I enjoy shooting on crisp, clean white backgrounds, or soft subtle colors. On lighter backdrops and props the focus is on the food, which becomes the highlight of the photograph.

Sometimes I like to mix up my white backdropped shots with more textured white and that’s when I one of my handy wood boards that I painted white. These backdrops that I use are still clean and white, but the textures of paint strokes or wood peaking out underneath really ads some interesting elements to my photographs.

Making these white boards and simple props are really simple and inexpensive, but they ad a great added element to photographs.

If I’m lucky, I’ll find some recycled wood at an antique shop, salvage yard or even on the street. But those opportunities are few and far between, especially when it comes to fining a piece that’s of useable size.

My home improvement stores are where I like to get reliable pieces of wood pieces to create my backdrops.

Wood paneling is normally available in 4 ft x 8ft pieces and Todd cut them for me in smaller sections. White paneling can be found as well, with grooves in them already, which are great added textures to the photographs. I purchased these large boards for under $20.

Once the paneling is cut to the size that I need, I buy a variety of paint and go to town with creating fun colorful boards too.

I’m a huge fan of buying small pre-tinted tester bottles , usually available in about 8 ounces. My larger hardware stores will also have base white bottles of testers where I can customize to any color that I want.

These small tester bottles are perfect for small projects, especially for painting props. I would never need a full size can for painting and having these small tester bottles allows me to be more creative with painting my backdrops without committing to buying a huge can, which would eventually go to waste.

The tester bottles of paint I found were all under $3 and almost every brand had it available. I used a Martha Stewart brand because I like the subtle, soft colors of their pre-tinted bottles.

So creating white textured boards are simple, fun and relatively inexpensive and I always have a great collection of prop boards to choose for my food shots!

have fun!

-diane

Making textured backdrops for food photography :


above: 4 ft x 8 ft panels come in already painted white with grooves, or in wood & then painted after. The left has the groove texture, while the right has paint stroke texture.

above: my paint stroke textured board along with some small cheese boards I painted white

above: smaller 8oz tester bottles are fabulous! Some brands have pre-tinted testers or you can customize your own colors based on swatches. I chose Martha Stewart brand because I liked their subtle colors.

above: having fun with painting prop boards! I used a coarse paint brush because I like the textures of the coarse bristles. And I used softer brushes for the boards that I wanted to be completely smooth.

above: I found these great wooden gnocchi paddles and cheese boards. I left some out in the sun to age and patina, while the rest I painted! I went to town and painted pink, blue and light sage boards too.

above: my messy work/painting station in the garden (w/view of my tomatoes!) :D

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