How to Build an Infinity Cove for Photographers

Creating a perfect seamless background is the holy grail for most studios. Here our carpenter and plasterer did an incredible job creating the perfect infinity cove for our new studio. Watch the video to understand all the stages involved and see the surreal result of the end!

Comments

  1. Hi Karl,
    What did you do regards the ceiling? I have a smaller eternity cove in a small warehouse, but sometimes have problems with reflections from the unplastered ceiling.
    Just wondered how you tackled that?
    Thank you,
    Mark

      1. Thank you Karl, that’s really helpful. This is one of the few lessons I hadn’t seen!
        I think I’ll try to build something similar.

  2. Arno

    Hi, How do you maintain the Infinity Cove? How often do you paint it and how long does it take? Thank you for all the amazing classes! Best regards.

    1. Hi Arno, we paint the floor into the curve of the cove once every 2 months. The walls only need painting if we have to paint them a different colour which we do maybe two or three times a year.

    1. Hi Ant, it’s just plain concrete. We painted an initial white concrete floor paint over the whole studio and then on top of that in the cove area only we paint Dulux Vinyl Matt Pure brilliant white, which goes on the floor and walls.

  6. What “removable” alternatives are there besides the paper background? I was also thinking about plexyglass but it doesn’t reflect light as well as paper .. the laminate backdrops are excellent but they are not big enough and they are delicate ..

    1. Hi Ravi, there are vinyl backgrounds and canvas backgrounds too. There is also a company that builds ‘cycloramas’ as a kit thing

  7. Hi Sir,

    Do you experience a difference in tone between the wall and the floor everytime you repaint just the floor? It is a problem i cannot solved, leading to me always painting the wall and the floor together and its a huge cost. =(

    1. Hi Goh, no the wall looks and remains as white and as clean as a newly painted floor? Occasionally the wall gets a new coat because we painted it a different colour. We use Dulux Pure Brilliant White Vinyl Matt for the cove.

  8. Hi, what is the dimension and shape of the cove. how did u make your decision on height, “roundness” and shape? and how did you made it seemless to the floor? cheers Sebastian

  9. Hi Karl, I have a small problem im my first ever studio, (one of a few teething problems)…. I built a 16ft backdrop which comes 16ft out too, it’s a wooden frame with 18mm mdf on it. I photograph dancers so need to repaint regularly and I’ve only had the studio for 4 weeks. Im finding that the matt emulsion is slightly powdery when dry and the dancers are getting it on their feet.

    Do you know of any specific paint that is not powdery when dry? Or perhaps sealant, but I’ll be painting it every 1 to 2 weeks so sealant may not be an option

    Thanks
    Shane

    1. Hi Shane, we use Dulux Pure Brilliant White Vinyl Matt Emulsion and we haven’t noticed any powdery problems from that?

  11. Hi Karl,
    What type of paint are you using on your cyclorama wall? I have a cyclorama wall in my studio and I have been using flat white paint but I noticed yours has a sheen like it is a semi gloss paint. I’ve always been told you need to use flat paint but the maintenance and clean up is ridiculous. I have to paint the floor often. Are the reflections a concern when shooting?

    1. Hi Gregory, we use matt pure brilliant white, we don’t use a gloss. In this video though only the walls of our cove were painted in the matt at the time. We painted the base layer of the floor with a floor shield but then painted the matt pure brilliant white on top of that. We have to paint our floor area of our cove about once per month.

  12. Beautiful studio. Great craftsmanship too!
    Please what type of sealant is the ” green stuff” ? Is the plaster made with general cement of some other material or plaster of paris.?

    1. Hi Laurenta, I don’t know what type of sealant the plasterer put down you’d need to check with a professional, this was to seal the curved the plywood. The plaster is standard stuff in the UK usually a gypsum based stuff that comes in bags and you mix with water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaster it needs to be applied by a professional who can give it the smooth finish.

  13. hello sir
    is there any video on your website where we could get know how you seamlessly light this huge cove like the result we saw in the last of video. if there is no video is there any coming in future?
    thanks.

    1. Hi Raman, you need a lot of light and a lot of distance to fully light a cove of this size. Often in big studios like this you have a high ceiling that allow you to place ‘house’ lights up high and around the area which helps but a general illumination into the cove area. From ground level we are often using four lights with standard reflectors with two high and two low from the sides trying to spread the light evenly around both sides of the cove. In the portrait section on creating a white background you will see a little more info.

  14. I love the concept! I have a question or two if you don’t mind, … do the plywood preformed curves and corners need to be quite so large? … or would a smaller preformed curve somehow compromise that seamless illusion of the cove? In addition, couldn’t that same preformed style curve be used along both the floor line and the ceiling line (in a 9′ tall studio, for example), and thereby create at least the illusion of little more seamless studio height and flexibility?

    1. Hi Michael, the bigger the curve the better for the seamless illusion but not so large that the curve starts half way up the wall otherwise that wont be useful for flat wall backgrounds. There are many coves that also curve at the top and into the ceiling especially in car photography it’s very effective just more work to construct.

  15. nice work I run a construction company and I’m a chippy by trade so would love to have an infinity cove just gotta find somewhere big enough to house it and clients to use it lol.
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