Building a backdrop from stuff you own
Okay. New module. We've spent this whole course on light and on people, which are, honestly, the two things that actually matter in a portrait. This module we're talking about the third thing, which is what's behind your subject, and I want to start by telling you what I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to tell you to buy a backdrop stand or a roll of paper or any of that. You might get there eventually if you really catch the bug. But not yet, and maybe not ever.
Here's the opinion I'll die on with this one: a simple backdrop you understand beats a fancy one you don't. A clipped bedsheet and window light will out-shoot a rented studio you're panicking in, every time, because you're not fighting your setup while you're also trying to manage a nervous person's face. I shot a neighbor's whole family in my front room once with a bedsheet clipped to a shelf and the window doing all the lighting work. No fancy anything. They loved those photos. Still one of my favorite sessions I've done, and it cost me two binder clips.
What actually works, in order of how often I reach for it
A blank wall. This is the easiest one and people overlook it because it feels too simple to count. Walk your house and find a wall with no art, no light switch plate right at head height, no weird shadow from a doorframe. A hallway end wall works. So does the side of a garage if you're outside and the light's right. Put your subject a few feet in front of it, not touching it, so you don't get a hard shadow stamped on the wall behind them.
A sheet or blanket. Plain colors work best. Solid gray, cream, navy, something without a busy pattern, because a pattern behind a face competes with the face and the face should always win that fight. Clip it to a curtain rod, a shelf, even a broom handle wedged between two chair backs if you have to. Iron it first if you can stand to, wrinkles show up more than you'd expect once you're looking at it through a lens instead of with your own eyes standing in the room.
A door. Sounds silly, but a plain closed door in a neutral color makes a perfectly good backdrop and everybody already owns one.
Distance is doing more work than the backdrop itself. If your subject stands close to the wall, you'll see every bit of texture and shadow. Move them out three, four, five feet if you've got the room, and that same wall goes soft and simple behind them, especially if you're using a slightly wider aperture like we talked about a few lessons back. You don't need the fancy lens for this. You need distance and a decent aperture on the lens you've already got.
Before you shoot, check your edges
I say this every module because it's the thing that ruins more portraits than a bad expression ever will. Before you check your subject's face, check the corners of your frame. Is there a garbage can lid poking in? A charging cord? A picture frame that looks like it's growing out of someone's ear? My very first real portrait attempt, every single frame had a garbage can lid in it because I wasn't watching my edges, I was watching William's face. Now I do a lap around the frame with my eyes, corner to corner, before I press the shutter, every time. Takes two seconds and saves you from finding out later.
One real caution here, nothing dramatic: if you're clipping fabric up somewhere, make sure whatever you're clipping it to can hold the weight and isn't going to come down on anyone. A curtain rod that's already loose in the wall is not your backdrop stand today.
Where the good shot actually happens
I photographed my daughter Kaylee for a school project once and she point blank refused to smile because of her braces. I had the backdrop sorted, the light was fine, and she was just done, arms crossed, over it. So I kept talking. Asked her dumb questions, let William say something ridiculous off to the side, and she finally cracked and laughed at him instead of at me trying to direct her. That's the shot we used. Not one of the posed ones. The one right after, when she forgot to be careful about her mouth.
I bring that up here because people get so focused on getting the backdrop perfect that they forget the backdrop's job is to disappear. It's there so nothing distracts from the person. Get it simple, get it clean, then go back to actually talking to your subject like a person, because that's still where the real frame comes from, not the sheet behind them.
Before next time
Walk your own house this week and find two spots, a wall and a fabric option, that could work as a backdrop without you buying a single thing. Note what time of day the light's decent in each one, since we already know that changes fast around here.