High Key Background?

[dennykyser]

What do you guys use for backgrounds when doing High Key? I have been using sheets with pretty good results but wanting to get somethng a little better and possibly easier to keep clean. Also something that is easier to keep from wrinkling on the floor part

[robertwgross]

If I tell you, will you promise not to laugh?

I buy synthetic fleece blankets in different colors. Normally, I buy them big, like for a queen-size bed, and normally I buy them in dark colors, like gray or burgundy. But then there is one in a light blue and one in ivory white.

Even for the largest ones, I have to pay no more than US$40. That is a lot more than a simple cotton sheet costs, but I find the synthetic fleece fabric very good at absorbing light without any reflections or shine. Also, they weigh more than a simple cotton sheet, but I seldom carry around many.

Further, if you buy the correct thickness of fleece, you can shine a background light onto it from the front or from the rear (it lets some light through from the rear).

---Bob Gross---

[dennykyser]

Not laughing at all Bob, sometimes it is much more fun to make something that works rather than buy it pre- made.

If you will share one more secret, how do you hang them / store them to keep them ready to use? Can you do full length shots on them?

[robertwgross]

If you will share one more secret, how do you hang them / store them to keep them ready to use? Can you do full length shots on them?

I borrowed a sewing machine to work them over. I sewed a "hollow hem" along one edge. That allows a rod to be poked through it for support. To hold up the horizontal support rod, I needed to have two vertical supports. My local autoparts store was selling quartz halogen worklights for the price of US$12 each. Each one came with a folding tripod stand. I extended the stands upward so that I can set the horizontal support rod at about seven feet high.

I've never shot a full length shot that way, but I have shot knees-and-up.

A synthetic fleece blanket can be folded just about any way you want, or rolled up, without major wrinkles or creases.

---Bob Gross---