Process Story

This is a story about having an objective to make a thing that will disappear.

Well, not disappear exactly, but become totally unobtrusive. It's a photo backdrop.

When I began my photography journey I wanted to take nice pictures for two purposes:
    1. To take close-up photos of flowers
    2. To take photos of my crafts and stitchery that would look good on my website.

To that end, I began gathering photo equipment to make that photography easier and more enjoyable. One of my favorite pieces of equipment is my photo cube. With it I have a nice blank background so that the objects in my photos take center stage. 

On top of the plain white background, I add colored or patterned photo backdrops. I've got a great collection now. But I didn't have a purple backdrop.

Last year I found a roll of thick purple felt at a thrift shop. I wasn't sure of the size, but it seemed like I could do something with it. It turned out to be long enough, but quite narrow: 66 inches long; 16 inches wide. My photo cube is about 25 inches wide.

So to make a usable backdrop, here's what I did:

Folded the felt in half lengthwise. 

 Cut it. One of these pieces is the center of the backdrop.

The other piece was folded in half, cutting it to make two long narrow pieces. These are the sides. I wanted the center of the backdrop to be the widest part so that if I'm photographing smaller projects, I can avoid seams showing in the background.

Then I made a chalk line 3/4 of an inch away from the edges on both sides of the wider/center piece.

Since the felt is so thick, I didn't want to make a traditional seam. Instead, I layered the narrow/side pieces on top of the wide/center piece up to that 3/4 inch chalk line.

I pinned the two side pieces in place, overlapping the two side pieces on top of the center piece. I wanted to make sure I could keep that center section as wide as possible.  

Then on to the sewing machine. Since the felt is quite thick, I needed to loosen the tension on the foot of the sewing machine. This way the felt would have an even stitch rather than being pinched or bunchy or slightly gathered. 

I changed to a zipper foot so that the foot could line up right to the edge of the fabric. I sewed both seams, then flipped the fabric over and sewed down the other side of the seams on the other edge of the fabric. This way the seams lay nice and flat.

Then I trimmed off the top and bottom into a nice straight line. Since felt doesn't ravel, I didn't need to finish the edges in any other way.

Done!

Though I've experimented quite a lot with lighting my photo cube, I still have some trouble getting nice pure lighting. Part of the reason is because the cube sits on a dresser that has a window up and to the left. Depending on the time of day, the lighting gets quite wonky, like in this overall photo.

So here's my latest setup. The test photos came out quite nicely yesterday afternoon.

There's a dowel across the top/back that sits in two Velcro hoops (built into the photo cube). Along that dowel I've draped an LED light strip. With it, I can brighten or darken the back lighting behind the object I'm photographing. I can change the color of the lighting, too with the strip's color changing ability.

Onto the dowel I've attached three clips with adjustable Velcro straps. This particular backdrop is not as long as I'd hoped. But I can stretch out the clips to allow the backdrop to hang lower and give me more fabric beneath the object being photographed.

My computer desk sits right next to my photo cube, along with the ring light I use during digital conferences. I experimented using my ring light on TOP of the photo cube to bring in consistent light from above. So far, this is working well!

If needed, I also have a couple small LED spotlights I can use to focus light on the subject from the front. (Not shown in this photo).

Here's the final shot. Rozalie's helping me out again. 

If you look closely you can see one of the seams in the purple backdrop, but it's not very obtrusive. If necessary, it'd be easy to remove in my photo editing program.

So ... I took plenty of time thinking through the process, some creative engineering, and a lot of doodling to make the photo backdrop that, if working correctly, will disappear. It allows the object being photographed to have all the glory while it patiently does it's job - being part of the supporting cast in the photo setup.