By: Jeremy Smith, Founder and President of Photo Pie
With hundreds of great choices for realistic backdrops, where do you start? I have personally shot on around 50 or so of these backdrops, and seen shots from many more. If I were stocking my own studio, these are my personal favorites and why I would choose them. After the ranking are a few comments on cloth type.
1. Vintage Room: Ok, this backdrop shoots itself! It’s pretty amazing how it always seems to look realistic. Having this backdrop is like having a vintage set built in your studio.
2. Masterpiece Mirror: This is a close number two. It looks so realistic, and is thematically conservative enough for many different groups of clientele--families, seniors, engagement, wedding, etc.
3. Desert Road– Gosh, this one almost shoots itself too! The pics you see on FB and our website have very little retouching. Like the above two recommendations, if you shoot this one correctly you’ll have very little to do. Also, if you’re living in the North, this desert scene provides an exotic setting seldom available for your clients, thus a competitive advantage over other photographers in your area.
4. Fleur De Lis– Also super easy to shoot, and super versatile. You can get this without the floor, but I think that with the floor provides more options.
5. Tokyo Nights/Hong Kong Nights/New York/Brooklyn Bridge– This is another exotic getway for your clients, and something to set you apart from the competition. Big city shots can be a nice option to have in the photographer’s toolbox.
6. Frame Room– Well, for starters, imagine how much it would cost to buy gold frames this big, wallpaper, etc.? Have your subjects hold a real gold frame, and then it all looks that much more realistic.
7. Sunlit Corridor– This one looks super realistic. Enough said.
8. Las Vegas/Subway– This is another way of providing a little escapism, an exotic environment in your hometown, to those who aren’t really able to travel to these places. Using one of these backdrops in your sessions can be like a trip into the movies for some people. They’ll remember the fun they had with you!
9. Sunburst Road/Old Oak Lane– So, why own these types of scenes when you could just go outside? Well first of all, we don’t have control of the weather, the seasons, the foliage, etc. We also don’t have control over our client’s schedules. How will you get late afternoon sweet-light pics or great lens flare if they’re only able to come by on their lunch break? Solution – Photo Pie backdrops! : )
10. Red Boudoir/Red Lantern Room– Even though I haven’t shot on these two or seen others’ pics of these, I think they would be very versatile. The only thing I would suggest is to use a red filter or do a little retouch to provide a red cast on the subject so that they seamlessly match their background environment.
Now what cloth type would I choose among our three choices? They all are going to give you a great looking background image, that is non-glare, and wrinkle resistant. Some people just seem to prefer the feel of one cloth type over another. And if you need a 10' wide backdrop, currently, only JerseyCloth can extend to that width seamlessly.