I’m thinking of buying a projector screen as a photography backdrop. Now, it would be a new, clean, white screen for portraits. It’s not for commercial work, just for a few small jobs. I’d get a tripod style on so I could take it to location.
What do you think of this idea? I need a backdrop quick and cheap… I think it’s the best way.
What size do you recommend?
Tags: backdrop, photography, Projector, screen, Using, White
Ummm . . . . I don’t know about that idea. Have you never seen one of those screens up close. They are made of a surface that is designed to be quite reflective of light so photos / movies shown on them will be as bright as possible. This could cause you all kinds of problems when using strobe lighting and with reflections of ambient lighting. Typically, portrait backdrops are wanted to be as light absorbing as possible, that is one reason muslin and cotton are so popular. This helps with light control on your subject and controlling stray light and color casts where you don’t want them.
If using a projector screen was a good idea, it would be very common, but it is not, so that should tell you something there.
steve
I use our projector screen every time I need to do passport photos. Without lighting it separately, it ends up the exact shade of boring light grey that is required for those types of photos.
I have also lit it up to get pure white (i. e. blow the highlights) and that worked ok, too.
Our screen is quite big, but when I want to blur the background (i. e. need to put some distance between subject and screen), it really is only big enough for headshots.
So I’d say this: if you HAVE one handy, try it out, but buying it specifically as a backdrop is probably not your best option.