Seamless paper creases/marks

So far, I've only shot models on a white seamless background. As I'm blowing out the white with lights, no creases or folds show up at all. However, I recently did a shoot using black seamless paper and shined a gel'd strobe onto it. The smallest creases and folds showed.

I am shooting at ISO 100, f11, 1/160 at about 50mm for fully body photos at about 10 feet away.

To minimize how obvious the imperfections are on the background, I believe shooting with a wider aperture would help blur it out a bit.

My question is: what aperture should I shoot at to blur the background enough, yet have the model be completely in focus? Is f2 too shallow? How about f4 (since I have a 24-105mm f4 lens)?

Heya,

Put an object in your setup and shoot at F4 and see?

Very best,

Search the Internet for DOF calculator.

As for the paper problem, it might be time to cut off the end of the roll and get to some fresh paper.

You can also adjust where your background light is. If you have the background light hitting at an oblique angle, you are going to make the creases and folds much more obvious.

As per above:

- Take care when unrolling and storing (vertical or on bar) - don't allow paper to crease /get flat spot by leaning roll against wall or laying on floor.
- Keep paper edges clear of stand legs. Use a bar as wider than the roll as feasible and that allows for stand legs.
- Allow for gentle curve at bottom to pull paper away from legs.
- Autopoles (no legs) solve above issue, but not always doable.
- Be willing to lop-off a section if need be.

- Get any background light(s) going as straight on into the paper as feasible.

Much like lighting for an athlete's muscle tone - a light raking across a creased background paper will show every defect in it vs. one coming from closer to a 90 deg angle to it.

- Relaxation exercises help ;>

try putting your subject away from the background...like 10 ft or more