Sunday, February 2, 2014

Ella Bella Photography Backgrounds Review and Giveaway!

I've been using cloth backdrops for my indoor photography since before I even had a backdrop stand or 'real' backdrops.  They work fine- some better than others.  But still, I've been very interested in trying a paper backdrop.  I love how they look in pictures- so smooth, crisp, and clean.

To my delight, I was given the opportunity to do a product review of Pacon's Ella Bella Photography Backgrounds.  Ella Bella is an up and coming photo backdrop product that offers nice, affordable backdrops suitable for both amateur and professional photographers.  You can find out more about it, giveaways being offered, and get awesome photo tips by liking their Facebook page: Ella Bella's Facebook Page.

I received four different designs to try: Vintage Wood, Classic Damask, Dots- Soft Pink, and Dots- Soft Blue.  I really like them all.  Each would work wonderfully for different applications.  Pacon encourages the backdrops to be used for infant, child, and product photography or even video backdrops, etc.  They would also be great for any sort of close up photo or head shot, as well.  The Classic Damask would would be stunning for a young lady's senior pictures!

Set up was quite easy.  I just slid the tube onto my backdrop stand and used a clamp to hold the paper against the top bar so that it couldn't unroll. I laid another one of the backdrops on the floor, going under the other vertical one.  Then I set a piece of white baseboard that I had along the bottom to hide where the backdrops met.  I used another clamp on each end of the baseboard to hold the paper nice and tight against it.  All set up it looked beautiful!  I took a picture to show you how simple the set up really is.  You don't even need a backdrop stand to use this paper.  Just tape it up to a wall and shoot away.

My almost 4 year old son was anxious to help me try out the new set up.  He isn't always a huge fan of getting pictures taken, but the newness really helped.  Plus, he was pretty sure his dinosaurs wanted their pictures taken, too.

Here's what we got!



My daughter was up next.  She was wiggly and not real cooperative, but I got a few good shots of her, too.  One is frame-worthy.  I just need to decide where to put it!





The paper is pretty durable.  Of course, it is paper, so it can tear and wrinkle, but it seems like it takes a lot to make it do so.  I got a couple little tears on the bottom of the hanging background where I had the clamps on the baseboard, but only because my daughter dove into it before I could grab her!  But even with that dive, it made no creases in the paper.

Besides the gorgeous prints, the thing that impressed me the very most about this backdrop paper is how non-see-through it is!  That is one of the things that frustrates me most about using my fabric backdrops.  You can always see light through them.  I could see NOTHING through the paper. It was wonderful.  Actually there was a window behind part of the backdrop and you couldn't make it out at all!

The price of the paper is also great!  You can pick up a roll of backdrop paper at Hobby Lobby for only $11.99.  Use one of their 40% off coupons and pick that same roll up for only $7.19!  Yeah!  This product is definitely a winner!  For that price, everyone should keep a roll around.  What an easy way to improve the look of the snapshot you take of your kids, pets, products you are selling on eBay, etc!

Pacon has generously offered to give away another 4 rolls of backdrop paper to one lucky winner!  Good luck!

 
*I was given this product for review purposes.  All of my opinions about this product are solely my own.  Your opinions may differ.  I was not compensated to write this post in any way.*