Most of us shoot on location, outside, using natural light.  But what happens if you can’t get outside due to weather or circumstance or maybe your client just wants something different.  It is a dream of mine to have a studio, however, at this time in my business I don’t have one.  So I work with what I have.  It’s like what Tim Gunn on Project Runway says…”Make It Work!”

Through Seniorologie, I get tons of submissions daily and I see the trends in locations, props, etc.  One of the most recent trends I have seen come through my in box is using a backdrop of cut wood.  It makes such a great backdrop for many reasons.  The texture, the variation of the colors in the wood and the uniqueness of using something that isn’t typically thought of as a backdrop works great for senior photo shoots.

But what if you didn’t have access to fire wood?  What if you wanted to achieve this look but didn’t know of a place that had just the right amount of wood piled up for your use?  I decided to do a little experiment with an alternative to actual cut wood and wanted to share it with you.

Fabric!  Yep, that’s right, fabric!  I found this faux firewood fabric at Ikea and tested it out!  I simply used a backdrop stand, set up in my garage.  A garage is a great place to set up a little studio if you want to shoot natural light but want to work some what indoors.  My garage happens to be the perfect place for me because it is open and gets the right kind of even light almost all day long.  It never gets direct sunlight but rather always provides open shade type of light.  I have created prom backdrops, concept shoot backdrops and more in my garage.  It seems to work better than rooms in my home because of the big door that allows a great amount of indirect sunlight in as opposed to a small window in my home.  It also is free of furniture so it is a nice big open space perfect for a backdrop.

I added marshmallow curtains as an extra touch to this faux firewood backdrop.  I set up two backdrop stands in front of one another.  One for the fabric and one to hang the marshmallows on.  Stringing marshmallows seemed like an easy idea but it was very time consuming and sticky!  I would recommend letting your marshmallows dry out for a while before attempting to string them.  And be sure to use some sort of glue or sticky adhesive under each marshmallow as they tend to slide after hanging for a while.  I used a glue gun and just put a tiny pat of glue on the fishing line right under the marshmallow to keep it in place.  Make sure not to get the glue gun too close to the marshmallow though!  I had a few mishaps with melted marshmallows! 🙁

Here are a few tips when thinking of a DIY Backdrop…

Make sure to have a sturdy backdrop stand that is wide enough for whatever backdrop you are using.

Think outside the box and use materials that might be unconventional – things like a curtain panel, shower curtain, fabric, streamers, ribbon, paper, wrapping paper, wallpaper, glitter foil curtains from Party City.  Lots of things can be a backdrop!

Make sure your actual backdrop is wide enough and if not, piece two together.  Fabric is traditionally between 36-54 inches wide and for one model this is probably enough.  However, if you want to take a wide shot or if you have more than one model, you may want to get enough fabric to cut it in half and hang two pieces together to create more width for your backdrop.

If you are purchasing a pre-made photography backdrop, ALWAYS buy a size bigger than you think!  I have made way to many backdrop purchases only to get it in the mail and realize it is only big enough for a very small child.

Some of our favorite pre-made backdrops include Drop It Modern and WHCC.  A new source I just found when researching for this post is Minted.  They have some pretty cute ones, especially for a photo booth type set up.  If you are interested in the fabric pictured below, it can be found here.