DIYPhotography.net Photography and Studio Lighting

Thank you Thank you! This came at a time when I was researching a bacdrop. It is a quick and easy looking method which I will be trying this weekend.
Thanks so much.

Where is a good place to find big enough muslin fabric?

how much Muslin material do i need to by. im doing my senior pictures and i wanted a really nice muslin background but i dont really quite know how much to buy. how many yards. i went onto http://www.rosebrand.com/A_Com/showprod.cfm?&DID=6&CATID=1&ObjectGroup_ID=3
but i didnt know how much to buy. can you tell me appro. how many yards i need!?!
thanks for the help

You can also sponge paint on the muslin after it is dry for an even more dramatic appearance.

What weight of muslin is the best choice? Light, medium or heavy?

I found with the pearl gray dye from RIT, 2 boxes probably would have worked better, since I was dying non-bleached muslin (90"x4 yds). Even so, I did this with the Navy blue dye on bleached muslin and I LOVE how it turned out.

I also prewashed and bleached my muslin in the washing machine rather than by hand, and the frayed edges work fine on the bg.

Thanks for the tip. :)

I've made a couple of backdrops with these instructions. My favorite so far is the one I made with two bottles (not the boxes) of the Wine color Rit dye. The color came out really rich looking.

Thanks for the tips! And keep them coming!

Where do you find Muslin material wide enough for a backdrop? I have only found it at local fabric stores at 45" to 55" wide. I can sew it together but the seams will show. I have used canvas (painters drop cloth) in the past but they are heavy and time consuming.

I was wanting to know if you know what kinds of paints to use to paint a scenery on muslin or canvas that will be permanent and not chip pr flake off? I want to make my own senic back drops and am not sure which kinds of paints to use or what I should use to paint on the fabrics. Can you please help?

If you're trying to find the wide muslin, search for Quilt backing or fabric. The quilting folks use the wide cloth on the insides of their quilts--the widths we're after correspond to queen and king sized quilts.

On ebay, I found a store called "Fabrics From the Heart", selling the wide quilt fabrics.

I always buy my muslin at chicago canvas and supply. They have wide widths, so the backdrops are seamless. They usually ship within 24 hours and their prices are great. Their number is (773) 478-5700, website: chicagocanvas.com. Hope this helps.

Okay, if we're talking about the RIT dye here; How much do you recommend getting it? This is a wonderful idea and I'm already about to get my muslins. Let's say, the liquid RIT? How much do I need for 120" x 2 yards, for example?
http://www.ritdye.com/Liquids.28.51.5.6.lasso

I was looking for a cheap green screen for some home movies. Is there a way to dye it where the whole thing is the same uniform color ?

Thanks. Would a green vynel tarp work as well ? I saw a couple on ebay real cheap or would any possible light reflecting from a tarp mess up the gren screen effect ?

how would you suggest dying the fabric if I want to do two different shades of dye instead of just one?

Jay, I have to say you are the man. I am currently working on making a Member Photo Directory for the church I am attending. I volunteered my time, computer and equipment for this venture so it would not cost the church anything besides printing them. In short, I am trying to do this on the cheap to start it up for the first year. This method worked like a charm. Would love to include a picture in this, but not sure how. It only cost me 14 USD for the fabric and 6 for the dye, and the backdrop looks like one I would purchase from a store. I followed the instructions to the letter, and then over dyed it to gray out the white areas. Used bleached Muslin and 2 bottles of black dye. Thanks for the instructions with the pictures. It has helped out my project immensely. Thanks again. Fred.

Thanks for the great DIY! I started the project at 8:30PM. It took a while but then I was able to take it to visit my family and use it at a family reunion that weekend. The pictures look really great and I don't even have good lighting yet. Adding a backdrop makes them look 'professional' or so say the persons at Walgreens who made my brother in law sign a release saying they weren't professional prints. :-) The muslin is so light I was able to tape it up with duct tape at the family reunion. Everyone lined up to be photographed in front of it, lots of big families. Very Very cool, and cheap. My wife showed me how to hem the sides. That added another 15 minutes to the project.

I'm going to try this again with multiple colors and also maybe different dying techniques. I'm thinking of upcoming holidays and how to dye large patterns into the muslin.

Again, thanks for the great ideas! Next I'll make myself some diy lighting... Cheers!

16'5" Trevira CS Digital Muslin, IFR

Cut Price from $53.62 per yd.
Full Piece from $42.90 per yd.

1.- Is this good for GreenScreen?
2.- What is IFR?
3.- What do they mean by Cut and Full Price?
4.- If i order 1 Qty. how much do i get? (16'5" x 1'?)

Thank You.

When looking for wide-fabrics try looking in the quilting section. You can often find 110" or wider there as they are used often for the backs of quilts.

This worked great!! I found Muslin at Hancock fabrics.com on sale for $2.49/yd and the Rit was about $3.00. I liked the first dark drown one so much that I did 3 others black, dark blue, and terracotta. This works great for taking photographs of my kids since they do not always cooperate when I take them to a studio. Thank you for the idea!!

I hope this works...
Jannine

Has anyone successfully tried to make a green screen yet? If so, what color dye did you use, and where did you find it?

My wife and I just did our first Navy Blue backdrop and it came out great. We soaked it for 30 minutes and then let it drip dry for about 15 minutes in the bundle, and then cut the twine and laid it out. It looked OK, but there was a big contrast between the blue and white, so we stuffed the whole thing back in the bucket for about a minute and then hung it up to dry. Looks great! Thanks!

I just want to say thank you for that tips. I have to say this you save me a lot of money on backgrounds.

How can I put a picture of my backdrop on here for others to see?

I just wanted to say thanks for the idea. I bought a 10x21 foot piece and dyed it and built a stand. Just wanted to say thanks for the tips and advice. Here is my attempt http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigwhiskey/2005506649/ I think it turned out alright.

Thanks again,
Mike

Hey I think this is a terrific idea I'm going to go buy the materials the afternoon. I really like your final shot against the dark grey background and I was wondering if you could tell me how you did that one and what color dye you used. Did you dye the muslin a color first?
Thanks again for the idea.

Here is another way to make a cheap muslin background.
What you will need are some containers for the colours (as many as you like). cutoff milk containers or cutoff plastic bottles.
Some tubes of acrylic artist paint (does not have to be expensive, hobby standard is o.k.) A large brush. or squirter. A plastic sauce bottle etc.
Mix up your paint with water. 1 colour to each container. Test it on a piece of wet paper for colour strength. Add water or paint accordingly.
Lay muslin out on a lawn and hose down the muslin with a fine spray until it is wet through. Then (here is where the artistic part comes in) carefully splash colour on by dipping brush into liquid and with an arcing motion spatter a line of colour onto the wet muslin. The colour will start to spread so dont try to cover too much at once. Leave blank space between colour for spreading or to add a different colour in between. The natural muslin colour can be used in between if you like. When you are happy with the result let the sheet dry and then you can use it. It can be rewet to add more later or you can fine spray it to redampen or run colour or to tone it down. This technique produces soft cloudlike effects. You can even hang the muslin with clothespegs for a different effect by adding the colour and letting gravity take control.

Here's a picture of my red backdrop with a black and decker work flashlight passing through some metal shelving. It's amazing how fast you can knock these out. From stove to use in one hour.

Here's a couple more pictures using the new backdrops I made today.

The first is my pregnant wife and her "current baby"

The next one is that "baby" in a basket. I'm practicing for when the baby gets here

OK, stupid newbie question. What is a ChromaKey?

muslin fabric. I've checked JoAnns and Rosebrand. Do you buy the 54" wide and sew it together? Sorry - I'm confused.

I love the tye dye, But, if thats not the look that I want can I just dye the fabric a solid color? I love the colors of some of the seamless paper, and I am thinking that I can just dye fabric the same color for cheaper.....am I right or wrong?

Thanks in advance!

This reminds me of my days in High School when tie-dye was fashionable for tee-shirts and jeans. As students we were required to make such things as part of our arts class. The process is exactly as described in the tutorial with one notable step that I feel is missing. That being when one is finished with the dying process and prior to removal of the cord the bundle is removed from the dye container and placed in another container filled with a sufficient amount of water to cover the back drop completely, and to this container approximately one quart of white vinegar is added and gently agitated. Allow at least 30 soaking time in the water and vinegar, the longer the better. The purpose of the water and vinegar bath is that the vinegar will cause the dye to become set, aka become color fast, thereby rendering a much deeper color prior to rinsing and greatly reducing color washout. Give it a try and see what a difference this additional step makes to the finished project.

Does anyone know of any online fabric store that ships to/in Canada? I live in a small rural town, and a few of the fabric stores I checked do not sell muslin, or don't sell it in the 108" width. I found one place that wanted over $9 a meter, and that is for the 60" width....I would like to see if I can find it cheaper than that.

that gave a great idea for my home business i have looked at several websites and they range from $50.00 to $200.00 thanks

Here is a great money saver...make one l18% gray backdrop and simply use colored gels on your BG light to change the color...works great.

To make a long story short, I had recently ordered a couple of muslin backdrops from one of the major suppliers, and through some pretty shabby customer service, they dropped the ball and didn't get me my backdrops in time for my shoot. I'm supposed to set up for the shoot tomorrow, and I STILL don't have my backdrops. So, instead of having to face the wrath of the client who would have to reschedule a LOT of people, I decided to try to make my own. Now I needed 2 of them to be similar, so I ended up buying 10' x 42' of muslin and dyeing it all as one piece. I used 2 of the bottles of RIT dye, and I also used a 32 gallon tub that I placed in my bathtub. After it was hanging to dry I cut it into two 10' x 21' pieces, and now I have 2 backdrops that can be used together as a 20'x20' backdrop. I was VERY PLEASED with the results. And to keep it from having a stark variation, I just bunched and tied it a little more loosely. Worked great. Thanks for this article. I may not have wanted it as dark as I got it, but hey, it was all trial and error and considering, it looks good and I can keep my shoot on track. Now I'll have to deal with the people at that backdrop supplier.

Well it didn't look as good dry. Too light and I am not fond of the pattern, so I am going to go back over it again. I have an extra box of Navy so I will see what happens if I redye it.

Tried it and it worked really well.

I did a first long dunking, pulled it out and cut the strings. I didn't like all the white, so I threw it back in a swished it for about 2 minutes and yanked it back out again.

I've since bought some red / burgundy dye in a 'spray' (at Michaels) and did the scrunching in Step 4, Photo 1. Light spray of red on the peaks to give random blotchy overtones.

Gerat article! Thanks!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14868863@N03/1895572335/

'Bump' lit with 500W halogen worklamp diffused though white sheet in wooden frame to the left, about 4 feet away. A white CFL spotlight to extreme right and above, 2 inches from backdrop for hair highlights and shadow reduction. No flash.

So i've attempted and mad 2, (blue/brown), they turned out great. Did it all under 1 hr each, in fact the 2nd one was done in about 30 min prep time. Dried in the drier 1 hr.. and its ready for use. All together, the RIT and muslin totaled about 50 bucks.

Its a good thing I didn't buy off eBay.

BTW, Joan's Fabric has a %40 off a single item (cut fabric) starting this Sunday the 30th to the end of the week... hurry in before I buy all the muslin fabric.. LOL

Should've waited, would have saved me over $15!

I was wondering if it matters if the muslin is bleached or unbleached, or if it makes any difference. Please let me know!

Has anyone tried to die the muslin to a solid black? I am looking to make a black background, and my local supplier want $200 for one, and I just don't trust ebay.

Found this information on Rit dye site for doing multiple colors. Now to find someone that still sells dye.

http://www.Ritdye.com/Two-Color+Marble+Tie-Dye.43.lasso

Another cost affective solution for a black back drop is to buy black felt off the roll (joanns or walmart). This is what I have done for my make shift backdrop that I hang from the wall in my living room and it works great.

Nice Snaps ... I like the backdrops too! Where did you get the backdrops from? I do generally buy backdrops from www.AuraBackdrops.com

thanks so much for saving me tons of money! i cut a 12x40 piece of an old white muslin backdrop ive had for years and made two pieces! used black rit on one and tan on the other! LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT! Now i have two new backdrops for a fresh look in my studio! thanks a lot!

heather

I just bought a bottle of Dark brown and a bottle of Tan Ritz dye and I was wondering do I mix the colors? I am looking for a light/dark brown shades on my backdrop. I am going to get my fabric today, and I am going to try not to tie it up cause I don't want the tye dye look, but looking for advise before I start. When do I put the salt in? On the stove? Will it stain my pots?
Love your website..
Thanks for the helpl