Custom Backdrops · Commissions
Painted for your picture.
Every Oliphant custom backdrop is painted by hand in our Brooklyn studio — with direct access to Sarah Oliphant, who has painted backdrops for photographers since 1976.
Bring us a reference, a feeling or a problem the rental inventory can’t quite solve. We’ll paint the one that does.
Demo commission · image 1
Demo commission · image 2
Demo commission · image 3
Why custom
The original hand
Work directly with the founder whose skies and mottles defined the photographic backdrop — and the studio she trained.
Sized to your set
Painted on canvas or muslin to the dimensions you need.
Made to be photographed
Color, texture and falloff are tuned to how the drop will be lit and shot.
The process
- 01
The brief
Send us your references, the size of your set, how it will be lit and the date you shoot. A mood board, a paint chip or a single photograph is enough to start.
- 02
The conversation
A call or studio visit with Sarah Oliphant and the painter who will make your drop. We talk color, texture, falloff and how the camera will see it.
- 03
The color study
For most commissions we paint a small sample in the proposed palette and technique, so you approve the real thing — not a screen.
- 04
The painting
Your backdrop is painted by hand, start to finish, in our Brooklyn studio. We’ll send progress photographs along the way.
- 05
Delivery
Rolled on a core, ready for set — pick it up at the studio or have us deliver it. It arrives with care guidelines to keep it working for decades.