Old Studio - Elaborate Backdrops

[OhThatGirl2001]

Hi All,

I'm not sure if this is the right area to post this question, but I'm hoping someone might have an answer. I have been looking for pictures of the old studio handpainted backdrops found in many photos from the early 1900. They are rather eleborate and generally, the person is standing up leaning against a table or holding onto a chair. The reason I ask is, wouldn't it be fun to take a picture that's modern and transpose it onto a antique like background? Or, I have a photo I was asked to remove a person from. The problem is, the background is so eleborate, I would lose the pattern. I'll attach the picture so you can first see the kind of elaborate kind of backdrop I am referring too. Also, I was asked to remove the gentleman from the picture. I'm tried cropping and feather around the mother and daughter but I'm still dealing with the pattern of the background and a bit of the man's suit. Any suggestions? Or tips as to where to look for backdrops.

Lisa

[Vikki]

Great question Lisa!
I love those old backgrounds too.
Unfortunately, I have no idea where you could find one. My first thought might be to check into vintage wallpaper.
Another idea, how about using a large period painting (minus frame) as the background.
I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone knows where to find these.

Have you tried the Quick Mask for selecting the mother and child?

[Doug Nelson]

Don't forget to check our Archives. This kind of thing is why we have it (though I don't know if we'll have anything like you need, yet). I'm hoping to someday have it broken into sections, including backgrounds. Archive submissions have dropped off to zero in the past couple of months, but its still high on my priority list.

[deadants]

I was doing a restoration today on a photo where the background had completley faded to white. I was wondering if these old stle backdrops have been found by anybody yet?

[freddieanne]

This is not really great, but it's one that I took my GGrandparents out of to replace the background in one the challenges here. I've got others, but they all have people in them.

Annabel

[deadants]

Hi Annabel,
That is the kind of thing I'm after. The photo I'm looking at is in landscape though. So the portrait example you have posted might look a bit streched if I try to make it fit. Here's the link to the photo So you can see what I'm talking about.. http://tinyurl.com/btpvc

[deadants]

I used a quick mask to extract the background from thee photo on the left. I will see how it goes. I had to do a bit of clone stamping to fill in the blanks but most of that is behind the subjects. I'll let you know when I post it on the Rootschat forum.

[Panpan]

This site http://www.owens-originals.com/ has some nice painted scenics and some nice digital backdrops.

[jesterjeni]

antique the new backdrops-- change them to look like an old photo

[holgaman]

The digital backdrop solution is your best bet, just get a CD or two of some that you think you will use at some point. I got one from Owens Originals, that Pan Pan mentioned. The attachment is shows one from them that I used. There are other places that carry them also, just do a web search.

[jesterjeni]

thank you holgaman that is exzactly what I was talking about!!

[holgaman]

Glad to help, they're pretty reasonably priced too.