backdrop with a difference...

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bluesilver

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Hi all,

I've been looking at backdrops etc and I had an idea which maybe nuts or it may work well...so I thought I'd run it past some experts.

If instead of going the whole vinyl/paper/muslin route on supports I went with a white mdf (or similar) board as the background with another white board on the floor, would this work well?

The reason I ask is that I thought it might be nice to have this system so that I could have various backgrounds and floor boards that are either painted or have wood effect etc depending on what I want to shoot?

The studio would be purpose built, I was just thinking that for the price of the paper and support system I could go down to B&Q and buy various boards and paint/wallpaper them and depending on the type of shoot I'm doing I could have a white background and floor or black background and floor or wallpaper background and wood floor etc etc..

Does this sound like a sensible idea or a bonkers one?
 
Bonkers.
 
The difficulty you will have is the join between the two. If you plan to 'blow' the BG out then everything you can do to limit the light you have to throw at the BG is all good.

The benefit of the vinyl is that there will be a curve between the floor and the wall that will help the transition. A hilite will have a similar problem to the MDF, one which I and others have solved with some gently curved perspex.
 
Hodders said:
The difficulty you will have is the join between the two. If you plan to 'blow' the BG out then everything you can do to limit the light you have to throw at the BG is all good.

The benefit of the vinyl is that there will be a curve between the floor and the wall that will help the transition. A hilite will have a similar problem to the MDF, one which I and others have solved with some gently curved perspex.
Click to expand...

What he says. :thumbs:
 
so is the only reason it wouldn't work the fact that I could end up with a black line where the two join?

I wonder if there is a way around this......
 
In my first studio I used 6sheets of MDF (8 x 4s) for flooring in the shooting area. Painted white on one side, mat black on the other and they worked very well. I did have however, a roll of while and a roll of black paper to use as backgrounds and these formed a suitable curve when taped down to the boards.

Ian .
 
THE-BIG-MAN-SAYS said:
What thickness MDF and what type of paint...matt...?

STEVIER
Click to expand...

It was a few years ago but if memory serves me right it was 18mm MDF (Quite heavy) and the paint was white eggshell and black mat floor paint.

Hope this has been of help.

Ian
 
Thanks Ian.

At the moment I am just looking at different options and trying to open my mind a little bit about what might work even if it sounds unusual. I figured the whole point of photography is to look at things in different ways so why stop at the image when I could look at the way the image is taken.

The driving force really is that it would be good to have a system where I can have various backgrounds (colours, textures etc) that are cheaply made and easy to install rather than just assume that the normal way is the best way.
 
I have seen many studios that use plywood type wood bent for infinity coving. Never asked exactly what material they use, but in effect, just white painted wood coving can and do work.

But if you are talking about keeping loads of MDF for different colour backgrounds, then I think the cost outweigh the benefits. It's a lot more convenient to keep rolls of paper than sheets and sheets of mdf lying around. Time it takes to change a roll of paper - 2 minutes. Time to swap all the mdf boards - I'd imagine - would require a lot more effort and time. You want to do that during a shoot? I would say a noble idea, but not particularly a practical one.
 
bluesilver said:
Thanks Ian.

At the moment I am just looking at different options and trying to open my mind a little bit about what might work even if it sounds unusual. I figured the whole point of photography is to look at things in different ways so why stop at the image when I could look at the way the image is taken.

The driving force really is that it would be good to have a system where I can have various backgrounds (colours, textures etc) that are cheaply made and easy to install rather than just assume that the normal way is the best way.
Click to expand...

The cheapest, easiest and best way - with a huge range of choice - is to use a proper background. How are massive chunks of painted wood better in any way? Still bonkers bud ;)
 
the thing with rolls of paper though is that you are limited to blocks of colour and I was thinking that it might be nice to have a system where the background could be something like graffiti or really artistic and unusual. I could also have boards on the floor that look like wood or stone or whatever, so I could mix and match where appropriate. I'd only be limited in what I could either get as wallpaper, or material or paint myself.

As for installation..yeah....could be fiddly. I did think though that if I had backgrounds of say 2.5m high and on the ceiling I had a board fixed to the ceiling hanging down 30cm or so, I could rest the background against that. I I'd just need to lift one background out and move another one in. It would take 10 minutes and change the whole look of the scene. And if I covered each background front and back I'd have 2 'scenes' for every board, so 5 boards would give me loads of different looks.

I might chicken out and just go for the normal white/black/grey background roll, but I do think that this is something which isn't as 'bonkers' as it might at first seem...just pretty unusual.. it's basically just making sets like high end photographers will do on occassion..
 
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Hi
What you haven't mentioned is size of studio? I assume you only have one shooting space/direction and want to make the most of it? If so I'd stick with the paper rolls/vinyl/cloth backgrounds.

I think what you are trying to achieve if in a small studio will look cheap!

Leaning boards against supports will just give you a curved board that will be a PITA to line up with the next board.
I know as I have this system in my studio for a couple of sets that are permanently set up. I also have a huge permanent white cove as well as other colour painted brick backgrounds etc.

Stick with the tried and tested. It will probably work out cheaper in the long run and will certainly give better results.

If you're mad about different backgrounds you could get a green cloth and Photoshop your own ones in! :)
 
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