Friday, November 8, 2013

DIY Photography Background & Photobook Review


I've known for a while now that I needed to make some photo backdrops for photographing things for the blog and for my etsy shop.  I've known.  I really have.

But knowing and doing are separate things, and I never got around to making them.  I've been considering the concrete of our front porch acceptable, until recently maintenance scraped the entire concrete up, and it is no longer uniform in color, and has lines all over the place.  Not pretty, and takes away from the objects I'm photographing.

Finally, I did it.  I used the wall paper I'd bought a year ago for this very purpose to make a photo background.  I decided to use the light colored cream paper and the vintage floral paper this time.


First, I glued to pieces of foam board together to make the backdrop more sturdy.  I was reusing some old foam board, so I just wanted to be sure it didn't bend.

Here are my pieces glued together.

I wanted my backdrop to be double sided.  One side I used a vintage floral wallpaper.

This side is just plain cream wallpaper.

Glue your wall paper (or other paper) to the boards and let them dry.

And now I'm going to demonstrate my photo backdrop as well as show you my free photo books that I received!  One book was free because I filled out a survey about our wedding for the Knot, another was from a coupon that was in one of the ink cartridge packages I bought when I was printing our wedding invitations.  

 The left book is a 20 page hardcover from Shutterfly, and the right book is a softcover from Snapfish.
And since I've got them right next to each other (and yes, I realize the softcover is lesser value), I just want to say that Shutterfly's quality is awesome.  

No, unfortunately they aren't compensating me to say that!  (I wish!)


My apologies for the glare on these.  I took the photos at night with a direct light in the house over them...there was no avoiding glares.

Apparently there was also no avoiding fuzzy pictures.  I miss my not iPhone camera!



We ordered our Save the Dates from Shutterfly, and I am just super impressed by how well their images and products look.  And...I'm not really impressed with Snapfish.  But thanks for the free book anyway, Snapfish!  I still like it!  

These pages of the honeymoon are from the Snapfhish book...





Do you have other suggestions for good blog photo backgrounds?  I often use our wooden table, and some slabs of wood for photographing, but its harder to get those outside in the natural light.  I would love to hear where you find your best photos coming from!


16 comments:

  1. I don't have a photo backdrop, so if I ever need one I use the hardwood floor in our dining room! :P The room has a huge window so the lighting is decent if we ever actually get sunlight here!

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    Replies
    1. Hardwood floors - that's convenient! We only have a window in the living room, so lighting isn't very good once it gets to the dining room or I'd use our wood table more. I usually end up having to take pictures outside to get any good ones!

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  2. I seriously can't get over your wedding pictures! I really love them haha

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  3. I'm so bad about using photo backdrops...I kind of just take pics wherever!

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    Replies
    1. I use photo backdrops to hide the fact that I probably have craft clutter nearby. :P haha

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  4. Great project !!

    I would love you to come and share @ Craft, Create & Inspire linky party !!!

    Look forward to seeing you there :)

    http://lemonpaperdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/welcome-to-craft-create-inspire-linky.html

    Claire x

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  5. I love your photobooks! We had ours made with money my ballet kids gave us as a gift and it's one of my favourite things :D

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    Replies
    1. Its nice to have so many pictures in one place! I enjoy having it out - I definitely look at the pictures more often now that I don't have to get on the computer and open them up!

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  6. I love your photobooks AND your backdrop! You're very creative. :-)

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  7. Lovely idea:) Pinned! New follow for your soc media too!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Michele! I can't wait to check out Sew Sweet Vintage! :)

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  8. I like to go outside and use the brick of our house, our backyard fence or even some of the bushes in our yard. I have also used fabric or burlap as a backdrop. I like your idea of wallpaper, too.

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    Replies
    1. I wish we had some exposed brick - or even some rustic looking wood around here. I have a small wood floor backdrop that I put together from flooring samples back when I was taking interior design classes, but it isn't quite long enough to be a backdrop unless the item is really small. I have a lot of burlap bags - maybe I should be using that too! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your ideas! :)

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  9. Great idea, I was just think about making a back ground for food photos, I hadn't thought about using wall paper

    ReplyDelete

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