p.1 #1 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
I recently purchased a 100mm macro lens and would like to get into more macro photography. I would like to do photos both with natural backgrounds and with "clean" black and "clean" white backdrops. I plan on using a reflector and a Lume Cube Panel Mini to augment my light. Two questions:
What is the best material to use for these backdrops in terms of no sheen or glare or any other undesirable traits such as lint issues?
Any suggestions on how to "frame" or hang the cloth to make the backdrop?
For larger work outside, I could just use a couple of garden sticks and clothes pegs but I haven't come up with a simple solution for the smaller inside work (on tables, counters, etc).
p.1 #2 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
When doing a studio setup indoors with no ambient light, if you place your background far enough from your subject so that virtually no light reaches or hits the background you can use anything, any material because it will turn out black, even white will become black. For white, use white seamless paper and light it so that the reflective exposure is 1.5 > 2 stops above the incident exposure of your subject and you should have a white background.
p.1 #3 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
The ultimate material for that is the black felt used to line the insides of telescopes. I obtained some years ago and it is very good but I don't have the details. I suggest you search/ask questions in an astronomy forum.
p.1 #4 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
Genuine black velvet is best but it's expensive but sounds like your subjects are small so won't cost too much.
Working your way down, felt or any non-shiny fabric. If your DOF is shallow enough pretty much anything will work!! Good luck
John
p.1 #5 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
I carry a piece of black felt in my location case. It cushions other items, gives a pure black background when gaffered to a wall or a clamped to a curtain rod or boom arm, it can be used for subtractive lighting. Mine is large enough for head and shoulder shots. For white, I use a pure white seamless and a thunder gray which can be lightened to shades of gray or darkened to black by lighting the subject brighter incident than the reflective bg reading.
p.1 #6 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
There is a material called black molton which is used in theatres for black-out curtains (the ones behind the pretty curtains facing the audience). It is opaque black and furry, and very useful as a black backdrop. The common form is made from cotton, but there is a wool version (but it's a bit more expensive). Both are treated with flame retardant (unsurprising for a material used in theatres!).
The only drawback is that it comes in rolls 3m wide, which may mean buying a piece that rather too big for your purposes! You might try enquiring about off-cuts. I think the wool version comes in a narrower roll, though.
You can ask for black molton, blackout cloth, or even commando cloth - it has several names. I think it may also be sold as black duveteen (or something like that).
p.1 #7 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
I apologize for not thanking you all sooner. The last few weeks life has pulled me in many directions. Thank you for the various suggestions. Much appreciated.
p.1 #8 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
My studio has black, white, gray, chroma green and chroma blue 10' wide backdrops. All are cheap muslin backdrops purchased from Amazon, and I have been quite happy with how well they work for me. The gray is used mostly. All are hung on a ceiling mounted roller system with manual chains for raising and lowering them.
For my field kit, I purchased some 5 X 7 backdrops made by Kate. These were also purchased from Amazon. I found the first of these to be very well made of a really nice polyester type material and liked it so much that I now have 5 or 6 of them, of course black, gray, and white, but several colors as well. They don't hold wrinkles, so a quick touch-up with a hand held steamer and distilled water, and they are ready for use. They are stored folded in a duffel bag. I have an adjustable width collapsing stand that I use them with. It collapses down into a bag about 4" diameter and 38" long, but opens to a maximum 10' width and about 8' tall.
For easy care backdrops, look for Kate backdrops on Amazon. Kate backdrops would likely be on my studio backdrop system if I had found them before buying the muslin backdrops. A little higher price than muslin, but very much worth it.
p.1 #10 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
If you want your subject to be completely "encased" in black (i.e. not only having a black background but also foreground), to virtually "float" in a black void, I've found that a glossy black sheet works best for placing the subject on.
If the lightsource is placed facing away from the camera (i.e. front or top light, slightly tilted towards the subject), the shiny sheet will reflect the light away from the camera, effectively making the foreground black. A matte sheet (paper/foamcore/fabric) will scatter light back and make the base look gray.
p.1 #11 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
I use three light-absorbing materials depending on scale and subject proximity. My MSE flags and cutters are covered in fabric (probably Duvetyne) which work nicely as a black b/g. Second materal is some kind of terrycloth that serves as my wall-sized backdrop. Third is genuine silk velvet: this stuff is expensive but soaks up light so effectively that I can place jewelry directly on it:
p.1 #12 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
I think it depends on what you are shooting. For flower and insect photography the viewer expects to see some color in the background, and it is best not to make the background even (even backgrounds, like getting everything in focus, can make a scene look two dimentional). I do not care about making my photos look natural, but I do not want them to look unnatural -I want the viewer to just relax and enjoy the image without any distractions. " target="_blank" rel="nofollow">In this video you can see the set of artificial flowers that I bought at Ikea. If I want to change the color of the background I just rotate them, and due to the petals being at different distances the background is not flat. Here is an example:
Just be careful dropping below 1/125 of a second because subject movement while the shutter is open can cause the background to under expose and it will look like a shadow. Really easy to see the effect in this shot -learn from my fail...
As others have said if there is nothing close to the subject the light from the flash will fall off and the background will be black. Personally I do not like the effect, but sometimes I just do not have a choice.
p.1 #13 · Best material for black, and white, backdrops
EverLearning wrote:
What is the best material to use for these backdrops in terms of no sheen or glare or any other undesirable traits such as lint issues?
For a black background, the best "material" is killing ambient with the exposure triangle (e.g., f/16, 1/250s, iso 50) and using flash to bring your subject up. Indoors that's all you need. Outdoors you may benefit from higher shutter speeds and HSS (of course needing the flash closer to the subject, but this is macro so that's easy) or just ND filters, and maybe a black piece of spray-painted cardboard or black foamcore behind the subject.
