Photography Studio Equipment Essentials - Choosing Your Perfect Photo Backdrops

What do you look for when choosing a photo backdrop as part of your photography studio equipment.

It's not just about the color; there are a few other considerations to think about before diving in headfirst and getting your perfect studio backdrop. What kind of choices do you have?

• There's the color to choose?
• The material it's made from?
• The size you need?
• What is your subject matter?
• Are Digital Backdrops a better solution for you?
• Transportable maybe?

As part of the Photography Studio Equipment Essentials article, we'll go into a bit of detail on each one.
 

What color do you choose for your photo backdrops?

There are many colors for you to choose from when you are considering what photo backdrop is best and to make it even harder there are solid one-color studio backdrops and also the grungy looking, dual or tri coloured backdrops.

In my experience, the one color solid backdrops are better for macro or product photography, except white and black, which are great for portraits too, and I personally think they should be a part of every photographer's studio equipment.

The grungy ones are great for portraiture and draping over your photography props.

What material are the studio backdrops made from?

Here you have two basic choices:

Paper photo backdrop

You can buy this in sheets of various sizes or you can buy them in massive rolls.

Material photo backdrops

There are different types of materials to choose from here from heavy to light or from thick to thin, 

even see through ones. They mostly come in large rolls or in a pop-up style.

What size of photo backdrop do you need?

This all comes down to the size of your subject matter really? If your subject is a flower, then a small sheet of paper may be fine. But, if it's a family portrait, a larger rolled photo backdrop will probably suit better.

Are Digital Backdrops a better solution?

This is a question only you can answer.

But think about this, if you only had ONE large roll of white paper or even used a white bed sheet as your main photo backdrop, you could buy a digital backdrops pack and drop one into your photographs during post process editing.

This throws up some good points too. This option is cheaper for you to start building your photographic studio equipment and also gives you the chance to sample a bunch of different photo backdrops to see which style you want to buy when you or your studio can afford it.

Transportable maybe?

Do you take your photography studio equipment on the road?

I do and I have lots of fun and make good money from it, but apart from the digital backdrops solution, most photo backdrops are big and bulky.

A great solution I use is to have a large pop-up style backdrop with more material at the front for people and pets to stand on.

This fits in to a round flat zip-able bag for transporting and either leans on a wall or is held up by a photography lighting kits flash stand.
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