Phaim (fāme) — Larry Becker’s Blog

My Backdrop Bargain!

Posted on 05 February 2010

One of my first investments after buying a great DSLR, a speedlight, a couple of bargain lightstands, and a couple of 5-in-1 reflectors, was a collapsible 5 foot by 7 foot backdrop. It’s black on one side and white on the other and it’s incredibly helpful when shooting portraits. It’s one of the key elements to my make-shift, portable studio and I’ve shot all kinds of friends and relatives, usually in their home. The problem is, it’s only big enough for a waist up shot. No full length portraits and no seated shots where you can see their feet and the stool they’re sitting on. For something like that, you need a full size muslin you can drape off of a backdrop stand.

Based on some projects I’m thinking about shooting, I knew I wanted a BIG white seamless backdrop and a chroma key green backdrop. Black would be helpful too but, since I took Zack Arias’s “One Light” DVD class, as well as classes from Kevin Ames at Photoshop World, I knew I could make a white backdrop appear black with the right camera settings and light setups, so black would just be a luxury if I had extra cash.

Since I knew I wanted something 9 or 10 feet wide and at least 15 feet long (to allow my subjects to stand on it for full length shots) I first went to a local fabric shop. No luck. Nothing that wide and nothing hemmed on the edges. Plus, I’d have to sew my own loop at the top edge for my backdrop pole.

Then I looked online in all the traditional places, as well as Amazon. Well, I struck gold at Amazon. I found a company called Cheetah Mounts (no relation to my friends at Cheetah Stands). The Cheetah Mounts people are primarily in the business of wall mount brackets for big flat screen TVs, but they have some photo gear too. I found 10′ x 20′ hemmed, seamless muslins for under $40 each! (White’s under $35.) I got a green, black, and white, all for under $120, and they’re great! Here’s the link.

NOTE for clarification: The actual brand name of these muslins is “Prism“ so if you search by name, rather than by product description, you’ll need to search by that name. However, even though these are listed on Amazon, the “ships from and sold by” is not Amazon, rather, it is a company called CheetahMounts. It’s probably easiest just to follow the link if that’s possible.

Are they as great as the $140+ 10′ x 20′ muslins sold by the big names? — No idea. But they work. So what more do I need? Would $140 each mean my green would be greener? Nope. Does a client know a $140 white muslin from a $35 white muslin? I’m thinking no. Might someone in the backdrop business or someone who paid $140 for their backdrop think that I must be wrong and these can’t possibly be worthwhile? Maybe. But I can live with that. Maybe somebody will set me straight on that at some point, but until then, I’ll just enjoy the heck out of shooting on my bargain muslins.

By the way, Cheetah Mounts also has a more complete kit that includes backdrop stands and a pole, but I’ve already got that gear. So I’m not sure if their stands are decent quality. Maybe, maybe not. (For the record, I trust B&H, Westcott, Midwest, and Adorama for affordable lightstands and they’re all good quality for a very fair price.)

Here’s the thing… they’re good quality muslins, they have the pole pocket sewn into the top edge, they’re thick enough, and when properly lit, they do just what I need. So, as a guy who doesn’t shoot for a living, these are perfect and well in my budget. But I’d be willing to bet that pros would find these to be just fine too. And it doesn’t hurt to save a few bucks on muslins and spend it on softboxes or glass.

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