DIY Inexpensive Photography Backgrounds

Today I’m sharing with you my trick of how I create inexpensive backgrounds for food photography shots. I tend to use the same things over and over again, so it pays to make something that works with any food display. By using a cheap background I can use my money collecting pretty dishes, silverware, and dishcloths to use in the shots. What I love about these is there lightweight, easy to store, wipe clean, and can be made for just a few dollars.

Have you guessed what I use yet? Here’s my secret: Artist whiteboard, and sticky Contact Paper. Yep it’s cheap, easy, and comes in every surface style and color you can think of.

I tend to like the lighter colored surfaces and I think it’s because I live in a log home with black countertops in the kitchen so I tend to gravitate toward white surfaces since it’s something I don’t have. My go to are always the faux marble or the faux wood food boards.

Here’s what I do: I purchase a white board from Hobby Lobby in the 20X30 size they run about $2 and a roll of self stick Contact Paper in the pattern or surface color and style that I like. I can find the Contact Paper for around $5 a roll and that will cover 4 white boards.

You can find Contact Paper in every design imaginable now, everything from faux wood, to marble, to stainless steel, or copper. The patterns and textures are endless, there’s certainly something for everyones taste. Make sure and check the width of your contact paper, it comes in 20 inches wide and that’s the one you want, there’s no cutting of the width involved that way. I make sure and cut the Contact paper 4 inches longer than the whiteboard and overlap the paper on each end by about 2 inches.

My favorite part is the backgrounds look so real, I could actually use them on a buffet with food displayed on them, and they wipe clean of any spills. They make for great photo props for bloggers too even if you don’t do food photography. So for under $4 I can get the look of real marble, or granite without the hefty price tag and when I’m done I just slide them in the closet until I need them next time.