Check out these photo backdrop images:
Birds of Paradise
Image by RuffLife
I just finished my second DIY backdrop today. Since my first DIY backdrop was brown, I thought that blue would be then next color of choice. I picked up a canvas drop cloth from Menards, then acrylic paints (cream, black, gray, light blue, dark blue) from Michael's and went to work. I painted the black base first then went with the dark blue, light blue, and finally a few highlights with gray and cream. I'm quite happy with the results :)
Now it was time to shoot something…what to shoot…what to shoot. Since I already had a ceramic pillar and the faux Birds of Paradise arrangement in the house, it would be the subject for today's shoot. I shot with my Nikon D300S with the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF on a tripod (WB set to flash, exposure set to 1/30th of a second, aperture at f/2.8 and ISO at 200). I lit the subject with a octagonal softbox and a silver reflector for the shadow side of the plant.
Finally, I used Lightroom 3 for post processing which included a little tweak to the temp, increased sharpness and luminance, followed by a little vignette.
Easter Bouquet
Image by RuffLife
I finished creating a 3rd DIY backdrop yesterday so now I have a brown, blue, and red (my latest). I added a few highlights but was a little disappointed with my painting skills so I knew that I'd have to compensate the shot with a red gel.
I bought a bouquet of flowers at Baker's for this shoot because I wanted something with more colors. I shot with my Nikon D300S and the 85mm f/1.4D lens with the aperture set to 1/350th of a second at f/1.7, ISO 200, and then I dialed down the exposure compensation in camera to -1.0EV. I placed my octagonal softbox at a 45-degree angle to the left of the flowers and a used a silver reflector to push some light back into the shadows. Since I wasn't happy with the painted backdrop, I used my SB-900 speedlight triggered by Nikon's CLS along with a red gel (took the red gel from a pair of 3D glasses) to splash some light onto backdrop and then took a few hand held shots.
I used Lightroom 3 for post processing to increase the clarity, luminance, and sharpness plus added a vignette before calling it a day. I think the red gel on the backdrop really brightened up the shot.
