Dallas Event Photography: Choosing the Right Step & Repeat Background
We've all seen them: the step and repeat or photo wall, complete with branding and logos for the event they are set up. Everyone from corporate execs to movie stars and celebrities has their photo taken with them. It's a great way to promote your next event that you hire a Dallas event photographer for, and they are generally pretty inexpensive. However, not all step and repeat backdrops are the same. Make sure to keep that in mind to get the most out of your backdrop. The two most common materials are cloth and vinyl, and I will give you a quick breakdown on the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Vinyl Backdrops
Vinyl is probably the most popular option that I see when shooting backdrops on step and repeats and photo walls as a event photographer Dallas TX, and there are good reasons for it: they are usually very economically priced, ship easily and set up very quickly and easily. You can either order it in rolls or have it mounted on boards. Most of my clients tend towards the rolls for convenience. Depending on how your particular vendor sends them, they also don't have any wrinkles that you have to fuss with so that the backdrop stays nice and smooth. To that point, make sure your backdrop comes rolled and not folded, otherwise you will have some major wrinkles that are incredibly difficult to get out.
The disadvantage with Vinyl is glare. I've noticed, time and time again, that most vinyl backdrops are very reactive to flash, and most people don't realize this until the moment that flash hits it. Since vinyl is a shiny material, that means anytime a Dallas event photographer goes to take a photo with flash or strobes, the light reflects off of the background and has a hotspot. For lighter colored or white step and repeat backdrops this isn't that big an issue because it's harder to notice the hotspot, but it becomes much more prevalent when you have a darker color or black backdrop.
It can be especially noticeable when your event photographer in Dallas brings in strobe lighting to get a more unique look, particularly when you have a backdrop that is more of a scene than just logos. For instance, let's say you had a backdrop of the downtown skyline that you wanted to shoot in front of, and your photographer is trying to really make them pop. A standard vinyl backdrop is going to throw back some glare and the photo won't look as good. So you will either have glare or the photographer will have to use direct flash. It's not the end of the world, but it's still not what you could have.
Now, if you do have to use vinyl, make sure that whomever you order it from has a low glare or no glare vinyl. That will go a long way towards ensuring you have the best quality photos possible.
Cloth backdrops
Cloth is my personal favorite, as I have never had an issue with it reflecting back and creating hotspots. That makes for great event photography and a very happy photographer! With cloth your Dallas corporate event photographer can use direct flash or set up as much strobe lighting as they would like, and they will not have to work around the backdrop. With fabric you may run a higher risk of wrinkles, but if you have it rolled there isn't as much to worry about. Just have a steamer on hand and you will be fine. Set up may take a little more time, as the fabric has a lot more flex to it but I would say that the difference there is minimal.
Now, the downside is that fabric is more expensive, so you have to allocate more of your budget for your backdrop, but in my humble opinion as one who does plenty of event photography in Dallas, it is well worth it. Hopefully this helps you the next time you are looking to acquire a step and repeat backdrop, and when in doubt, just ask your Dallas event photographer!