Seamless paper

[Al_Nowak]

Okay, what's a dricore square, and where did you find them?

[MikeWill]

What are you going to shoot? Headshots, full length, etc. Headshots can be done fine on 53" paper. Full body, fashion, etc. need wider.
Where are you going to shoot? Home or studio - you can devise alternate method of hanging seemless. Remember, you don't have to hold the roll - leave the roll on the ground and attach the paper end. You can clamp to curtain rods, drapes, etc. Another method is to buy large suction cups with hooks used to hang stuff that are available at Sears, hardware stores, etc. You can use a sturdy clothes rod, pipe, two or more pieces of threaded galvanized pipe with couplers, or other similar solution. If travelinig alot, you want portability and something easy to carry.
You can also use cloth for backgrounds but I prefer paper. If you cut about a 3 foot width of paper and lay it on top of the paper on the floor as a top layer, you'll have less damage from dirt and high heels.
Mike
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[jimmyd]

Originally Posted by HankP

if you could buy 3 colors of background what would they be.

white, black, medium gray.

then you could by an assortment of gels and make the seamless pretty much any color you want... well, assuming you have some lights to light the seamless.

[NightOwl2005]

I must be doing something wrong. My white paper doesnt seem to last thru about 4 or 5 sessions till im ready to cut it off and use the rest of the roll. But i figure at $47 a roll, if I shoot on it 10-15 times, its paid for itself. BTW, what do some of you use in your permanent studio for your seamless white backgrounds? I want to do a permanent white and permanent black seamless in my new studio.

Thanks,
Night Owl

[Photomart]

Wanna make white seamless last longer? Pull out the roll as you typically do, then place some white tileboard on top of it. No heel marks, no rips, no tears. And, you can even roll a motorcycle on the tileboard, wipe off the tire tracks and never mess up your seamless.

For permanent white or black seamless background, you can start by painting the walls ... or get more ambitious and build a cyc.

[RSStory]

Originally Posted by Jay Jay

How about white seamless with gels to modify the color.
I dont think I would go with gray if you are getting white anyway. You can make it go gray with your lighting set up.

It is much easier to gel gray or even black then it is white. White is gonna reflect more of the colored light back on the model as well. Remember the 90% rule? 18% gray is the gonna be the best for using gels on.

Here is one on a black background

[HankP]

I will be shooting in my home, so its pretty much put it up and then take it down.
I bought the 53" roll, no room for the bigger one. Looking into background lighting
not real sure what to get. At this point I have a alien bee B800, background stand, 1 round 4 color reflector, 3 rolls of paper white, black, and red. any sugestion on what next to get would help or what kind of background light to get.

thanks for all the tips so far

[Robear0001]

I have numorous stands for backdrops, etc. I like the new stands I just purchased from some ebay store but my best was a long piece of old pipe that I suspended from my ceiling and use either a roll of paper background or muslin or a crushed velvet I made myself, its seamed but it works fairly well with the right light. I have some metal loops that are attached to the ceiling at various locations and allow me to move the pipe around.
As to colors, I have to agree with the white and black, but I also believe in a chromatic color, whether blue or green. I have both which gives me some latitude as to outfits someone wheres. I have yet to keep theses colors in the shots as I photoshop some other back drop in. Have to admit though that my chroma use has been limited to Christmas card pics and none of them glamour, however, the thought of glamour-clause shots do appear appealling, just need some willing Ms. Clauses...lol

[NightOwl2005]

Originally Posted by Photomart

Wanna make white seamless last longer? Pull out the roll as you typically do, then place some white tileboard on top of it. No heel marks, no rips, no tears. And, you can even roll a motorcycle on the tileboard, wipe off the tire tracks and never mess up your seamless.
For permanent white or black seamless background, you can start by painting the walls ... or get more ambitious and build a cyc.

Where do you get the white tile board at? Are you talking about the white hardboard you can find at lowes or home depot? Also, what is a cyc?

[Al_Nowak]

I think the white tile board they are referring to is what's also known also as bathroom board. It's like paneling, has a plain white, somewhat shiny surface, and is available at most of the home improvement places in 4 by 8 foot pieces. Less than $15 a piece if memory serves me.

You can also use plexiglass on top of the seamless to protect it from heels and scuffs... but it costs considerably more. Caution though, the thin acrylic plastic used to replace windows is probably too soft and might scratch easily...

While you're at the home improvement store, grab a handful of spring loaded clamps. There are metal ones, but the plastic ones that come in a package with a number of different sizes are often on sale considerably cheaper than the metal ones. You may need something to keep the paper from unrolling, especially on the wider rolls. Stick a clamp on the end of the roll and it won't unroll further. Also great for using fabric on your background stand.

Here's another tip, if you find the 53" wide paper a tad small, you can buy the wider rolls and cut them down to a manageable size with a fine toothed saw such as a hacksaw.

One more... if you're a flea market or yard sale buff, keep an eye out for some cheap strap-on ankle weights. They are usually 2 to 5 pounds of shot in a canvas bag with a velcro strap or similar. Great for holding down the ends of the unrolled paper, or wrapping around the background stands to give them a bit more stability. I've frequently found sets of the weights for a buck or two.

Oh, and cyc is short for cyclorama. Basically, it's a permanent background with no visible floor to wall, wall to wall, or wall to ceiling joint. Usually white. Think seamless paper made permanent...