getting wrinkles out of backdrops!!

Sontizzle · May 11, 2008

i have a black backdrop and a white backdrop and they are both made of cotton. how can i get the wrinkles out? i dont want to wash the black one and lose the color.

also isnt there other alternatives to backdrops? like vinly/plastic and where could i order it?

Joves · May 11, 2008

Get a spray bottle and heavily mist the material and, try throwing it in the dryer. Or do you have an iron? Those have worked for many years.

Sontizzle · May 11, 2008

your talking about ironing a 12'x12' fabric! lol

kundalini · May 11, 2008

I've seen [video=youtube;5qvkeiPBHIc]http://youtube.com/watch?v=5qvkeiPBHIc"]this [/video]on TV. ???

goodoneian · May 11, 2008

use a slower shutter speed, and have someone or yourself even move the back drop back and forth. that's worked pretty well for me and sure beats ironing

Big Mike · May 12, 2008

Here is a great tip that I've heard from a few different sources.

Use a spray bottle and mist the backdrop...but you don't need to put it in the dryer...just leave it hanging. Depending of a few factors, it may take several hours...but the wrinkles should slowly disappear.

Village Idiot · May 12, 2008

Also, if small wrinkles persist, have your subject 6' or so away from the backdrop and use a smaller DOF. 5.6 or so would be good if you can manage that with the lights you're using.

Mike_E · May 12, 2008

Big Mike said:
Here is a great tip that I've heard from a few different sources.

Use a spray bottle and mist the backdrop...but you don't need to put it in the dryer...just leave it hanging. Depending of a few factors, it may take several hours...but the wrinkles should slowly disappear.

A blow dryer and a hairbrush work too. Wet the backdrop as suggested and hit it with the hot air while smoothing with the brush (or something other than your hand -it gets hot

). If you can get it against a wall it goes faster, kind of like ironing with out having to take it down, or scorching the wall. lol

One Sister · May 12, 2008

We have many backdrops...too many to hang up (only room for three). The spray bottle will work if you have time to wait for it to dry, but I keep a small Conair steamer (about $35) in the studio for quick touch ups.

I've always been afraid to work with vinyl or anything that will reflect light as I have a hard enough time lighting my subjects without having light spilling all over the place!

Neuner · May 12, 2008

Sontizzle said:
your talking about ironing a 12'x12' fabric! lol

I do it. It works and doesn't take as long as you think. The dryer method works sometimes but tough wrinkles take more.

When I'm done, I roll the fabric up on a long pvc pipe and store it that way. The only time it gets wrinkled again is maybe during a shoot. Touching up those small areas are then easy.

Snap Happy · May 12, 2008

Downy sells a product in a spray bottle called "Downy Wrinkle Release". Find some of that and a fabric steamer and you should be good to go.

usayit · May 12, 2008

Downy Wrinkle Release works... although I've never used it on a backdrop. Just my cloths when I'm too lazy to pull the iron out in the morning.

noob873 · May 12, 2008

Without even working with the actual backdrop its pretty easy to get rid of it in pp. Say if the backgrounds white, put your dodge tool on highlights at 100% and go over the background to make it pure white. For black do the same thing but use the burn tool on shadows. Then to make sure its pure white/black you can open up the info window, and 255 is white, and 0 is black, so as you go over it make sure the whole background is either one of those.

Palyriot · May 12, 2008

I've never used a backdrop before, but after reading this thread, this might work. What about clipping the two bottom corners down, or attaching a weight to each corner and put a fan behind the backdrop blowing air at the backdrop.. This should push out the wrinkles if they aren't too severe.