I'm currently shopping around for some backdrops, looking at some Muslin cotton material, or "Savage" paper. If I had my own studio I wouldn't really be worrying about this, but I need portability.

For now, I am looking for Black and White backdrops, Im wondering if I can achieve the look of the white paper backdrop with Muslin white backdrops. I would use the paper backdrops if I had a truck or a larger vehicle to haul stuff around in, but I dont.

and also looking at the Savage's 53"x12 yard roll of paper, I think that would be too narrow for anything other than someone standing or passport photos?

Anyone use either the muslin or the Savage backdrops?

Thanks.

 

There are many materials out there - paper, cotton, muslin etc...If you choose moneywise, go fot the paper ones.
When I shoot in studio, I use paper (black and white for now). There is a huge variety of colors, shades, textures, shapes so you can
choose what suits you best. Seamless paper tends to give images a more clean look; less rich, but less distracting as well, which is why it's used so often in catalog work.

Muslin is pricey but if you can find someone to sew it for you then you'd save some bucks...
From what I've heard from friends, muslin bgs are very nice but wrinkle easily...But they last forever!
Also, muslins tend to be used more for portraits and the like.

If I were you I'd go for paper and see how it works out with my lighting gear...

 

thanks for the reply.

Paper always has been a hassle free backdrop to work with. I love paper, except that if I get a paper backdrop, I would want the 107" x 12 yard roll, which would not fit in my car. So I figured if I got a muslin backdrop I could throw it in a bag and be off with it. Im just wondering if I could create a seamless pure white paper backdrop look with a white muslin without any wrinkles showing? I will be using an extra flash behind the subject onto the Background to blow out the background.

 

Please help! I got a clothing line shoot with a model coming up this week! I have a choice between a 53" or 107" wide backdrop. Just to crunch the numbers, 53" = roughly 1.35 Meters, and 107" = roughly 2.72 Meters...

Im thinking the 53" is too narrow to get anything expressive with the clothing line, while 107 sounds perfect, it wont fit in my car, and my 2nd car is a mini.

Should I go for the muslin and use a second flash to blow out the background? or use the 53?

thanks!