As a product photographer, I use paper in various different ways as a background for still-life photos to keep costs down for creative shooting. In this article, I'll show you how I do it and how you can do it too.
Razer has unveiled a new compacting Blue Screen that is designed for streamers but could also be used by mobile portrait photographers as an easy way to get a customizable background while on location.
Most photographers don’t have an unlimited pool of money or a vast unending studio to collect and hoard gear in. For this reason, it’s especially important to choose gear and accessories that allow them to get the most bang for their buck, like a simple large white backdrop.
Creating an evenly lit background can be trickier than one would think, but is a skill that every photographer should master. But with the right equipment and knowledge, it gets much easier to capture a pure white, black, or colored gradient background in-camera without the need for heavy Photoshop cleanup in post.
I have made many DIY backgrounds for my photography. Honestly, too many. It gets really addictive. If you have been thinking of creating some for yourself or how you can improve your photography collection for very little money, these tips on creating your own DIY background are going to be super helpful.
What kind of photos do you get if you shoot with a backdrop made with one of the blackest materials available to the public? Photographer Mathieu Stern recently decided to find out, and he documented his experiment in the 5-minute video above.
Canadian freelance photographer Christy Turner recently ran into a bit of good luck in the form of some "bad" weather. In the aftermath of a violent thunderstorm on the day of a graduation shoot, nature rewarded her with a spectacular backdrop of mammatus clouds ... and a rainbow to boot.
Photographer Miguel Quiles has created a quick, crash-course style video that explores the different types of backgrounds you can buy as a portrait photographer, and then explains why collapsible backgrounds might be the best option if you're just starting out.
Anyone who has had any exposure to still life photography or studio work will know just how expensive backdrops can be. I have a couple from Kate Backdrops company, one of which I use very often, but I've been hankering after a few more.
Want a tabletop wooden backdrop you can use for photographing everything from products to babies? Here's a 10.5-minute video by Erik Tande of DIY done wrong showing how you can make your own for basically zero cost.
For those of us born in the 1970s and 80s, this new phenomenon of mottled, cloudy backdrops appearing in modern portraits is an odd one. You see, back when we were kids, we had horrendously cheesy family and school portraits taken in front of these bizarrely arranged patterns, so to us, it’s pretty weird to see these painted, cloudy backdrops now grace the covers of Vogue and Tatler.
Photography. It’s expensive. And who really has the money to buy all the name brand photo gear? I certainly don’t. With that said, expensive equipment does NOT make the photograph -- the photographer does, which is why I am exploring various non-photography-specific gear and using it for my photography.
I love bokeh and wanted to incorporate it into some upcoming holiday-themed beauty shoots. Well, I didn't want to shoot in the cold and I really didn't want to buy strings of lights (or generally spend any money at all) so I put together this great backdrop with basically just tinfoil.
Here's a fantastic 16-minute tutorial by photographer Dustin Dolby of workphlo (he's like the Bob Ross of product photography) on adding a creative background to a product photo by light painting with a smartphone.
Professional portrait backdrops can cost over $1,000 apiece. If you'd like to get creative without getting broke, photographer Jessica Kobeissi has a thrifty DIY idea for you in this 4.5-minute video. She shows how you can create a custom backdrop using less than $5 in materials purchased from your local dollar store.
A few days ago, my girlfriend, Victoria was trying to take some photos of a bridesmaid gift she received the night before. She was trying to take these images on her phone and was not having any success. After a few unsuccessful attempts, she gave into my suggestion of taking these photos on her X-T10.
In this 5-minute video from The Slanted Lens, learn how to create a window in a seamless and add beautiful shafts of light into your studio shots.
In this 9-minute tutorial from photography Andrew Boey of Beyond Photography, learn how to use a white wall to create any color backdrop you want by using just a speedlight and a colored gel.
This short 2-minute video from photographer Svitlana Vronska demonstrates some clever lighting tricks you can use to add some creative flair to your images with an otherwise uninteresting backdrop.
Sarah Oliphant is a backdrop painter working in New York City whose highly sought after $1,000+ backdrops are used by many of the world's top portrait photographers. Here's a 47-minute interview by portrait photographer Peter Hurley, who sat down with Oliphant at her new studio in Bushwick, NYC to see how she works and to learn about the woman behind the paintings.
High-end photo backdrops can cost over $1,000 apiece. When photographer Jeremy Cowart couldn't find a backdrop he needed a few days ago, he had an idea: Cowart drew his own backdrop on an iPad Pro and printed it out at 40x80 inches on a $4,000 professional Canon printer.
This innovative new music video, directed by Jonah Haber, shows a glow in the dark background used to great effect. By firing strobes throughout the music video, her silhouette is recorded on the backdrop, eerily following her path throughout the video.
Oliphant Backdrops are iconic backdrops used in portrait photography. You've probably seen these backdrops in photos by Annie Leibovitz and many other famous photographers. Art always comes with a price and rightfully so, and the biggest question many people ask is how much the backdrops cost.
It would be great if you could take advantage of an epic or picturesque backdrop every time you went out to shoot portraits. But since we don't all live in Iceland, here are a few simple tips that'll help you make the most of a crappy location on your next spontaneous portrait shoot.
If you like using Drop It Modern's photography backdrops, we've got good news for you: they sell those same patterns as wallpaper. Who needs a backdrop when your whole house or apartment can be one!?
At first glance, it seems like an easy thing to achieve: how hard can it be to get a great looking gelled background in your portrait?
Setting up your first portrait studio and wondering what color backdrop to get? If you can only choose one color, you might want to think about getting a gray one. In the 6-minute video above, photographer Joe Edelman explains why he thinks gray is the best color.
Many moons ago I was enrolled in a class on portraiture by Don Giannatti that studied and sought inspiration from the greats in photographic portraiture. The final artist studied was William Coupon. Coupon is known for his formal painterly backdrop portraits. Being the dutiful student I turned my assignment in post haste, or rather several months late. Either way, I learned that creating a painted backdrop had to be neither difficult nor costly.
As my startup gear brand Eupidere grows, we face more and more photographic challenges in shooting thrifty product photos. Recently, I had just minutes to come up with an image that is a) eye catching, and b) Christmas related. There are lots of Christmas decorations around right now and the little guy above, wearing striped pajamas, is one of them. We decided to put him into a winter scenery and wish everyone Merry Christmas.
One of the most important aspects of fine art macro photography is capturing a non-distracting background so your subject stands out. I tend to like clean and colorful backgrounds, but there are situations where dark backgrounds may be desirable. This article will showcase one method of how to capture black backgrounds in macro photography. We’ll take a look at using flash falloff.