“When ever I am photographing step and repeats I get a ton of glare of the backdrop.”

Backdrop glare is the number one cited problem that amateurs and processionals alike encounter when photographing red carpet events. If you are hosting the event there are a couple factors that should be considered to avoid this.

1) Choose the Right Backdrop Material
The first and perhaps most important is the material. If you intend on having ordinary people who cannot clean up glare after your event taking pictures in front of a step and repeat it is very important to make sure you pick the right material. The traditional choice for backdrops is banner or vinyl. Vinyl comes in various forms. Some, and at that, most are quite reflective and prone to glare. If you are using vinyl (or banner) make sure to ask for a matt vinyl material or use a company that routinely creates red carpet backdrops. That said even with this request made vinyl (especially once printed on) is still rather reflective. To entirely avoid this issue you can opt for the more expensive but glare free fabric options.

2) Consider Your Lighting conditions and ink coverage

In deciding between vinyl (prone to glare but much cheaper) and fabric (glare free but more expensive) one centrally needs to consider two things. Firstly, does your venue have decent ambient lights. Venue’s with low lightling conditions further increase the likelyhood that you will see glare in your photographs. This is becouse photographers use flashes to increase ambient lighting and flashes are what produce glare on backdrops. Better ambient lighting will mean you don’t need to worry as much about glare.

The second and equally important consideration relates to ink coverage. All backdrops are printed on banner which starts out white. The banner is itself treated so that the glare coming of it is reduced. That said, the same is not true of the ink. While “matte” the inks used in printing the banner are much more reflective. Thus if your backdrop is largely white you do not generally have to worry about glare. By contrast if your banner has a backdrop colour (for instance red or black) you should always consider using fabric. The exception is if you have a professionally photographer who cannot clean up glare after a shoot. This is the standard for most photographers but should nevertheless be assumed.

3) Pick the Right Photographer & Ask the Right Questions

Shooting red carpet backdrops can be challenging. Two questions should be considered when picking a photographer for your event. Firstly, does your photographer used remote lighting or on camera lighting. If you photographer only uses on camera lighting they will, when shooting directly at vinyl, get glare in their shots. This can be partially if not entirely avoided if they use remote flashes & diffuser/disperser that are positioned to create ambient lighting but create glare spots. Second, it is worth inquiring whether or not you photographer can remove glare post shoot. A basic knowledge of Photoshop should ensure this but it is nevertheless worth inquiring.

This article is presented by Kick Ass Media. Kick Ass Media is a large format printer that specializes in Red Carpet Backdrops.

For more information visit kamedia.ca or give us a shout at (877) 880 0326