jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, getting a smooth backdrop can be a challenge, but a lot depends on the fabric. A wool-like material will not wrinkle, so that's what I use. If you have a wrinkly material, you can hang it and spray it with water. It will dry without wrinkles. You can also dampen it and spin it in a clothes dryer. Just be sure to remove it as soon as it is dry. If you roll it onto a large cardboard tube, it will remain wrinkle-free.

OlinBost Loc: Marietta, Ga.

I roll mine up on a long cardboard tube. Go to a fabric store. They have much of their big bolts of fabric on long tubes and you might be able to get one there. Smaller pieces I use a Christmas wrapping paper tube.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Here is a recent thread on backdrops:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-572624-1.html

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

How about moving the object off of the background, shooting at a wider aperture (to minimize depth of field), with a wider aperture you'd have to adjust your lighting. An out of focus background may be what you're looking for.

Another option is to buy velour backgrounds (I think that's the proper term). I have two (one white, one black); they are double sided (one shiny, one matte) and they don't wrinkle or show crease lines.

A10 Loc: Southern Indiana

The floor looks good except for the hot spots. If you use the floor try it at night with your lights low and at a 45 degree angle. The others have addressed the use of fabric and paper backgrounds.

dandev Loc: Enumclaw, WA

I use paper. I have a black roll and 2 different widths of white rolls. I have a bunch of dogs and always found dog hair in any cloth I've tried to use. And if the paper gets messed up, cut it off and roll out some more. It's pretty inexpensive - and Amazon ships it free.
I use a backdrop stand to hold it - consisting of 2 heavy light stands and a bar across the top. I bought a kit from Ravelli, and ended up replacing their fixed length pole sections with an expandable pole. It works much better. And I use clamps (Home Depot) to keep the roll from unrolling and the ends where I want them.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

For one, I don't pose my subjects near the backdrop. Use a large f-stop for shallow depth of field. Any cloth backdrop, I store rolled up to avoid creases. That's for starters. The pose of whatever I put in front of the backdrop will vary from subject to subject.

The wrinkled background approach works, but again I tend to blur the backgrounds using DOF.
--Bob

Mama Bear984 Loc: Langley, BC Canada

Think outside the box.
Go outside, find a stump or tree anything that’s interesting to prop up the item.
Who says things have to be shot inside with a backdrop.
Use your imagination & experiment.
Guitars remind me of the country, barns & hay.
Or heavy metal, industrial.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Another option you may wish to look into are Double-Sided Pop-Out Muslin Backdrops. After using muslin and canvas for years, setup, teardown, and storage is so much easier; also - no wrinkles. The backdrop, light stand, and backdrop tripod clip will set you back less than $100.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

Having been a quilter, muslin would be my last choice to use as a backdrop. Great for quilts, wrinkles easily while stored.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

I gave up on smooth perfect color backdrops. Now I prefer light gray and fix it the way I want in post.

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

Why not use paper roll backdrops - smooth and never any wrinkles.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

There are many approaches and methods to background management in still life, "objects' and product photography.

If you require a solid seamless background where the object virtually floats with very little distraction from he background, the traditional material is seamless paper which is specifically intended to that purpose. A popular manufacturer is Savage. It is obtainable in many colors and shades in long rolls in 5 lengths and widths.
(Check out savageuniversal.com to see some of the colors and sizes). The technique involves creating a cyclorama, that is a contentious smooth transition from the wall to the floor or tabletop. Please see attached illustration for the general idea. Wrinkle free material such a vinyl , canvas, painted canvas (multicolored) flexible Plexiglas, linoleum can be used is a similar manner.

Wrinkled cloth backgrounds, "Background in a Bag etc) are nor intended for a smooth look- the are intended for a textured, rumpled,random, background effect. Ironing or stretch them is counterproductive and futile and will never quite smooth them out. Wrinkle the up as much as possible and ligh them from the side to create even more texture.

Jet black background can be very dramatic- velvet or velveteen suck up light ! Sometimes, however, some tone or color called tonal or color mass is better in that it creates more dimension and give the viewers the impress that the can enter the fram and walk around the subject.

Still life images can be made more interesting and thematic with more creative approaches to background management by using props and othere related materials. props such a baskets, planks of barn-wood, wood paneling, rusty metal, old maps, sheets of stained glass, fish netting, various drapery materials and fabrics.

Create contrasts such a a smooth metal object sit atop rusty chains or hao about those guitars against some sheet music or an out of focus poster. Background can be especially lighted or kept darker, in or out of focus or just suggested.

Think of you still life or object work as you do as your landscape photography with a main subject a foreground and a background. If you were photograph an old barn or rural building or a tree, you would not always necessarily shoot form a low angle and just use the solid sky as a background or shoot from a very high viewpoint and just use the grass a backdrop. You include surrounding textures, objects and create a theme and a sense of depth, atmosphere and place.

In the attached "stamp collection" shot the "tarmac" is a sheet of black vinyl and the background is a poster of the Spitfire. No PhotoShop- the stamp were suspended on a wire rack made of coat hangers and Foam-Cor. Half the fun of still life work is looking around in junk yards, second-hand stores and flea markets for props.

I do this for a living- its my day job but it is also a good thing to do for a landscape shooters when the weather is not cooperating.

PS- These are low-rez images stored in my phone- I am on the road again!

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Leitz Loc: Solms

The advertisement, and your comment, does nothing at all to address the OP's concerns!

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Lighting the background is important, but again there are many approach and methods. I cert kinds of portrait and commercial photography here is the employment of a background light- it can be a spot ligh a softer kind of ligh or just some light that spills on the background from the other lights in the setup. The volume, nature (hardness of softness) and even the color of the ligh will depend on the effect you wish to produce. In many composition the background is subordinate to the subject and may be kept darker or in softer focus. If the background detail is important to the theme it can be more pronounced and similarly lighted. Just like there is a ratio between ligh and shadow there is a ratio between the subject and the background.

The background also plays a role in the KEY of the image. Low key images of darker subjects against a darker background as opposed to lighter subjects on a light background (kind of a white on white effect) will all fact in to how you ligh the background.

When theses topics and questions arise, most folks seem t emphasize equipment usage which certainly factors in, however in making theses choices the concept of the image and the applicable technique needs to be considered.

Yet another way of lightning a background is by trans-illumination. There as a Plexiglas product called "sigh White"- it is a white translucent that diffuses or "spread light very effectively. It is use in making back lighted signs, transparency viewing light boxes and light tables, especially where shallow enclosures are used for the light sources. It can be flexible enough to use in a cyclorama type of light table shows in my previous post. A light placed behind and or/under the Plexiglas can create a floating background for small and medium sized objects. It can register as pure white or colored gesl can be used over the ligh source to produce colored backgrounds. Again a background ligh ratio has to be established. Spot exposure meter readings can be used to get you into the ballpark range and then refined by testing. Once you establish the setting, the setup is easily repeatable.

This thread is mainly concerted background treatments. Of course how the item is lighted by the main, fill and/or any accent ligh all influences the background as well in terms of levels of illumination, ratio, contrast, key, and direction of lighting.

Another note- There is ample discussion, here on the HOG about every camera and lens in existence, all kids of post-processing issues and some lighting gear and issues. Little know that BACKGROUNDS comprise an industry in the photography and cinematography business. There arr companies and several independent artists that produce all manner of backgrounds, painted, multi-color, old masters, scenic, in every style, era, mode imaginable. Some are ugly and gaudily, others are perfect, as long as the photographer knows how to use an light them. some are painted on paper, canvas, vinyl or even large window shades for portability. Some are collapse on those spring loaded hoops. The there is an entire technology of green screen, front projection, rear projection and theses can also be combined with post-processing techniques.

I have used some of theses products and technologies, over the years, in my studio. With individual portraits and small products, however, some of my best background were improvised- fabric remnants for the sewing and fabric stores and old worn out dark Oriental rugs from the second-hand store. Clever lighing and selective focus are the tricks. And...if you wife or husband won't kill you, you can paint a great painterly background on a wall. Lay in a coat of flat dark gray or black latex paint- let it dry overnight and then paint in the colors with brushes and natural sponges (flat latex paint is best), If you don't like it, just start over again. You can do this on a large window shade too.

I think the OP has some good suggestion to work with.