Paper Pulley Project: Part 1 – The Project
Having a pure white Cyclorama (seamless cove) is very useful. By controlling how the background is lit, a model can appear to be on anything from white, to mid gray, to black. But what if I want to shoot a model on a purple background? I could put a gel in my lights. Coloring the light with a gel works, if done properly. But maybe I just want to use a muslin backdrop, or some patterned fabric, or countless other possibilities. I could drag my seamless stand out of storage and do the old fashion thing that I did before building the cove. However, recently I had some clients ask about changing backgrounds during the shoot. This can be cumbersome. Painting the cove is an option, but is expensive and takes many hours.
My solution is to rig up a mechanism in the ceiling with some pulleys and rope to raise and lower a roll of paper, curtains, fabric, muslin, or whatever I want to use as a backdrop. The idea is that mid-shoot I simply lower the bar down, swap out to the next backdrop, then raise it back up. No stands, no climbing ladders, simple. Sometimes my genius is amazing.
This is the first of multiple entries in my blog following the progress of this project. Below is a photo of my cove. The mechanism will be between the two rafters top-center.
