White Vinyl

Hey all,

 

I just picked up some White Vinyl and wanted to know if anyone has used this

before for a background for a portrait and what you used for support to hold it

up? I'm looking for something mobile and light so I can take it with me.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thank you kindly

Elizabeth,

 

I'm used to using a large white vinyl background on a motorized system and it's a big, heavy thing. I've never used a smaller one on the road. I guess yours in a bit smaller. If it's just a plain sheet of vinyl, you could staple it to a moderate-to-large wooden (round) dowel and roll it up by hand, or tape it with strong tape to a piece of pipe and do the same. In either case the rod could be supported at the extremes by a hook attached to a light stand, for example. Bogen makes a hook that fits their Super-Clamp that would work. I'm sure there are better options, that's just the first thing that came to mind. Someone has probably already done this in a much better way.

photek background support stands work well for this application. (~$144 from bhphoto.com) You may prefer a telescoping crossbar, which the photek stands dont have (try savage port-a-stand for that, but they are inferior to the photek setup)

 

I assume bogen makes a vastly superior version as well.

 

That being said, I would just use home depot clamps to clamp the vinyl to the crossbar. I do that with muslin that doesnt have pockets and I find it works better than when you have a pocket for some applications.

 

The other approach is to sandwich the top of the vinyl between two pieces of wood and drill a hole in the center for a single background stand... more likely to tip if you are photographing kids, but also easier to transport.

Bogen/Manfrotto and others have everything you need, if you want to go frugal use a telescoping curtain rod from Walmart with some stands and the 49 cent clamps in the hardware dept.

Elizabeth take a look at www.diyphotography.net and you'll find some really good ideas there if you're on a tight budget.Hope this helps.

 

Richard.