TSL 3 Ways to Hang a Backdrop DIY Tutorial

Hi this is Jay P. Morgan. Today on The Slanted Lens I’m going to show you three ways to hang a backdrop: two simple and one more complicated. I’ve shot backdrops my entire career and hanging them up has always been a problem. I started in the beginning with these huge backdrops. Taping them, and clipping them, and clamping. I have a whole closet full of them.

For our second option you simply take your one-inch conduit, put it through your backdrop sleeve and attach it to a C-stand on each side. That’s it, you’re all set to go. If your backdrop doesn’t have a sleeve on it you can simply attach it with clamps. Now the expensive part about this setup is that you have to have two c-stands. Well if we don’t have c-stands and we don’t want that expense, we can put these on regular stands. We simply drill a 5/8-inch hole and it will set right on the stands. And the one-inch conduit is strong enough and wide enough to do that.

Now we’ve got this ten-foot piece of pipe that’s too long to carry in our car. So we’re going to cut it to six foot. And then we’re going cut a ten-foot piece of inch and a quarter conduit to six-foot. Now we have two six foot pieces of pipe, which are still pretty long but much easier to carry in a car. You sleeve them together and can make it longer or shorter as needed. You pull them out to ten-feet and there’s enough of an overlap there with that foot that it’s not going to bow. It’s not as wonderful as a single pipe but it certainly transports a lot easier.

For our third solution we needed something that would allow us to get different angles without running out of backdrop. On a recent shoot for the hair product Pura D’or we had a 25-30 foot drop but it still wasn’t enough. So we decided to bend the pipes. We put a one-inch into a one and a quarter inch and I just bent it by hand. I’ve been working out. So now the pipes can’t come apart but there’s a straight piece of this one-inch conduit that sticks out the end. I can put a straight piece of inch and a quarter conduit on. Those two come together. So now I have a straight piece and a curved. We have the sleeved backdrop so we slide it on. To get it up in the air we attached a couple of Cardellini clamps and then hooked c-stand arms to those and hoisted it.

So there you have it- three ways to hang your backdrops from The Slanted Lens. If you have any other topics you’d like to see or questions about the backdrops let me know in the comments, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks for watching and remember, keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’.

Jay P.
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[markharris]

Einstein said a genius isn't a man who understands a concept or theory, but one who can explain it. Right from your first corny joke you have your audiences attention and we are very lucky to have such an experienced and successful photographer giving up his time for us. As someone who is just venturing into the world of lighting and backdrops (health has massively reduced my nature photography) I'm immensely grateful to you.

[condoti]

Backdrop videos are underrepresented on YouTube. Thanks for making this guide.

[frankyb]

Oh awesome. I had done the half inch pipes in the ceiling but with screwed in pipes over the whole span which forced me to use clamps even if my backdrop was sown.... I will upgrade it to us the 1 inch tube the way you have it set up. Thanks!

[whc]

I love this guy.  He really enjoys what he does and it come out in all his videos.  Makes me feel good and brings a smile to my face every time I see him.

[ZarliWin]

One thing that i'm using now are magnets. I screwed a few strips of metal into the wall of my studio and use some really powerful magnets to hold the backdrop up.

[SmallBritney]

Love her. I’ve always loved her. I like seeing her as a person and still be a genuine human all the time. This was hilarious. Great 👍

[dphotos]

When I had a studio I used a pulley system with both metal and wood poles with eye screws at the end of the poles that would clip into two steel bolt clip swivel eye hooks tied to two pieces of rope. This allowed the changing of different backdrops or seamless rolls to be done quickly. It worked well on 12 foot seamless rolls well too.

[wheretfisalaska]

i legit watched the first twenty seconds of the video and i immediately suscribed.

[ftbalz]

@TheSlantedLens If it hasn't been done, I'd love to see a video going through favorite on-location backdrop steamers with maybe some tests to see how fast/hot they work and what's the best option for a tight budget. Thanks!!

[SonnyDlicious]

I watched so many videos and finally finally! This guy gives me the answers I needed. Thank you and you have a subscriber

[markharris]

I noticed in the introduction that an assistant was steaming the backdrop as it went up, the best investment I’ve made for my backdrops is my steamer but yours are massive compared to my measly three metres. But they say size isn’t everything...

Great video that I have watched before, I find many of your videos are definitely worth revisiting as they a jam packed full of tips and ides. Now to ask my mother in law if I can borrow her press drill.

[jaredhammonds]

I love how you keep your videos entertaining as well as very informative. If you ever feel like moving to Texas, I would love to have you as a mentor lol

[robertmartinu]

If one doesn't have a drill press one might consider superclamps - they attach directly to the baby pins on your average light stand and grab onto poles and such just fine.

[HowtoSeeaUFO]

I honestly clicked on this because of the funny awesome face you made in the title. And then you were lost in the curtains. You have made my day.

[MercedesHaywardMUA]

I always get exited when I see you upload a video. So many amazing tips! Thanks for sharing.

[vanwheelsontour]

Hey. Amazing tip!I'm from Germany and I love your channel.

[gbwalther]

Great DIY solutions for photo shoots! 😎😎

[jacksonira]

excellent ideas. like drilling the 5/8th inch holes in the end of a pipe for a crossbar which might be sturdier than crossbars sold with background stands

[PhotoGord]

I had an artist friend paint me two 8x16 foot canvass backdrops. In the past I only used the paper rolled type of backdrops. How do you handle/store your cloth backdrops to make them easy to handle and be mainly wrinkle free?I do use a clothes steamer to remove wrinkles once it is hung, but it sure would be nice to reduce these.

[glowdenya_]

The intro has me so fucking weak cause that’s literally how frustrated I am with this backdrop 😂😭 thanks for the help