Help with small home studio setup please!

I am looking for backdrops for doing some small studio type work at my home. I am going to take some photos of several different families and their kids all in one day. I have a large open wall, where I was thinking of hanging some sort of sheet material ie. solid black, and white. I was planning to hang it high, up against the wall, and have it come out 8 feet or so at the bottom. I have a couple 580exII's and a softbox I will be using. My first thought was to go to a fabric store and just purchase some fabric. I went, and the fabric just seems to thin, and I am afraid the background of the wall will show through.

So, my question is, where can I find the right material for something like this? I am open to all sorts of ideas, and I am sorry if this is in the wrong section. Thanks in advance.....Jake

White or black seamless won't cost you much more and will look way better. You could tape it up if you don't have stands.... you live in San Diego, I see, so you could pick some up at your local Samy's. If you insist on using fabric, find a fabric discount outlet and buy the thicker stuff. The local store here sells it for $10 a yard and it is 102 inches wide instead of the standard fabric size of 45-54 inches wide. Seamless paper would cost you less.

I've been using a thin black fabric background (inherited from the previous owner of my equipment), and found that it wasn't opaque enough. All I did was to put a dark-coloured fleece bedsheet behind it as a kind of "liner". This has solved the problem, at least until I can afford something better.

Vaginal, i got mine from my local fabric store and it works great - just roll it up when done, if it gets dirty you just wipe it with a damp cloth, gives very clean and very smooth

the vaginal i buy comes on a roll about 6ft wide and if i need wider i just tape to sheets together and then PS the seem out, vaginal is heavy tho so you would need a decent support system i originally used galvanized steel electrical conduit supported by a couple of shelving brackets

LONDON808 wrote in post #12918170
Vaginal, i got mine from my local fabric store and it works great - just roll it up when done, if it gets dirty you just wipe it with a damp cloth, gives very clean and very smooth

the vaginal i buy comes on a roll about 6ft wide and if i need wider i just tape to sheets together and then PS the seem out, vaginal is heavy tho so you would need a decent support system i originally used galvanized steel electrical conduit supported by a couple of shelving brackets

Show me this Vaginal you speak of.

He/she probably meant vinyl? LOL

I'm guessing a handheld device with auto correct...

Thank you very much, I will definitely head down to the Photography shop and see what they have. As for the seamless, do you just use it for the background? What do you use to pull away, towards the camera, to have kids sitting on with various props? A big thanks again.....Jake

seamless vaginal material is this new to the market does it leave a carbon foot print or bio-degradable ? Is it sold by the roll or ?

Hey, if it's Vaginal, I'm ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL IN.

vinyl I MEANT VINYL

LOL - dam iphone has its own way of thinking and when it corrects something once it belives it should do the same every dam time

hahahaha. that's an epic auto correct right there

That's too frickin' funny. I'm thinking "vaginal"... what is that? Ok, so I'm not completely up on what is new out there, but who would NAME their product that, must be all the rage in Paris. Ok. I got it now. As for vinyl....I used vinyl backgrounds for about 7 years while working out of a studio and it was great stuff but: high heels on vinyl caused divots, cowboy boots had skid marks, and cleaning it with the wrong products would cause the shine to dull in parts etc. Not a big deal now that you can photoshop, but I was working with medium format film in those days. With white seamless paper, you can pull it away from the wall to create the "curve" and when it is too dirty, you just cut it off and pull out a new clean space. It isn't expensive unless you live in an area such that you need to pay for shipping. I love it personally. i buy white and black for full length and light it with gels for whatever closer up stuff I want to do, which is rare. I don't actually use "gels" per se, but I used to own a mylar film company that made colored films and I use some of the old stock to cover my strobes and get some interesting effects.

SUE, i always think $ i live in hawaii and its pain in the A to get anything good here (cant even buy non screw in filters here)

so vinyl is the way i tend to go unles i want it for something special,

LONDON808 wrote in post #12930753
SUE, i always think $ i live in hawaii and its pain in the A to get anything good here (cant even buy non screw in filters here)

so vinyl is the way i tend to go unles i want it for something special,

ha ha. yes, I totally GET that, as I used to live in Maritime Canada, so you have to go with what you can get...and DEAL with it, right? Living in So. California now, where everything is a quick drive away, things are different. Regardless, if you have a creative mind, and a bit of technical knowledge, you can really make anything "work", if you have to. I bet you work wonders with what you have readily available!