Paper or Muslin for my backdrop (amateur studio set up)

Hello everyone, just a real quick question here.

Never setup a studio before... just wondering about which backdrop is better. Seamless paper or muslin.

I need two colors, white and black. The area it is going in will be either my garage (cement floor) or my house (tile floor).

I will be needing a rather large (width wise) backdrop no matter which I use.

Advice?

I'd go with paper if size wasn't an issue. I don't know how wide the rolls can come, but if you need something REALLY wide, you might need to with with muslin. I kno a standard paper roll is 9" wide. If you make the width your height (turn it sideways) you could easily get a 25"x9" roll.

i was just thinking about this same question.

My arguement is, with paper, it'll get dirty and you will need to replace it eventually, whereas with a muslin, you can wash it and keep re-using it.

Do paper and muslin both look the same when lighting is correct?

Like the OP i too am thinking of getting black and white backgrounds.

With Muslin, I would basically have to have floor clamps to clamp it down and stretch out any wrinkles it might have right?

I won't be transporting to other locations so portability is not an issue.

sboerup wrote in post #2632362
I'd go with paper if size wasn't an issue. I don't know how wide the rolls can come, but if you need something REALLY wide, you might need to with with muslin. I kno a standard paper roll is 9" wide. If you make the width your height (turn it sideways) you could easily get a 25"x9" roll.

Standard sized for seamless paper are 53", 107" and I recently learned they have 140" as well. So you can have seamless that is not quite 12' wide.

mR_CaESaR wrote in post #2632560
i was just thinking about this same question.

My arguement is, with paper, it'll get dirty and you will need to replace it eventually, whereas with a muslin, you can wash it and keep re-using it.

Do paper and muslin both look the same when lighting is correct?

Like the OP i too am thinking of getting black and white backgrounds.

Well, it all depends on what you're doing. I'm working primarily on headshots and head and shoulder portraits and if I put seamless behind my subject it never has to touch the ground and a roll will last me a very long time. If I was bringing it down to create the sweep or for product work where there's always something touching it and making it dirty then I would go through it much more quickly.

Paper and muslin have a different look to the. Part of it is texture and then it's also the pattern in the muslin that gives it a very nice appearance. Unless you are creating effects with your lights, you get more of a solid color (or you can create gradients) with seamless paper.

ClickClick wrote in post #2632958
With Muslin, I would basically have to have floor clamps to clamp it down and stretch out any wrinkles it might have right?

I won't be transporting to other locations so portability is not an issue.

The nature of muslin and cloth backgrounds is that they look better if you just let them fall or hang and don't try to straighten them out. I used to think that a cloth or curtainlike background needed to hand perfectly flat with no creases or wrinkles and then after talking to others and looking at backgrounds used I found that they look great when you just play with them. Also, if you are able to get good seperation between subject and background and then camera to subject you can use aperture values that will blur the background and all the inconsistencies either go away or blend together in a very pleasing way.

Poke around in the galleries and portraiture sites and you'll see muslin and cloth backgrounds of all kinds and they're never pulled tight. You'll drive yourself crazy if you try to get them perfectly flat.

They really both have different feel and look to them, so id say its more prefrence.

I have 3 main backdrops...
1. handpainted muslin (carcoal grayish white color) looks pretty formal.
2. Chromakey Green Screen (thick felt cloth material) used for digital backgrounds
3. I just ordered the same as TMR, a Smoke Gray 53" wide paper roll.

All are used for different things,... but if you only want one, it comes down to personal prefrence.

In regards to washing your backdrop..muslin... you need to take it to a place to get cleaned... If you are using the sizes im using, there is no way you can do it at home... Both my green screen and muslin are both 10 feet wide X 20 feet long. Not to mention it can ruin your backdrop. Colors fade, etc... Best thing is to just be careful and just try not to get it dirty. I picked the color of my muslin dark for a reason, it hides dirt.

Here is a link to my muslin backdrop... I got this exact one, from the same guy... but only paid $100 shipped for it. I must have been lucky since thats a deal...

http://cgi.ebay.com …9QQtcZphotoQQcm​dZViewItem

Here is a link to my GreenScreen.. but my screen is different, its thicker and fire-retardent... kinda like a felt material.. but I bought it off the same guy.

http://cgi.ebay.com …30087QQrdZ1QQcm​dZViewItem

And the paper is just paper from B&H... They got all sorts of sizes and colors..

If you want a totally even, wrinkle-free, textureless background, then muslin will not do it, you will need paper. If you want a background that can be draped to show dimensionality then you need muslin.

ClickClick wrote in post #2632319
Hello everyone, just a real quick question here.

Never setup a studio before... just wondering about which backdrop is better. Seamless paper or muslin.

I need two colors, white and black. The area it is going in will be either my garage (cement floor) or my house (tile floor).

I will be needing a rather large (width wise) backdrop no matter which I use.

Advice?

Neither paper or muslin is "better". They are just different.

Each approach has its own set of upsides and downsides.

Paper is is very smooth and even, but it is easy to damage, heavy, hard to store, hard to transport (in the commonly used 9 foot rolls), lower in initial cost, and is consumed in use.

Muslin is easy to store, lighter, is not consumed in use, higher in initial cost, and the surface is softer.

Typically muslin is just more accommodating to use, but you cannot get that nice smooth surface of paper with muslin.

You pick your own set of upsides and downsides.

One note, unless you have a huge area, and a very robust manner to hold the roll, avoid the mentioned 140 inch wide paper. The roll is extremely heavy and long (12 feet) and very expensive as it requires special handling due to the length.

Another observation, many seem to obsess over the wrinkles in muslin. Wrinkles are just part of the mix if you choose muslin. In fact I stuff my muslin backdrops in tight bags so I will have many random micro wrinkles. Go with the flow regarding wrinkles in muslin, do not try to wrangle them. If you want something without wrinkles, that is the upside of paper.

Enjoy! Lon

Lon said it best.

I started with paper and I like the sleak look, but boy was it a pain to deal with. And hard to lift by my self. I still use it every now and then but I can store 4 muslin backgronds in a duffle bag and go.

In my opinion it just depends on the look you want. BTW- I bought a couple of Wescott one for several hundred dollars, now I just make my own!

Walmart Black King Size bedsheet, 200 thread count. Works great. Only $15.

Add in some Rit dye and you got yourself a horse of a different color.

For black background I have muslin and am happy with it, but it's not on the floor. It's cheaper and easier to store than paper. If you want to put it on the floor, you want to make sure the floors are really clean first.

For a white one, I think the best way to go is paper if you want the seamless look. Wrinkled white backgrounds look bad IMO.