Using Studio Backdrops

On a whim, I bought a Christmas themed photo backdrop and will use it Saturday. It's 5ft high so I'm assuming you shoot kids standing or sitting and adults sitting and then crop above where the backdrop stops?

Nic

Yup shoot people below the 5 foot top of the backdrop, either frame it so no copping is needed or crop it off in post so you do not see the top or sides of the drop.

Late to the conversation but:
I personally like a 3/4-length standing portrait way more than a seated portrait. Use it for adults standing, and crop them at the thighs or shins.
Of course, this is very impractical if you have families or are alternating between kids and adults in the same setup.

A backdrop that's only 5 feet high seems kinda silly to me. However, you can make the most out of a small backdrop by standing farther away and using a long focal length to frame the subject and backdrop.

nathancarter wrote in post #18203894
Late to the conversation but:
I personally like a 3/4-length standing portrait way more than a seated portrait. Use it for adults standing, and crop them at the thighs or shins.
Of course, this is very impractical if you have families or are alternating between kids and adults in the same setup.

A backdrop that's only 5 feet high seems kinda silly to me. However, you can make the most out of a small backdrop by standing farther away and using a long focal length to frame the subject and backdrop.

As someone that only shoots adults in my studio I have never understood a 5' or 6' tall backdrop. I need 8' minimum. However if all you shoot is kids and babies I guess I understand, must be way there are a ton of smaller backdrops on the market.

Yes, so it's been a learning experience. What I still don't understand is how you make the floor match the backdrop when shooting kids/adults sitting in front of the backdrop.

I think next year, I'll try a portait oriented backdrop and shoot 3/4 - that way you could even raise the bar from which the backdrop is hung to give a bit more headroom.

Nic

nicshow wrote in post #18208029
Yes, so it's been a learning experience. What I still don't understand is how you make the floor match the backdrop when shooting kids/adults sitting in front of the backdrop.

I think next year, I'll try a portait oriented backdrop and shoot 3/4 - that way you could even raise the bar from which the backdrop is hung to give a bit more headroom.

Nic

What backdrop are you using?

nicshow wrote in post #18208029
Yes, so it's been a learning experience. What I still don't understand is how you make the floor match the backdrop when shooting kids/adults sitting in front of the backdrop.

#1: Does it have to match? My opinion: Not always. The only place this "look" ever exists - where the floor exactly matches the wall - is in a photo studio.

#2: If yes, there are a couple of ways to do it:

The usual term is to use a single long piece of fabric, canvas, or vinyl to make your "sweep" - that is, you drape it in such a way that there's a smooth curving transition from the vertical hang to the floor sweep. [Side note, my personal opinion is that these nearly always look passé and hokey. To make it look good and professional takes a considerable amount of effort]

My method is swiped from Zack Arias, and that's to use a big roll of seamless backdrop paper, roll it out so that there's a very short sweep, and on the floor use white tileboard from the hardware store. If you overlap it right (the camera-near tileboard overlaps the camera-far tileboard, which overlaps the bottom edge of the paper) the seams will be practically invisible to the camera.


Behind-the-scenes #1:
https://www.flickr.com​/gp/nathancarter/Du215​4

Results with lights on the paper backdrop to blow it out:
https://www.flickr.com​/gp/nathancarter/74oqn​7

Results without background lights:
https://flic.kr/p/Mzez​iv

Results with a little bit more set dressing:
https://flic.kr/p/DNjL​Su


You can also take your small backdrop and dress it up with a bunch of extra fabrics and props and such to make a much larger, fuller studio set out of many small pieces. All the backdrop dressing in this set was from the fabric store, we probably bought about fifty bucks worth of assorted fabrics from Joann's, and some curtain hardware and such from IKEA to put it all together - and I still have every bit of it, I use that stuff all the time for various props and setups. Disclaimer, this is pretty old so my lighting and retouching skills have come a long way:
https://www.flickr.com …/albums/7215763​0215192422

That looks like it should have a white rug as the floor, for that look its going to be real hard to make the floor match.