I use white and black rolls of paper. They come in other colors too. Pretty cheap for how long they last. You do need a back drop stand. I like them because there seamless and smooth.
edit; I have a couple shots on my profile page if want to see how paper looks....
2nd edit; hell, I'll just show off my grand daughter a little...:)
I use a black hole (a region of space from which nothing, including light, can escape. It is the result of the deformation of spacetime caused by a very compact mass). It's the darkest thing I could find. Sure I've lost a few kids during some portrait sessions, but I like to think they're in a better place.
I like seamless/paper backgrounds in white and gray. I'm sure it's just personal preference, but I don't like the draped look that sometimes comes with the use of fabric. I've been using paper from Calumet Photo rather than B&H because the shipping was less. I think the brand name is Savage, but I doubt the manufacturer or distributer will make much of a difference.
Doesn't velour or felt do a good job of absorbing light and giving a deeper black than other materials?
Yeah, and it does a great job of attracting dust and lint and it tends to be shiny at the right light angle too. Velour's a pain-in-the-keister if you ask me. I only ever used BG paper, after trying velour a couple times, and it worked fine for me, and it's disposable. Of course, back in the day it was CHEAP and I suppose now it's not...
Doesn't velour or felt do a good job of absorbing light and giving a deeper black than other materials?
Yeah, and it does a great job of attracting dust and lint and it tends to be shiny at the right light angle too. Velour's a pain-in-the-keister if you ask me. I only ever used BG paper, after trying velour a couple times, and it worked fine for me, and it's disposable. Of course, back in the day it was CHEAP and I suppose now it's not...
R.
First-hand experience is good to know about. I'd read about velour being ok for getting a good deep black but hadn't tried it yet. After reading your response I think I'll save my $$$ for something else when the need arises. :-)
For white, a roll of seamless paper is definitely the way to go. I'm okay with black being more like dark-gray, so I use the paper roll approach for black too. A 9 foot wide roll costs under $50 from any major camera store (like Calumet), and you save by buying locally since shipping a 9' roll is expensive. You need something to hold the rolls up, but if you have a permanent location then there is no need to buy an expensive stand. Just buy a couple of large hooks and a PVC pipe for a fraction of the cost. Get the largest diameter pipe that fits inside the roll to minimize sagging in the middle.
I use a roll of artist paper in a roll. Very cheap. I use it for both white and black backgrounds. It doesn't come wider than 5 ft though but that's ok for my small studio.
