This is a continuation of my Photography Studios Background Guide. Here are the previous articles dealing with Muslin and Continuous Paper backgrounds.
Canvas is one of the oldest materials used in the arts. Most commonly used for painting it has a wide variety of additional uses. One such being as a photography background material. The type of canvas used in photography backgrounds is not the same as that used in painting, however. The canvas used in backgrounds is typically a water resistant or water proof type of canvas. Although, there it is not the exact same type of canvas, it functions almost identical to that of stretched canvas.
Advantages
Canvas is one of the oldest materials used to create photography backgrounds. It was widely used due to it’s ability to hold inks, oils, dyes, and paints unlike any other material. This quality made them excellent for hand painted backgrounds, scenes, and the like. Most canvas is still hand painted to this day, most commonly in the “old master” style or in realistic scenery, but it is also possible to print images onto canvas from large format printers. These styles create beautiful backgrounds that can create unique images unlike any other. Typically the specialty backgrounds, such as Christmas, forest, and other scenery found in commercial portrait studios are made from canvas.
Image by trialsanderrors
Most canvas backgrounds are made in three layers. The actual canvas layer with the painting or scenery will be the top layer, underneath will typically be a blackout layer to prevent any light from passing through, and the bottom layer will be some type of vinyl cover. These layer are typically sewn together at the edges to ensure that they hold together. Because of these multiple layers the entire background is pretty durable. The water resistant/proof canvas also makes for easy cleaning as well, usually done with a damp cloth or sponge.
Disadvantages
The disadvantages of canvas are much more extensive than that of any other type of background. The primary disadvantage to the canvas is that the actual canvas material is not very durable. While the entire background may be durable, this is only if it is a three layer canvas. Many of the cheaper canvas backgrounds will only have a vinyl backing, or even none at all.
Image by trialsanderrors
Canvas backgrounds are actually pretty heavy, requiring a rolling support system. Many systems designed for supporting canvas backgrounds range between $500-$1,000 for an average system. Because of the frailty of the material canvases cannot be folded or wadded up, they need to be rolled up and placed inside a protective case to prevent any damage to the material. This is also a good practice simply because of the cost of canvas, which easily takes as the most expensive of the background materials, siting at about $200 for just a single average size canvas background.
Image by trialsanderrors
While “old master” style canvas has a unique look, most of the scene canvas provides overdone and implausible scene. While many of these work for commercial portrait studios, most photographers prefer to ignore their existence as no more than a novelty. Typically scene canvases are left to strictly “family” photographers.
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