It’s easy to paint a photography backdrop!
Over winter I made two double sided photography backdrops to challenge myself. One day I was on Facebook when one of those dreaded ads appeared. However this one looked interesting. It was a free backdrop making class by two lovely Swedish people. To see their website visit Make Backdrop. They do a yearly bootcamp with free video tutorials to get you started.
Getting started
As usual I was dragging my feet to make my first backdrop. My main problem was finding suitable material for the job and then there was the sizing. So many different sizes of backdrop I could make using drop cloths from the hardware shop. I ended up going to Mitre 10 Mega and buying some 3 metre by 1.5m dropcloths.
Size of cloth
My verdict on the sizing is that they are great for child shots and portraits with one to two people full length. If you are just doing waste up, they work for as many people as you can squish together in 3 metres, so that would be a medium sized family squashed up and hugging each other.
Texture of cloth.
I ended up with Wagner brand drop cloths. They are a kind of canvas – but quite soft. I ironed them first to take out the creases. Nothing worse than a creasy backdrop. I tried other methods to remove creases but ironing was the best. I HATE ironing so put the TV on to help me. If you find me ironing it’s like finding an endangered animal.
A space to paint.
I used the garage floor for painting. This hacked off the husband big time. The car had to sit on the driveway for several days as I waited for paint to dry. We had had some crime around our area so I wouldn’t suggest doing this in winter if you can’t have your car out on the driveway. I was a little worried and every morning would check to see if the car was still there. Luckily we had no problems
Watching paint dry
My number one tip is don’t attempt this in winter. Never attempt in winter! I was literally watching paint dry and it took AGES! Days in fact for some of the primer layers to dry.
How to do it!
Anyway here is my step by step guide to painting a backdrop in ten easy steps.
- Buy the correct sized backdrop for your needs (see above for details)
- Lay on a plastic sheet on a flat floor somewhere where you don’t care about paint flying.
- Don’t bother trying to stick the canvas down like all the tutorials you read. It won’t work. I tried. I failed.
- Buy white primer or a different coloured primer to paint both sides of the canvas with a roller. Do several coats.
- Flick droplets of the colours you want all over the canvas using a paint brush. The paint I used was from test pots and I diluted with 50% water to help it flick.
- Use three colours – two light and one dark, or whatever you want to do.
- Once you have flicked the two lighter colours, use a very slightly damp roller to roll them a bit over the canvas.
- Flick the final dark colour around the outside edges and roller it around the edges like my video shows. This makes a vignette.
- Roller a bit more to make sure no white is left, but not too much so you lose the texture.
- Paint your next backdrop on the other side to save money and storage space!
To learn more go to www.makebackdrop.com
The final backdrops
Here are pictures of my final backdrops. My favourite is my “mouldy backdrop” as my daughter Maia called it. It is a lovely green grey but sometimes appears blue like blue cheese! LOL! 
My denim backdrop is my second favourite. So so versatile. I can use it for a teen shoot in jeans, an edgy adult shoot and also a fine art portrait with beautiful dresses. Yay!
My pink rust backdrop is great for a fun shoot.
And finally I wasn’t sure if this backdrop works or not. It’s one out of the box, but my children think it looks like stars and won’t let me paint over it. Got to love children and their imaginations. I’m keeping it at the moment but not sure how many times I will use it!
Now it’s your turn to paint a backdrop. Please comment below with your own creations. I’d love to see them!
