For more information on high
key and low key, see Chapter 3.
In order to keep your portable studio man-
ageable, sometimes it might be necessary to
cut down your seamless paper backdrop.
For example, when I have to travel with my
portable portrait studio, I usually take a 53
inch wide by 36 foot roll of seamless and
cut it down to 48 inches wide with a hack-
saw in order to make it fit into the case that
holds my backdrops and stands.
When shopping for a backdrop,
consider www.photography
props.com and www.back
dropsource.com, both on the
Web.
When using white, grey, or
black seamless backgrounds,
you can use gels on a
Speedlight aimed at the back-
drop to add color. A gel is a
piece of colored film that you
place over the light source in
order to change the color. Nikon
sells a colored gel kit, the SJ-1,
which includes yellow, red, blue,
and amber gel filters as well as
filters for balancing tungsten
and fluorescent with flash from
the Speedlight. Many different
companies sell these gels at
reasonable prices.
Muslin backdrops
Muslin is an inexpensive lightweight cotton
material. When used for backdrops, it is usu-
ally dyed different colors with a mottled pat-
tern to give the background a look of
texture. You can purchase muslin at most
well-stocked photography stores or online.
If you have very specific needs, there are
companies that dye muslin fabric to a cus-
tom color of your choice.
Muslin is very convenient to use. It’s very
lightweight, it folds up easily into a small
bundle, and it is pretty durable. You can
drape it over your background stand or you
can easily tack it to a wall. For a portable
studio, this flexibility is very advantageous
because the muslin doesn’t take up too
much valuable space when traveling.
Tip
Tip

Chapter 5 ✦Setting Up a Wireless Studio 93

5.5 A seamless paper background
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