I Bought a Backdrop for Product Photography and It's So Good I Almost Cried

There are surprisingly a lot of times when blogging where you end up taking photos for thumbnail images. When that happens, have you ever struggled with what to use as the "background" for the product? I bet plenty of folks shoot on top of a blanket or on the floor.

On this site, I'd been shooting thumbnails on top of bedsheets up until now, but no matter how much I edited a photo taken on top of a wrinkled sheet... hmm, the result always ended up kind of meh. I figured it was time to say goodbye to the wrinkled-sheet background and aim for clean Amazon-style thumbnails — so I went looking for a proper photography backdrop.

Plenty of Options on Amazon

When I searched, a ton of what looked like commercial-grade white photography cloths came up. Amazon never disappoints.

The first one that caught my eye was a free-standing white backdrop.

It's big, so it looks like it could handle relatively large items, and since it stands on its own, setting it up should be easy.

The price is around 5,000 yen (about 35 USD), which isn't really that high — a fair price if you're going to use it for blog or product photography.

Amazon.co.jp Check it out
Co-Goods Backdrop Stand 1.5x2m, Green/White Reversible (Double-Sided, Low See-Through), Ready-to-Use Full Set, Backscreen, Cloth, Work-from-Home, Remote, Chroma Key, Virtual Background, Photography Backdrop, Chroma Key Compositing, Telework, Online Drinks

That said, it's pretty large, and from the reviews it sounds like the white cloth picks up wrinkles — which would be barely different from a bedsheet without decent lighting equipment... (and Claypier doesn't own any lighting gear). So I passed.

So What Did I End Up Buying?

In the end, I bought this PVC backdrop that you can roll up to store.

Amazon.co.jp Check it out
iMakim's PVC Backdrop / Background Paper for Product and Small-Item Photography, White and Black Matte, Standard 2-Sheet Set

Since it isn't fabric, wrinkles aren't really a problem, and the deciding factor was that you get both a white and a black sheet at this price. There's a version where both white and black are matte, and another where only the black is glossy — this time I went with the one where only the black is glossy.

What I Found Out After Actually Buying It

This shot was taken on the black backdrop and then retouched. The background is a nice solid black. I did some editing in Photoshop, but I think it's plenty good enough as a blog thumbnail. Here, by the way, is one shot on the white backdrop (the photo was taken with an iPhone X).

The black backdrop gives off a kind of premium feel, like this.

The photos are all edited, but I think they came out pretty nicely. Since the backdrop stands on its own when you roll it up, you can prop it up in the corner of a room. I bought this one on Amazon, and because it arrived in a long, narrow cardboard box, I'm just using that box as storage. For anyone who wants to take slightly nicer photos for Mercari or Yahoo! Auctions listings, or for shooting product images for a website, this is a solid pick.