Dyed Muslin backdrops

[schrackman]

I'm making my own muslin background and am going for the mottled look. The Rit directions say it should soak between 30-60 minutes. For those of you who make their own dyed backdrops, just how long do you leave it sitting in the dye?

[schrackman]

sorry for posting this on the other forum. my mind was not working at the time. but now it is, and I just figured I'd soak it using the whole bottle (recommended for darker colors) for about an hour in hot water. I then rinsed it and am now washing it in the washer. I'll photograph it when I'm done and you can tell me how it turned out. Geez, I haven't done this since elementary school when we practiced tye-dyeing, lol.

[MJS]

If I tried anything like that around my place, the Mrs. would be after me with one of my shotguns. (I guess I shouldn't have taught her to shoot so well. I just buy mine from backdrop outlet when they are on close out.

Good luck,

[schrackman]

If I tried anything like that around my place, the Mrs. would be after me with one of my shotguns. (I guess I shouldn't have taught her to shoot so well. I just buy mine from backdrop outlet when they are on close out.

Good luck,

hehe, that's why you gotta wait till she's gone! Then she can't stop you in the act. You only get in trouble after it's all done.

Well, here's a pic of how it turned out. Straight out of the washer and drying out on the couch. Bad lighting here, I know. It looks black but is actually navy blue. The mottled pattern didn't come out as I anticipated but it's not bad for my first time I suppose.

[MJS]

Looks pretty cool, can't wait to see a shot against it. Did you catch my reply on the 1600's ovre on VF?

[schrackman]

Looks pretty cool, can't wait to see a shot against it.

Thanks. You might get to see a portrait soon. I'm supposed to shoot one tomorrow, which is why I made the backdrop to begin with.

Did you catch my reply on the 1600's ovre on VF?

Yes. Sorry I haven't got back to that yet. Funny thing, a former photographer in town that I know told me today that she has a set of lights if I'm interested. So, I'm gonna check them out tomorrow and see if she'll let me try them out for the portrait before I buy.

[MJS]

Hope all goes well, good luck.

[Tel]

I think Livin4Lax did this, you can ask him.

[schrackman]

Hey Michael,

I couldn't wait to try out the backdrop. So I did a self portrait (yuck! hate doing these, but I'm the only subject here). Please forgive my underarm, lol.

This was shot with the light setup I mentioned on the cheap thread here in this forum. Not bad for tungsten lights and home depot reflectors, but still I can see some shadows and not as much detail in the hair as I'd like to see. I doubt this light setup will produce anything better than this.

Please don't mind the crop...wasn't going for composition here, just lighting.

[WsW-WYATT-EARP]

very nice !! come spring i plan on doing a couple in different colors ...

any idea what it would do if you did a lighter color first then changed the "ties" and did a darker color ???

i never did the tye-dye thing

[schrackman]

What you want to do is check out the Rit website: http://www.ritdye.com/home.lasso

Click dyeing techniques and then custom color. That should give you plent of creative ideas!

very nice !! come spring i plan on doing a couple in different colors ...

any idea what it would do if you did a lighter color first then changed the "ties" and did a darker color ???

i never did the tye-dye thing

[WsW-WYATT-EARP]

thanks for the info ... and the detailed how to in the other post in view finder !!

[MJS]

Actually a pretty nice shot for hard lighting. I can't tell much about the shadow detail, etc., until I look at it on a different machine with PS on it. The BG looks great, just remember to stay off of it enough and watch the aperture so you put it out of focus and leave your subject's eyes in.

Not bad at all for a self portrait.