I can see them taking the hammer to it from time to time.


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## cgipson1

tirediron said:


> DiskoJoe said:
> 
> 
> 
> piece of dry wall. Or multiple pieces. I read an article that darrel posted where a guy was using dry wall to make a little cube (he'd shoot through an opening in one corner) and then bouncing a single flash all around in it. Really ingenious idea and the results were really nice. Good way to go on a budget since dry wall is uber cheap and easily replaceable.
> 
> 
> 
> I like the idea, but I'd suggest Coroplast (the stuff they make signs out of); a little more money, but MUCH more durable, and it's not going to get dust and crumbs everywhere!
Click to expand...


Yep.. and a lot more portable too! Drywall is messy!


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## tirediron

cgipson1 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DiskoJoe said:
> 
> 
> 
> piece of dry wall. Or multiple pieces. I read an article that darrel posted where a guy was using dry wall to make a little cube (he'd shoot through an opening in one corner) and then bouncing a single flash all around in it. Really ingenious idea and the results were really nice. Good way to go on a budget since dry wall is uber cheap and easily replaceable.
> 
> 
> 
> I like the idea, but I'd suggest Coroplast (the stuff they make signs out of); a little more money, but MUCH more durable, and it's not going to get dust and crumbs everywhere!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yep.. and a lot more portable too! Drywall is messy!
Click to expand...

And friggin' pricey to get rid of when the time comes!


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## Clee33

You can also buy a piece of corrugated sheet metal for $12 which can be lit and shot numerous ways! Just wear gloves as it can be sharp before treated


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## chuasam

Seamless paper or dry wall
If you want to get more serious, get a colour checker passport and be sure to white balance and calibrate your camera.


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## dennybeall

Using a green screen for a background and Photoshop to make it anything you want from a beech to a nice texture seems to be the easiest solution. Why would you choose to do any of the other things mentioned when it seems they could be duplicated in Photoshop? Let me get my asbestos suit....... OK, GO!


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## Didereaux

dennybeall said:


> Using a green screen for a background and Photoshop to make it anything you want from a beech to a nice texture seems to be the easiest solution. Why would you choose to do any of the other things mentioned when it seems they could be duplicated in Photoshop? Let me get my asbestos suit....... OK, GO!




Using a green screen to cut & paste backgrounds is simple.  The problem is that unless EXTREME care, and excruciating attention to detail is used the product does not stand up to even moderate scrutiny.  It works best if the subject has clean sharp outline, hair and such is impossible to do with the same repcisiion as a clean shot.   Try it on a portrait of a woman with long flowing, blowing, or fuzzy hair.   No, green screen has its uses, but it is far from being a panacea.

By far, in fact hands down, it is the all white continuous backdrop that is most useful for portraits, product, fashion and such.  Using the lighting including gobos, and gels.


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## Forkie

Clee33 said:


> You can also buy a piece of corrugated sheet metal for $12 which can be lit and shot numerous ways! Just wear gloves as it can be sharp before treated



This is something I hadn't thought of!  
Want to try this NOW!


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## CameraClicker

I have some hand painted canvas, which is nice when you want a more colourful background.  The rest of the time I use white seamless paper.  I have green too, but find it causes colour cast.  White works best for me because you can still cut someone out and put them on a different background if you want, and you can use gels too.


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## mcap1972

Seamless works the best. You can get vinyl or paper.


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## astroNikon

I ended up getting muslin in
solid white --> Adorama Solid Color 10 x 20FT Muslin Background, White 701L
and solid black --> Adorama Solid Color 10 x 12Ft Muslin Background, Black 702S

I really didn't have any place to store seamless white in a wide format and I've found I can't quite get 10 feet wide as it is in my "home" studio as it double lol as my kids play area.  So the muslin folds up nicely.  And on the BG support I clip the sides to make it tight to remove wrinkles.

PLUS I love the GEL idea.  I went from a simple gel example --> Rosco Roscolux Swatch Book,Small Sampler of Filter 8807
which worked good for testing but I noticed since the GEL was so close to the flash that it could easily get blown out and create white spots.

to this --> Smith Victor 650021 Color Effects Rainbow Filter Pack 650021
where now the big filter is about 6 inches in front of the flash hanging in front of it.  I made a jig for this from coated copper wire (from electrical wire) and simply taped it to the side of the flash ,, bent it in various ways in order to put two Binder Clips on either side to hold the filter steady.  
Now the color is consistent across a wide area and can cover not only the BG but also the part on the floor.


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## MichaelHenson

Awesome stuff everyone! I just read through this and will be picking up pretty much exactly what you did when I begin to get more into indoor/studio photography. I'd love to see how you are planning to hang the background once you get it set up!


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## astroNikon

The Background muslin actually is sleeved.  So you push the horizontal pole (which comes in 3 pieces for 10 ft wide - but I only use 2) through the sleeve.   Then I raise the BG all the way to the ceiling (which is very short in my basement - no photos of anyone 7 ft).

This is the BackGround support system I bought --> JTL 10 x10 Feet Heavy Duty Steel Background Support Set 5022
there's plenty other options including wide, shorter, less $$ etc


The I bought some "clips" at the local hardware store .. something like this but a package of them at homedepot or someplace which I use to keep it tight cliping it to the vertical posts  -->Roughneck Heavy-Duty Plastic Hand Clips Range | Power Tools Direct


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## MichaelHenson

Nice. I'm considering building my own with some PVC pipe since I'm not too worried about the aesthetics or portability...Not sure if that would save me any $$ though.


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## astroNikon

MichaelHenson said:


> Nice. I'm considering building my own with some PVC pipe since I'm not too worried about the aesthetics or portability...Not sure if that would save me any $$ though.


My original BG support solution was two rope loops hanging from the ceiling and using a shower curtain rod hung from those two loops.


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## MichaelHenson

See!?!? Great minds...I thought about the shower curtain rod but I envisioned wire instead of rope...


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## ronlane

I should have responded a while ago. I was thinking 2-3 pieces of corrugated metal. Then youtube how to make it rusted and weathered.


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## astroNikon

MichaelHenson said:


> See!?!? Great minds...I thought about the shower curtain rod but I envisioned wire instead of rope...


I initially tried wire.  But removing the rod was much harder with metal wire.  And considering I'm shorter it was problematic.  The rope, being more flexible was easy to pull the rod out.  FYI, The rod did have ends on them which prevented them from just falling out if the BG was pushed or something.


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## fotomonkey

I do it like astroNikon. I have muslin background of 10-12' and a 12' stand (well, up to 12 depending on how many sections you use). I also have seamless paper in white.

I haven't seen it in a while but I picked up a sheet of faux brick paneling for next to nothing. Sort of like the corrugated metal idea.


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## hamlet

I'm using mirrors for maximum bounce.


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## JustJazzie

My Muslins drive me nuts with the wrinkles. I watched a video then other day where they took a spray bottle of water to it and just sprayed it down well and the wrinkles just FELL OUT. seriously, it works like magic. My hours of trying to steam dry them are over. Just spray it down with enough time to dry before the shoot and then clip the sides if you want it super smooth. Trust me, you'll want to file that away!


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## astroNikon

JustJazzie said:


> My Muslins drive me nuts with the wrinkles. I watched a video then other day where they took a spray bottle of water to it and just sprayed it down well and the wrinkles just FELL OUT. seriously, it works like magic. My hours of trying to steam dry them are over. Just spray it down with enough time to dry before the shoot and then clip the sides if you want it super smooth. Trust me, you'll want to file that away!


I do clip it on the sides .. makes the wrinkles disappear.
I also blow it out with various colors using my BG flash with a fancy fangled gel holder.

I used some stiff wire ( the wire inside electrical wire) and created a contraption to hold up 2 clips which holds 12 x 12 colored gels.  Then used some cardboard over the "base" that I created and taped it to the flash head.  Works like a charm.


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## astroNikon

In these photos I spent a whopping 30 seconds setting things up and the muslin BG had wrinkle mania going on .. but I just blew it out with the flash.  The results were here ==> My Crazy Head Shot | Photography Forum

But I'll remember the water bit.


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