Quick + Easy Photo Backdrop

1. Introduction: Hello, and welcome to Beginner woodworking, building a quick and easy photo backdrop. I'm so Cal Woodgw and I'm so glad you're here today. You can make this eight foot by eight foot backdrop in just a day or two, and it'll only cost you about $75 plus the cost of wood and paint. Or you can just lean it against a wall and forego the wood. Easy, Psy. This class needs minimal tools, but maximum creativity, and I know you're gonna love the results. Without further ado, let's dive in. 2. Design: Photo shoot coming up, and I knew that one of the looks I wanted would be Wes Anderson inspired. I love his films and his brilliant color palette and I really wanted to evoke that feeling in my photos. I did a bunch of research on still frames from his movies so I could get an idea of recurring themes. I noticed symmetry, bold colors, and often living room style setups. So for my photo, I want to be able to either sit or stand, so I know I need at least six feet in width and seven to eight feet in height. I'll be doing these photos in my garage, so I know I've plenty of headroom to be able to fit a full eight foot by eight foot backdrop in there. So that's what I'll be doing. Design yours for the space that you have to work in. With that in mind, I drew out my backdrop. I'll be using symmetry as well as the living room aesthetic. So I decided that molding, so it looks like a wainscoat or framed out wall would be my design of choice. I'll use foam boards quarter inch thick so that I can keep costs down, as well as maneuver the lightweight backdrop as needed. Since the foam isn't super rigid, and again, I wanted to keep the weight and cost down, I found this peel and stick molding off Amazon instead of using typical wood molding from the store. It's made of rubber and can be cut to size and laid out however you like. What kind of backdrop do you want? If you're an artist, perhaps you could paint a scene here, say, a rustic field and sky or a galaxy of stars. Or maybe you just want a patina covered wall that looks earthy and beautiful. That would really photograph well. This backdrop world is your oyster, so go ahead and get creative. I want one focal point in the center that's larger and big enough to surround me seated. So I drew that in and placed a frame on either side. I replicated this above, but in shorter boxes, again, keeping symmetry at the forefront. Now that our backdrop is designed, it's time to gather materials and supplies. 3. Materials: Up is two quarter inch thick foam boards. I found these for less than $10 each at my local Home Depot. It's in the insulation section. We'll be using a lot of duct tape so make sure to grab a roll. You'll likely already have this, but a hot glue gun and glue can be helpful, but it's not necessary. We'll also need about eight, eight foot long, two by twos. We also need about four feet of two by six or two by eight boards. Of course, we also need paint and paint brushes or a paint sprayer. And for mine, I need three packs of this peel and stick molding, totaling about 60 feet. I'll also be using a leftover four foot section of crown molding from a prior house project. We also need a drill, drill bit, screws, as well as hammer and nails or a brad nailer. I recommend a nailer as it really is so much easier than trying to use a hammer here. We'll also need our saw of choice to cut down our boards, and a mitre saw is preferable so that we can do some angled cuts with ease. But you can also do that with the jigsaw. Now we're ready to start constructing our backdrop. 4. Construction: Started by gluing my two foam boards together, but I would suggest beginning with peeling this labeling off first so you can reach better. You can likely paint over it, but it would require more coats, so I suggest just taking it off. From the back, duct tape the seam between the two boards. The hot glue only worked marginally well here, so I don't think it's completely necessary for this. You can glue it or not. It's totally up to you. I also caulked the front seam of the foam boards, but in retrospect, I'm not sure I would do that again, or I would do a much neater job than what I did. It showed up in the pictures, and it needed to be edited out. Now, it's possible, if you have a wall or a big set of shelves to lean this backdrop against it and have no need to construct the wooden frame at all. But I needed to be able to move it around, and I like working with wood anyway, so I made this backdrop somewhat transportable. We can't nail or screw this foam to wood because it'll pull right through the foam, so I use duct tape instead. Now, please do not that mine is going to look slightly different because I was using scrap wood rather than full eight foot pieces of two by twos. Lay out an eight foot two by two along the base of the backdrop, three vertically, one on each side, and one in the center, and one along the top as well. Hot tip, have the foam just slightly above the bottom wood base so that it doesn't scrape along the ground when you move it. Cut an equal amount of inches off the vertical pieces so that you fit within the span of the eight foot tall foam constructed piece. We also need one to span the center of the backdrop, measure your distance between the three verticals and cut two by twos to that length. I kind of taped and screwed as I went, but you can also construct the wood frame first, then add duct tape and attach to the foam boards. It's totally up to you. I screwed in from the sides of the vertical supports into the horizontals. From the top, I screwed into the verticals. You can stagger the middle support so that you can screw or nail it from either side. Tape it to the foam backdrop by wrapping it over itself, as well as wrapping around the wood support and onto either side of the foam. Then we need for the backdrop to stand steady on its own, so we'll be making three, two by six or two by eight feet. Cut three of these about 14 to 16 " long. Before we attach these to the frame, we want to cut our angled supports. Place the two by six feet along the bottom rail of the frame and hold up two by twos or a long piece of scrap wood and mark the angle where it intersects with both the back end of the two by six foot and the vertical support. I want it to terminate at the vertical support at about shoulder height. That should be fine to hold it up. I'm sure there's some sort of calculation you can do to mathematically work it out, but I found it far quicker and less fussy to just hold it up and mark it. This doesn't have to be perfect. It's not holding a lot of weight. It's just helping it stay upright. You shouldn't ever be leaning against the backdrop. So this framing, it can be simple. I found an old shelf support that I use for the center, but you can just use another two by two here. Take your marked board to your mitre saw and move the mitre around until it matches your angle. Alternatively, use a jigsaw and just follow the line. Make sure to clamp your wood to a surface and wear proper eye, ear, and lung protection. After you've cut, hold it back up to the backdrop to check it. If it's mostly fitting, move forward or make another cut for more accuracy. Then take your two by six with the angle two by two held in place against it and nail, then screw it in place from the bottom of the two by six. Place it back down and screw through the top of the angled piece into the vertical two by two. You might want to pre drill here to avoid splitting the wood. Do this for the other side as well as the center if you're not using a metal bracket like me. Now we want to fully attach these feet to the bottom two by two rail. If you're assembling this before attaching to the foam board, this is no problem. But if it's already up like mine, that's fine, too. We can just lift the foam up where we need it. Remember, it's just duct tape and screw from the front of the bottom rail into the two by six feet. Place two to three screws in each one. With all of these attachments, I find it easier to shoot a nail through first then screw it in. The nail holds it in place so it frees up your hands to work. Now that your frame is sturdy and supportive, add any duct tape where needed and make sure your foam is flush against your bracing. Our next step is to draw out our design. I already calculated my molding frames on paper, so I just needed to get it onto the foam. Using a measuring tape and a long ruler, I drew my boxes one by one. Take your time with this and step back to check your work every once in a while. Now, take your peel and stick molding, hold it up a section at a time, and cut a 45 degree angle on either end, making sure both are not parallel. This will form the mitre joint of each frame. I cut this with either scissors or a box knife. Both of them work fine. Peel off the backing and slowly stick it in place along your pre drawn lines. You can use a level here if you need it. Cut a 45 degree angle on another piece, hold it up to the pre placed molding, matching the angle, and mark where you need to cut the opposite mitred angle. Be careful as you do this. It's easy to get confused and cut your angle the opposite direction. You'll do this for all the frames drawn on your backdrop. For my center box frame, I want to have that piece of crown molding along the top for extra architectural detail. So after all the boxes were done, I measured the length of the opening and cut 45 degree angles on either end of some old crown molding I had. I temporarily held it where it needed to sit with duct tape wrapped on itself like we did with the back framing. And then I had a helper hold the molding in place from the front while I drove a screw from the back vertical support into the molding through the foam. Since this is much heavier than the peel and stick molding, I wanted it to have just some extra support. Now, step back once again and lift up and adjust any pieces that don't look right. The peel and stick will let you do this about one or two times. Now that the backdrop is constructed, it's time to paint, and we're almost finished. 5. Finishing: Found this delightful shade of yellow that fits right in with the Wes Anderson color scheme, and I grabbed a gallon of matte sheen from the hardware store. I'm using my high pressure sprayer, but you can easily use a paint brush or a roller. It's totally up to you. I put three coats down, but if you're rolling or brushing, you'll probably do less. Spraying puts down much finer and lighter coats, so you have to do more for coverage. Make sure you get the tops of all the moldings, as well as the sides and below. You don't want to have missed spots. Look at it in the daylight, if at all possible. This will show any uneven coverage that needs another pass. Now your backdrop is finished, it's ready for you to take some brilliant photos of yourself or someone or something else. Have some fun with it. Maybe you even film a short scene in front of it or let your kids stage a play there. It's yours for the creating. 6. FinalThoughts: Guys, I am so happy with how my backdrop turned out, and the photographer and I had so much fun doing the shoot. It really bumped the shots to the next level. And now I know for future exactly how I'd make one if I needed another. I hope yours turned out amazing, and I can't wait to see what fun photos you create with your new backdrop. Please post your project here so I can see it. Also, if this class got you buzzing and empowered you to make something, would you mind leaving me a review? Reviews are so, so helpful in helping other creatives like you find these classes, and it helps me to know that what I'm putting on here is useful to you. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for watching and making this world more beautiful and whimsical with me.