is 53in seamless paper big enough???

y75stingray · Sep 1, 2011

I am in the process of building my personal studio. The room I have to work with is 14ft wide and 20ft long. I want to be able to fit all of my gear in and have room to move while shooting so I'm hesitant to purchase 107in in seamless paper and instead would get 53 in (really wish i could get it at a seven foot length)

My question is does anyone shoot with 53 in background?? does it make a huge difference? whats the worst part about it?

tirediron · Sep 1, 2011

In my opinion that would be too narrow; it's do-able, but you would have to be careful about positioning and not have the freedom to allow the subject to move about. If you're just going to stick with static portraits, it might be okay.

Big Mike · Sep 1, 2011

It all depends on what you are shooting. If you're shooting head shots, or at most, a single person in a full body shot...then it might be enough. But if you are shooting kids that are old enough to move, or any type of group shot, then I'd say it won't be wide enough.

When it comes to backgrounds, I'd say that you should get the widest that you can handle. So if you travel with your 'studio', to set it up on-location, then a long roll might be harder to deal with, but if it's just for your personal studio, then by all means, get the wider one.

The backdrop itself shouldn't take up very much space. All you really have to do, is mount a couple hooks to the wall, then hang a bar to support the paper. Even if you use stands to hold the bar, it should still be within 18" of the wall.

whats the worst part about it?

The worst part is that when you frame your shot, the backdrop won't cover your whole background. Keep in mind that you usually don't want to shoot with your subject right close to the background. There are plenty of times when you'll want your subject as far away from the background as possible....and of course, the farther away you move them, the less of the background the paper will cover.

Here is a shot of what I used to have set up in my basement. I think the backdrop (vinyl) is 10' wide....give or take. It works well enough when the subject will stay in the middle...but kids don't do that. :lol: