Before I started selling my handmade products online, I had never really put much thought into staging photos or creating visually appealing photos. I just thought as long as they were crisp and clear they would be OK. This is technically true to a certain extent. However that’s not going to be enough if you want to stand out from the crowd, especially where social media is concerned.
I googled a few ways to take exciting and fun pictures, but the only real results I got were clearly for people who have a lot of money to spend on expensive backdrops, studio time and professional photographers. I hope one day that I will have the means to branch out and utilise those resources, but for now its out of the question. Therefore, I decided to DIY a few things to make my photos more interesting and clickable. First up, backdrops.
Now if you’re very lucky you’ll have access to a huge great industrial building with humungous floor to ceiling windows that let in streams of perfect, natural daylight, with rustic bare brick walls that act as ideal backdrops for every photograph. But, if all you have to work with is an east facing end of terrace house in rural England, you’ll not be blessed with these luxuries and you’ll have to get a little crafty with how to take good quality, clear photographs that are going to grab people’s attention.
1.Paper.
My first way to spice up some photos is to grab a few rolls of paper. These are a great and cheap way of creating a simple background that can be changed time and time again without breaking the bank. You don’t have to just go with plain white, you can go with bright eye popping colours, toned down neutrals or something printed like dots or animal print. A lot of online stores stock rolls of paper that schools use for the backgrounds of classroom displays, all at marked down prices, sites like Baker Ross and Hobby Craft are great for sourcing these. But even places as simple as amazon will stock them, just have a search online and find some that are best for you.
Once you have your desired paper, you simply need to roll some of it out on the floor or table or hang it up on the wall, lay your product on it and start taking pictures. If the paper stays in good condition you can just roll it back up and store it away somewhere, ready to use for the indefinite future.
2. Boards
Next up, boards. Boards are great as they are mobile and are much more durable than paper. You can use pretty much any material as a board whether that be wood, foam, polystyrene, plastic, anything you can get your hands on and that can be covered will work. When I made my backdrop board I used cheap plaster board which can be bought at most DIY shops for pretty cheap. These come in loads of different sizes and so you can grab what suits your specific needs. I believe the one I bought was about £4 from Homebase and it measures 240 cm by 140 cm. I also know that some DIY shops sell polystyrene sheets that are quite thick that would work just as well.
Whichever material you decide to go for will probably be a bit of an eyesore and not something you want to display your work in front of. My solution to this is to buy some contact paper. Contact paper is essentially patterned or colourful sticky backed plastic. This adheres really well to most surfaces and there are endless designs to choose from; you could just get plain white or go for something more interesting like a marble effect or distressed wood. Simply stick the contact paper onto the your board and you have an interesting, unique backdrop to use for all your pictures. A really good brand of this stuff is D-C Fix.
If you go for a simple background like I have below, try adding different props to your photo, not only do they add interest, they can also be used to add spots of colour in a sea of monochrome.
White Contact Paper
White Contact Paper
Marble Effect Contact Paper
3. Whiteboards/ memo boards
This last one is pretty similar to using boards, but on a slightly smaller scale and less hassle. If you have small items to photograph and all you’re looking for is a simple, minimalist background, but don’t have any white walls or surfaces, try using a whiteboard. You may already have one of these lying around your house, but if not, you can get one from a stationery shop at a fairly low price. You can buy these in lots of different sizes, the one I have is A2 in size which works brilliantly as a classic background for taking simple photos. Plus, if you want a more interesting background as well, you can always just cover the back of the whiteboard in contact paper and double up its use.
If you’re struggling a little with how you want your photos to look and the type of background you want to create, look at the Instagrams of business’ that you really admire and see what sorts of themes they go for. Don’t copy them outright, just use their profiles almost like a mood board to refer back to when trying to create your own style. Experimentation is key here, you don’t have to find your style straight away, just see what people respond to and what images you enjoy creating and go from there.
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