Best way to hang a backdrop for flower photos?

[Ken Lee]

Sorry this is an elementary question, but here goes:

I bought a few yards of some black and white gaberdeen material, for use as a backdrop for flower photography. What is a simple and inexpensive way to hang it, to make sure it hangs straight ? I don't have a studio, and would like to hang the material behind a table, and then remove it - without damaging any walls, etc.

Thanks !

[Danny Burk]

Do you have a projection screen? You can attach it to the top metal "bar" and let it hang down, or if there's enough fabric, just drape it over the top and let it hang down over the front and back.

Regards,

Danny www.dannyburk.com

[Frank Petronio]

Most people use two light stands and a cross-bar. If you have abundant cash buy a pair of Manfrotto Superclamps with "J" hooks to hold the crossbar. Then use some "A" clamps (the spring loaded hardware store variety) to hold the fabric or canvas. You can also invert the "A" clamps on the top of the light stands to form a "V" notch to hold the crossbar.

The crossbar can be as simple as a dowel or 1x2, a metal rod, or a telescoping pole made for that very purpose.

Lowel makes good "grip" equipment, as does Manfrotto, Calumet, Bogen Avenger, and the Hollywood standard: Matthews.

You could also use thumbtacks or something fashioned from scrap lumber, old easels, etc. but one thing that is nice to have for studio-type photography is some kind of consistent system, so you can repeat the same type of set-up next week or year.

[Michael Kadillak]

I found a couple of those weighted rolling metal standard light stands at the local used department at a local photo stoor and the round metal looking straight up at me just happened to fit 1/2" copper tubing. $12.00 worth of copper elbows and unions and $4.00 worth of those massive alligator clips at Michaels and I had a stand as large as I wanted. When I really wanted to go tall and wide, I used a coupled 90 and ran a piece of support copper tubing to the floor from the center. When not needed, I just using a straight coupling to hold the two side pieces together. Works like a champ.

Cheers!

[John Kasaian]

If you don't have to break it down in between shots, how about making a frame out of schedule 40 PVC pipe?

[Capocheny]

Hi Ken,

This is what I did... I went out to Sears and bought a 72" curtain rod. There are those that come with alligator clips to hold the fabric in place. Since my "studio" has a window in it... I've just screwed the rod onto the window frame above the window. When I'm not using a backdrop I simply replace it with the regular curtains.

The rods come in a fairly wide variety of styles and, of course, costs. Since I use the rod as a permanent fixture to hold up curtains when I'm not using the backdrop... I bought a more expensive rod as opposed to your run-of-the-mill variety.

Take a look at this website for examples:


http://www.curtainpole.net/astro/index.htm (http://www.curtainpole.net/astro/index.htm)

Look under POLES... the extension version works quite well.

Of course, this means screwing the rod into place...

Cheers

[Gem Singer]

Hi Ken,

Get hold of a large piece of foamcore or gator board. Cover the board with the cloth material that you bought, and set the background board on something that will hold it in place behind the flowers. Better yet, rig up a makeshift shooting stand and cover it over with the material. No need to hang it, and fewer wrinkles to be concerned about.

[Jason_1622]

Ok, I've had to do it all, from "ghetto" to actual studio and this is what I suggest. If you want to invest in a c-stand, you can hang the material from the arm with a-clamps and put more clamps on the bottom of the material to hold it tight. A used c-stand will run about $125 and has endless uses.
If you don't want to do that, buy a $15 roll of gaffers tape and as long as the background material isn't too heavy and your wall paint is in good shape, you can just gaff tape the background to the wall. Use a big strip of tape all across the top and bottom to keep it up. Don't leave the tape on the wall for more than 24 hours or you will increase the chance of pulling paint off the wall with the tape.
The next option is to find a place where you can hang pictures on the wall. When you want to shoot, you can take the photos down off the wall and have a place to screw into the wall. When you are done shooting, remove your background brackets and put back up your pictures that cover your holes...
Obviously, several of the other suggestions from other people are great too. I've done some of them myself. As long as you don't build something that falls apart and puts a dent/scratch in your furniture...

[Steve Daniels]

I have a few pieces of different colored velvet matboard that I use. They are always flat and I can clamp them to stands or lean them against walls. Best of all, they do not reflect highlights.

If you are shooting in the field, you can cut smaller pieces and attach them to wooden stakes to keep them in place while you shoot, or have someone hold them for you. An extra piece can be used to shield the flower from the wind.

[Sharon S.]

If you want really cheap, and small, and potentially useful, try getting a laundry cart with a cross bar...hand the material over the bar, and use the cart for laundry later.

;-)

[PDB]

I scanned the above and didn’t notice this suggestion. I’ve done this in the past and it seems to work reasonably well.

I purchased two “extension” poles from HomeDepot (available in almost any hardware store) along with white rubber furniture “feet” of the appropriate diameter (these are the things you typically find on the bottoms of metal chairs to protect flooring – use white so you don’t risk making black marks on the ceiling). The poles are primarily used for paint rollers and the like, and can be purchased in a variety of lengths (I purchased 10’ extension poles). Place the “feet” on the ends of the poles, drape the fabric over the top and secure with gaffers (spl?) tape and extend the pole so it fits snug between the ceiling and the floor. Use care so you don’t “dent” the ceiling. Common sense goes a long way, if it looks like it may not work, it probably won’t.

I've used this to hold 12’x10’ muslin with no problems. Easy to transport, and it only takes a little practice to set up. Cost is about $30.

[Frank Petronio]

It's not like any of these solutions are "wrong" but when you think about how, say a Maplethorpe or Avedon or Penn would do it - to make serious work - they wouldn't scrimp around or settle for something that wasn't well-done. And the reason why (besides pride and craftsmanship) is that if you hit upon something that "works", it would be nice to be able to repeat it, on location, with consistency.

[FlashThat]

For fast set up, you can use either the squeeze clamps with either a coat hanger wire or string for you to attach the backdrop. you can do this at home just for a temporary set up if you plan some photo shoots..hope this helps. :)

[Brian Ellis]

I use two Bogen light stands and a crossbar. I have five sheets of fabric in basic colors, each about 8 feet by 10 feet. I don't know what the material is, it's just a non-reflective fabric that I bought very inexpensively at a fabric store. I drape the fabric over the cross-bar, i.e. I don't have any clamps. Some dedicated photography backdrop material I've seen is stitched at the top so you can run the cross-bar through it but I haven't bought any of that. The main problem I have is keeping the material free of wrinkles.

This isn't something I do a lot of so I didn't want to spend much money. I don't remember what the stands and cross-bar cost, I bought them years ago. The material only cost about $35 for all five sheets.

[ki6mf]

Ditto on the comments about using PVC Pipe from a home improvement store. I found a package of plastic clamps for $10.00. Look in the paint department for expendable paint brush handles they can be used as cross pieces. You could use book shelves and clamps to hang the background too. Do It Yourself supports with heavy duty PVC work fine too. Finally if you have the time Craig's list usually has used gear on regular basis.

[tgtaylor]

I bought this set-up from Calumet in December when it was on sale ($95 delivered):

http://www.calumetphoto.com/eng/product/calumet_heavy_duty_background_support/mf6095

Works great and stores/travels compact.

Thomas

[Shen45]

It's not like any of these solutions are "wrong" but when you think about how, say a Maplethorpe or Avedon or Penn would do it - to make serious work - they wouldn't scrimp around or settle for something that wasn't well-done. And the reason why (besides pride and craftsmanship) is that if you hit upon something that "works", it would be nice to be able to repeat it, on location, with consistency.

Very good answer. And you will be more inclined to reuse and reuse the setup especially if still life is your chosen avenue of expression.

[Heespharm]

Gaffer Tape + wall

Best way for me means cheapest way...

[Peter De Smidt]

I'm a professional assistant photographer. I use gaffer's tape regularly to hold material up, but it's expensive, slower to use, and more likely to cause damage than clamps. Sometimes I don't have a choice, as there's no room for stands and nothing to clamp to. If you're going to shoot in one spot, then it should be easy to make some wall brackets (or whatever) to hold a cross pole, and you can make the pole out of tons of stuff. I like wooden handrails, as they're cheap, more rigid than comparable pvc, have a flat side so they don't spin when set onto an inverted a-clamp.... For location work, get some good stands. C-stands are very nice, but they're over kill for small backgrounds. I recommend mid-sized "kit" stands, which are the stands commercial shooters throw in their location kits. I myself use Talon air-cushioned stands. They are a nice middle ground in stand quality and price. I also have some Giotto stands, which aren't quite as heavy duty, but they work well. Much like tripods, you want to avoid the really inexpensive stands.

[Louie Powell]

If the backdrop is far enough behind the subject, it will be out of focus, and no one will ever know if its hanging straight.

[Grif]

www.software-cinema.com

Tinker-Tubes I found a pdf of plans for studio "stuff" light stands, back drop holders, light boxes, all made from pvc pipe and fittings. I didn't check the link to see if it was valid,,, perhaps a google for tinker tubes would work.

Boy, this thread has been going on a few years ;-)

[Jfnphotography]

Seen this on a photographers web page that looked nice. Simple to make.

[Brian K]

It's not like any of these solutions are "wrong" but when you think about how, say a Maplethorpe or Avedon or Penn would do it - to make serious work - they wouldn't scrimp around or settle for something that wasn't well-done. And the reason why (besides pride and craftsmanship) is that if you hit upon something that "works", it would be nice to be able to repeat it, on location, with consistency.

Frank, I agree, but if you want to take it a step further often high end commercial shooters have a cyc or at the least a perfectly smooth wall which would be painted. While a cyc is an expensive proposition, framing a small wall, or just using an existing one, and very carefully plastering it smooth will give you a far better look than seamless background paper and even most fabrics. For still lifes I often would buy 4x8' masonite and paint the smooth side. You can also make your own cyc with masonite.

Paint can deliver a cleanness of tone that seamless can't. Especially if you use an ultra flat paint like a ceiling paint. The trick being a smooth wall and a smooth paint job.

[Frank Petronio]

For that matter, in the wonderful 80s and even later, I would buy a rolled sheet of Formica (Nevermar, etc. are similar) and use it for a tough, perfect background. Or the infamous 1/8" Plexiglass, milky white or black or even with patterns in it for that "Tron" look.

I hardly ever used seamless and hate the stuff. Even now, with models for catalogy things, when I am forced to use seamless what I do is painstakingly get it perfect, and then try to keep the model way, way in front of it so I can keep it out of focus and hopeful hide it through- over or under-exposure.

Seamless is crap.

If you can work on a smaller scale, art supply art boards, like the mylar-coated $3.99 flats that are 36" square, are great for one or two uses. Likewise artist's papers, etc.

And of course the old standby, black velour. One of the background houses that sells seamless paper has a product called "Ray-Valour" that was inky black.

Sometimes odd materials are best - concrete, wood, rusty metal. Edward Weston used a silver mixing bowl on it's side with the subject nested inside - looked great in B&W.

And our forum's master, Christopher Broadbent, paints his own backdrops, even incorporating the potential lighting into how he feathers their light to dark areas. That is really the right way to do it.

For lesser folks, you can buy, rent, or paint your own canvas backdrops.

Muslin never looks good IMHO. Not unless you're doing a Biblical epic at least.

[Brian K]

Formica has it's uses. It's good on table top sweeps but has a somewhat shiny surface. I used to use it a lot for silos or for when the product was messy, splashes, pours, sweat, liquids. It doesn't provide the depth of color saturation that a painted surface has and obviously unlike paint there are limited color choices. However Formica also has many other surfaces, faux woods, stones, etc. However none of these work as well as the real material especially if you're working close to the surface.

White plexi, milk plexi, or matte white plexi have great uses. The most obvious being under light gradations and a clean almost surgical look to them. They're used a lot in cosmetics, pharma and even small electronics shoots.

Someone mentioned that seamless imperfections are ok if they're really far away and out of focus and I have to disagree with that, they'd need to be way out of focus and so far away as to require such a wide sweep of seamless to makemup for the shrinking width of it with distance. So if you're going to use seamless make sure you hang it straight and smooth.

The thing with any background is that it needs to work with the subject that you are shooting so don't limit yourself to seamless or fabric.

[cjbroadbent]

A sheet on a stretcher for people, a canvas on a frame for flowers.
Examples here (https://picasaweb.google.com/cjbroadbent/NewAlbum32111215PM?feat=directlink). The garden spray bottle is for misting over the the paint-job to create arial perspective so you can shoot at f45.
Hang it in the dining room between shoots.

[Brian K]

A sheet on a stretcher for people, a canvas on a frame for flowers.
Examples here (https://picasaweb.google.com/cjbroadbent/NewAlbum32111215PM?feat=directlink). The garden spray bottle is for misting over the the paint-job to create arial perspective so you can shoot at f45.
Hang it in the dining room between shoots.

Chris, nice backgrounds.

[Peter De Smidt]

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Seamless is crap.
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Muslin never looks good IMHO. Not unless you're doing a Biblical epic at least.

I agree.

[cjbroadbent]

Aerial not arial. Sorry, too late to edit.
Yes, seamless is for the birds - a hangover from the eighties.

[John_Vella]

www.software-cinema.com

Tinker-Tubes I found a pdf of plans for studio "stuff" light stands, back drop holders, light boxes, all made from pvc pipe and fittings. I didn't check the link to see if it was valid,,, perhaps a google for tinker tubes would work.

Boy, this thread has been going on a few years ;-)

Here's the link for the Tinker Tubes PDF... http://www.software-cinema.com/page/13/tinkertubes

I did make my own support system using 40mm tubing. I'll see if I can find the designs or any photos when I turn on the home PC next.

[p_markowski]

I use a 6 section tent poles of equal length. 2 up, 2 across, and 2 down. The two down stick in the dirt and pushed down until the frame is firm. Then some pony clamps to hold the black cloth taught. Collapses neatly and packed in the tripod holder of my backpack.

[FlashThat]

Why don't you try to check out some background stand. I got my background stand (http://www.photographicbackdrop.com/79.background-stands-kits.aspx) at Photographicbackdrop.com Its a big help for me putting up whatever background I wanted to set up for my mini photoshoots. Hope this could help.

[cjbroadbent]

Chris, nice backgrounds.
Brian, Thanks. I had to rebuild the link (https://picasaweb.google.com/cjbroadbent/Backgrounds?feat=directlink).