DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

How To Build A 2 Sided Background With Cheap Galvanized Iron Sheets

Jul 20, 2014 by Laya Gerlock 11 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

It’s always important to keep your eyes open for inspiration because you can’t tell when you’ll find one. I was driving on the expressway when I saw a billboard for a woman’s fashion wear, and I really loved the background they used, I think they shot it in one of those big cargo containers, so I was inspired to create the look DIY style.

feature

The How To:

The first thing I did was to buy 2 pieces of 8 feet x 3 feet Galvanized Iron Sheets (“Yero” in Tagalog) for about USD $4 a piece (they are called Galvanized Steel Corrugated Roof Panels on Homedepot and not far off on the price)

How to (6)
I wanted to use both sides of the sheets for the project – this meant that I can’t mount it on a wall. A least not in a permanent way. So to steady the sheets, I placed two wooded planks at the bottom, and nailed them to the sheet as a base. Or as a way to ‘hang’ them off a wall.

How to (4)
TIP: The corners of the sheets are sharp. Fold them so you don’t have any sharp edges. (I learned this the hard)

How to (2)

ouch!

How to (3)
I thought of doing two sides, so that I can create two different looks:  The iron side of the sheet was left untouched  – I really liked the reflective surface ,and I think it can generate some interesting industrial looks.

The colored side was painted blue with some leftovers from the DIY wooden table.

How to (1)

How to Light it

Lighting metal is not trivial and depending on the look you are after you may use several ideas. I am also gonna touch on how to light the painted side, though this is way more trivial.

The Iron Reflective surface.

The Iron part of the background has a very reflective surface which is both  a good and a bad thing. The first setup we did ‘was just a simple beauty dish on the top of the subject, lit and modeled by a friend which is also a New York based photographer, Joseph Padiernos (follow him on instagram). I placed a white illustration board as reflector below the subject to fill in the shadows.

beauty dish

 

beauty dish (5)

 

beauty dish (3)

 

beauty dish (8)

beauty dish (1)

For this shot, I bounced my light thru a seamless paper on the right side of the subject.

bounced

I also wanted to play around with a low key shot. I started with a main light above the subject with a snoot.

low key

I added to more lights on the left side to add colored reflections on the sheet. One flash with CTB gel and the other one with a CTO gel.

cto gels (1) cto gels (2)

A ringflash straight to the subject. “Shot by my girlfriend, and me as the subject”

ring flash

The Skyblue side.

I went with two lights one mainlight on the right side thru an umbrella, and a fill light on the other side also with an umbrella.

blue (1)

blue (3)

blue (4)There you have it, keep your eyes open to things you like. They are often not as expensive as they look.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Photographer brings iron powder to life in this captivating video Default ThumbnailCheap DIY (Homemade) Muslin Photography Background Default ThumbnailDIY Camera Uses Xray Sheets For Film Default ThumbnailA Light Wall Of Light From Bed Sheets And PVC

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: backdrop, DIY Photography & Studio, galvanized iron sheets, Projects, steel

About Laya Gerlock

Laya Gerlock is a Portrait and Product photographer based in the Philippines. His passion is teaching and sharing his knowledge in Photograpy and has been doing this for 6 years. You can follow his work on his web page, follow him on Flickr and if you happen to come by Cubao, Quezon City (To Manila, Philippines) he gives a great workshop!

« Walter White Goes To Space With a GoPro (Hello Kitty, Roby and Legoman join)
7 Reasons For Not Shooting 7 Government Buildings, As Quoted From Us Officials »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Sony teases upcoming ZV-E1 full-frame vlogging camera coming on March 29
  • The Xencelabs Pen Display 24 is silent, glare-free retouching tablet
  • Fall in love with astrophotography with these 10 space objects
  • Hipstamatic app relaunches as a social network, but only for iOS
  • Instagram now has ads even in search results. Sigh

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy