Reasonably Priced Backdrop?

branners69

Hi,

I am looking for a backdrop. Will be used for taking photos of the kids. We have two girls (4 and 1) with twins on the way and as the wife has a Nikon D5000 we thought by buying a backdrop we could avoid the professional costs of getting the kids photos taken!

Any advice would be really appreciated, would be willing to spend around the €300 mark.

Many thanks,

Branners

pixbyjohn

Buy a nice piece of grey material in Ikea and then buy some plastic conduit and fittings to make your own.

nilhg

Oshead will probably be along to give the OP some advice, last year he made a great post for anyone thinking of some DIY "pro style" studio work.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=62931217&postcount=15

Thecageyone

Something I keep meaning to do myself. Here's an idea on the cheap:

http://www.diyphotography.net/homestudio/chaep-diy-muslin-photography-background

branners69

I will have a look at the DIY option.

Anymore options/recommendations appreciated!

Thanks,

Branners

hoganpoly

What about the lastolite hi-lite,bit pricey I know but looks like a quality product and easy to set up ...

hmboards

... and a nightmare to take down ;-)

HiLite is a good option for a high key background where you have limited space. They come up on adverts.ie every now and then.

There are plenty of reasonably priced muslin backgrounds on ebay. I haven't tried them, though I do have a muslin from miniphoto.com . It creases very easily, and you don't want to start ironing a 7m muslin! But if it's unlit you don't notice the creases too much. I picked up a background stand there too. It might be cheaper to just pick up some material from your local material shop and either use a proper background stand or make your own.

ValueInIreland

You can get a really solid background support system for about €160 and a roll of background paper for under €80, or a cloth backdrop for under €100.
See: http://www.interfitphotographic.com/Accessories/Accesories%20index.htm
or: Background support kit and : Paper

squareballoon

My advice would be to go for a background stand and a paper seamless
http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/Studio/Backgrounds,+Coving,+Cycloramas/
We have one stand that can take a 9ft roll and another stand made from lighting stands and a broom handle with holes drilled in it.

branners69

Thanks for the replies.

I think I might go with ValueInIreland's recommendations.

Any idea what is the best colour for the background???

ValueInIreland

White is by far the most popular (but boring!), and unless you have three or four lights very hard to keep pure white. Personally, I like black, and have everybody wear white T-shirts.

squareballoon

I like the bone colour best. On Calumet it's called Silver Birch I also like the dark grey. The grey looks lovely with pale skin.