Which background material

Peter123

Peter123

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I'm setting up a small "studio" in my garage to take product shots, some from an almost horizontal plane.
I plan to buy a support and have 3 or 4 different backgrounds to choose from.
But which material do I choose; paper, vinyl or curtain?
 
It depends.
Black background - vinyl and paper are poor choices because they will always reflect some light, so muslin (cotton) is almost the best choice (genuine velvet is the actual best choice, but very expensive)
White or grey background, muslin is a poor choice because it always creases, paper is the best but needs constant replacement, vinyl is second best but is more economical, long term..
 
I'm restricted to something 2.0m approx wide.
The pop up ones on 2 stands appear to work but are only 1.5m wide.
Any suggestions?
 
•


The important things to know are…
  • do you want the BG to be seen as such, texture etc?
  • should it have a reflective surface whatever its colour?
  • what is the maximum size of the products you want to shoot?
  • do you plan to use colour gels?
 
Kodiak Qc said:
•


The important things to know are…
  • do you want the BG to be seen as such, texture etc?
  • should it have a reflective surface whatever its colour?
  • what is the maximum size of the products you want to shoot?
  • do you plan to use colour gels?
Click to expand...
"Product photography" is a very broad subject and even means different things to different people, but personally I think that you will struggle to get anywhere near enough space in a garage to cope with having a textured or deliberately reflective background, or to use gels to light it.
When I used to do this on a daily basis I had a large studio but even so, my normal practice was to shoot against a black background whenever possible. I would then change the background in PP as required, and this allowed literally any colour and/or texture to be substituted and, once the process has been learned, it takes relatively little time, which is justified by the much better results.

One of the benefits of shooting against a black background is that the lack of spilled light makes it very easy to control the lighting perfectly.
 
It is mainly food / drink photography.
For the overhead shots (square for instagram) I am sorted.
But the client also wants 16:9 with the product at one side, allowing company logo and product description to take up approx. 2/3rds of the image.
So near horizontal shot. My garage wall (wide aperture to blur) works for one, but they want several shades/option for differentiation.

Changing the background in PP sounds the easiest, but I’ve never done it!
 
•


We shoot in the main studio as well as on the kitchen table or the office
desk if necessary. The size is known but the intentions are not… yet.
 
Peter123 said:
they want several shades/option for differentiation.
Click to expand...

So, food is your goal, Peter.
Paper, vinyl, muslin and GELS!
Peter123 said:
Changing the background in PP sounds the easiest, but I’ve never done it!
Click to expand...

You get a good idea of what you're doing right when
you don't need PP.
 
Peter123 said:
It is mainly food / drink photography.
For the overhead shots (square for instagram) I am sorted.
But the client also wants 16:9 with the product at one side, allowing company logo and product description to take up approx. 2/3rds of the image.
So near horizontal shot. My garage wall (wide aperture to blur) works for one, but they want several shades/option for differentiation.

Changing the background in PP sounds the easiest, but I’ve never done it!
Click to expand...
I don't know what you have in terms of software, but this is my way of doing it in Photoshop when using a PC (Slightly different with a Mac).

1. Click on channels

2. Select highest contrast channel

3. Drag down to duplicate

4. Adjust levels or curves to make subject black and background white

5. Ctrl click on new channel layer

6. Back to layers

7. Click mask

8. Ctrl-i



To paint back in erased detail:

1. Click on layer 1

2. Select brush tool

3. Colour white

But, there are always several different ways of doing everything in PS, you could look at youtube videos or hopefully some other TP members will post their own approach
 
Thank you Gary, Daniel and Tony.
Will play with photoshop tomorrow.
 
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