A few weeks ago I showed you how to set up a DIY photography studio in your garage to take advantage of natural light, and I recommended you use black stretch velvet for an easy and fairly inexpensive backdrop. But what if you don’t want a black backdrop? One option for small children is my DIY photography backdrop board, which you can see in action in this post. Another option is to simply grab a sheet or blanket in any solid color and use it for a backdrop – simple and super versatile. However, unless you iron the heck out of it beforehand, a portrait taken with a sheet/blanket background is going to end up with lots of wrinkles in the background:
There are a few things you can do to combat this on the front end – the first is to stretch the blanket/sheet out and clamp it tightly (assuming there is something you can clamp it to) to minimize wrinkles. Another is to grab an iron/steamer and steam it once it’s hanging in place. The third is to decide you’ll take care of the wrinkles after the fact using Photoshop Elements. Here’s how:
Quick note: This process works with smooth backdrops, like sheets or fleece blankets, and results in a very smooth background. Blankets with lots of texture require a different editing process and what I’m suggesting here will not work. Also, this process is much simpler if the backdrop is a different color than your subject – so a white backdrop works well with this brown bear suit, but a brown backdrop would make things much more difficult.
It’s a good idea to start any photo editing with a quick levels adjustment to brighten the photo if needed. Hit ctrl-L to get the levels screen you see below, and move the triangles below the histogram around to brighten and add contrast as needed (for a full explanation of how to do this, read this post).
(FYI – remember to turn down the brightness of your monitor when editing images. If it’s turned all the way up, which it probably is, your photos will appear much brighter on your screen then they’ll look when they get printed, leaving you will dark prints.)
Our next step is to sample a neutral color from your background. We’re going to use this color to brush over the wrinkles, so we want it to be the main color in the background (not a dark area where a wrinkle is or a very bright area). Click on the foreground color square at the bottom left of your screen, then click on your background to sample the color.
Next, select the background using the quick selection tool. If your backdrop is a different color than your subject, as in the photo below, PSE will be able to do this very easily without much work at all on your part.
Next, click the button at the top of the screen that says “refine edge” (you can see it in the photo above). Increase the smooth value to 3, the feather value to about 7, and the contract/expand value at -5.
Now we have the background selected and can start brushing over it to smooth out the wrinkles. Hit B for the brush tool and use the drop down menu at top left to choose a soft edge brush, and set the opacity at about 60%. Begin brushing over the background (you’re really painting on a slightly see-though layer of color that matches the background) to smooth out the wrinkles. The nice thing here is that since we’ve selected the background, you can brush right over your subject and it won’t be affected. And the edge refinements we made above make sure you’ll still have a nice, realistic edge on the subject even if you brush right over it.
Depending on how wrinkly the background is, you may have to brush over it more than once, but after less than a minute you should have a nice smooth background.
Linking to some of these parties:
Monday: Skip to My Lou | Brassy Apple | Craft-o-Maniac
Tuesday: Tip Junkie | Ladybug Blessings | Sugar Bee Crafts | The Blackberry Vine | Hope Studios | Funky Polkadot Giraffe | Not JUST a Housewife | Homework Today’s Assignment: Be Inspired | Shwin and Shwin
Wednesday: Handy Man, Crafty Woman | Southern Lovely | Sew Much Ado | SNAP | Someday Crafts | The NY Melrose Family | Printabelle | Simply Kierste
Thursday: Somewhat Simple | House of Hepworths | Momnivore’s Dilemma | The Shabby Creek Cottage | Yesterday on Tuesday | Fireflies and Jellybeans | The Taylor House
Friday: Chic on a Shoestring Decorating | The Shabby Nest | Stuff and Nonsense | Naptime Crafters | It’s a Hodgepodge Life | At The Picket Fence | 504 Main | Blissful Bucket List | Whipperberry
Weekend: Tatertots and Jello
Printabelle says
Really good tips, I’ve definitely had this issue before!
Theresa says
Your photo tips are amazing! I think I have every one of them pinned to my photography tips board. Well, this one is on its way. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Angelina says
Oh my goodness!!! I LOVE this tip.. Thank you so much for sharing it 🙂
Angelina
Jennifer says
Thank you so much for this! I love this method.
Sam says
Hi,
I found this tip while searching on internet, I did a purchase in http://www.backdropsource.co.au for white backdrop. However its a muslin backdrop, i couldn’t remove the wrinkles there. This tip solved the issue, I have forwarded this tip to many of the photographers in AU. Thank you for the tips
Regards
Sam
Bevybun says
Thank you so very much for these awesome tips! I truly cant thank u enough!!!!
i.ikeda says
Thank you for this. I have my daughter’s 1st birthday coming up and had never taken a photo in a studio set up (usually I take pictures in outdoor settings). I had no idea how wrinkly muslin can get! Definitely buying some paper next time. This tip is going to save her birthday pictures for sure. Thank you so much.
Uruguay says
Hey there are using WordPress for your blog platform?
I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own.
Do you need any coding knowledge to make your own blog?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Kaye Kantz says
awesome pics tammy….
Anastasia says
WOW! This was unbelievable easy to follow, and understand. Thank you so much!
Leah says
This is so great, thank you so much! So easy to follow…normally I get so overwhelmed in Elements and this made me feel like I could really improve a photo and quickly! Thanks again.
autumn says
Thanks so much for letting me know – I really appreciate your comment!
Julie says
Thanks for the great tips. We have photoshop as my daughter is studying photography but when she’s away at Uni I have VERY limited skills and I can’t keep ringing her for help! I also find getting a great background is an issue so will definitely be trying this out.
Kerrie says
Hi! For this particular editing technique, how would you do it in a different program than Photoshop? I have some great shots but wrinkles and folds in my background are ruining my picture!
Thanks, Kerrie
autumn says
Kerrie, I’m not really familiar with how to do things like this in other photo editing programs – good luck getting it figured out!
Valerie says
OMG THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!!
Dee Rittenhouse says
I have to say that I use this tutorial all the time. The PTA president always asks me to take pics at functions such as Muffins for Mom and they use rolled type wrinkled construction paper as the background. This helps smooth it out and wah la mom’s pics look great. Thanks so much!
autumn says
Awesome! I’m so glad it’s been helpful – thanks so much for letting me know!
Victoria says
Thank you so much for posting this! It has been so helpful. I want to go back and re-edit so many of my photos! 🙂
Jessica says
I love you. Thank you. You have changed my life!!!!:D
Brittany says
Ahhh thank you for this tip!! It was exactly what I’ve been searching for! 🙂
Mallory says
This is my first comment ever on a blog, but I felt the need to. This is a game changer. Thank you SO much!
Kristie says
Awesome tutorial!!! Wish I had seen this sooner!!!
HArley says
This solved so many issues for me thank you so much!!!
Dani says
This was very, very helpful today for a photo I was working on! Thanks!!
Yousuf says
I love this article. As a professional photographer for many years I have seen an increasing dependency on over editing vs learning the craft of photography to start with a beautiful base to build from. Thank you for this article!
Yousuf says
I am very happy to found your article. I was seeking to know which the best professional photography. I can say is that you deserve this and much more! Thank you for sharing.
Maria Ekatarina says
Its a very Informative article for who are interested to learn photo editing, Moreover if you write on about Photo Manipulation It will be more help for people and specially for me..! Thanks