My wife is the practical, clear headed one of us. She cuts through to the core of things while I dream big, often getting nowhere but broke (but I have fun).

Backdrops have been doing my head in, and she knows it. I have an order in for the 1.8x2.1 Lastolite collapsible grey/black, which, being on short term back order so not despatched yet, I have requested be changed to the 1.5x1.8 Walnut/Pewter, but being the Easter holidays, I have not heard back yet either way. To be honest, I would be happy either way, I will leave it up to them to make up my mind for me!

I looked at the Westcott Joel Grimes* and Glyn Dewis Drops, the Eziframe’s, some double sided Kate’s and even post processing (bringing back Photoshop into the fold). Nothing felt right, or was realistically available or practical, so it was a Lastolite (which one still to be determined) or nothing.

The issue is, I can easily change colours, but texture is proving harder to achieve without total replacement. If I have texture, I can change the colour, the hardness and grit, but with no texture at all, I only have tones and colour to manipulate.

By the nose I was dragged to a local fabric supplier, although my long honed intuition when it come to things to do with Meg also allows for some quiet anticipation. Sure enough, amongst the furniture coverings, ideal for width at 1.5m, we found a faux leather, semi matt mottled vinyl in a not brown, nor grey, but neutral tone on sale and several rolls to boot.

It is hard to pass on how excited I was. It instanlty bought to mind Oliphant, Lastolite and Grimes textures. It is gently done, even and subtle. Perfect.

Four takes on a single shot, so easily done. All the images were taken with the 25mm at f2.8, using ambient light or shot through a 26” soft box, then two more levels of diffusion for that Leibovitz “book light” look.

So for $60au, we grabded a 4x1.5m section and I will go back and get a 3m long one as backup and for just hanging. I also like the idea of the two section, “The Last Jedi” shot taken for Vanity Fair.

There is a little sheen to the fabric, but nothing lighting and a little post cannot fix. It has a few packing wrinkles, but the fabric is quite heavy and soft, so they are falling out already and stool feet etc don’t leave permanent marks. It also hangs well, so the edges, neat as they are, can be included. The back is even a decent soft brown felt.

So many variations on a theme, so easily applied.

Using the Dehaze and Clarity tools in reverse, adds an antiqueness overall, or if applied to the backdrop only you can increase or decrease texture. The middle image below is close to “as shot”, the right hand one “full noise” the left, “milky”.

I could even use two sections horizontally for a 3m wide shot, with a little healing brush joint removal (or not).

Can this be a workable solution?

The “Jonah” leather look upholstery fabric, comes in three shades, the darker grey-brown above and a beige and light grey, so maybe a couple of metres of the light grey would add options.

Unlike the Kate, the pattern comes out more with some extra clarity, but is otherwise quite subtle. The Kate is more obvious, which to me feels less pro looking. The art in the Oliphant, Savage, Lastolite and Westcott backdrops is in their deep colour, layered look and subtlety.

If this works out, based really only on light reflection control, I can get solid colours, other textures, even patterns, all at any length I want and for roughly $30-80 per piece. All the fabrics are high grade furniture fabrics so they are tough, resistant and long lasting and generally heavier than most. I may even be able to find some wider ones!

*I confess, I have never seen a more extreme set of reviews than those on B&H’s site for the Grimes backdrops. Either 5 or 1 star, nothing much in between.