$10 DIY Food Photography Background

When I first started taking photos or food for this site I was terrible. I mean really bad. While I still wouldn’t call myself an expert, I will claim some improvement, and a big part of that was learning how to choose better backgrounds. This is especially true for the food shots. I’ve known for a while that I needed a better background than my old, shiny kitchen table for recipe photos, but purchasing food photography backgrounds that actually look good can get real pricy real fast.

So naturally I decided it was time to DIY this project. The inspiration for this particular background came from this post over at Savor and Savvy. My process was basically identical to hers, the only difference being that I painted the back of my board instead of affixing a tile to the back because I couldn’t find a tile that I really liked. The result is a professional looking food photography background that cost right around $10 to make – far more affordable than similar options I found for purchase online.

And it’s super duper simple. You don’t need to possess any crafting skills at all to pull this off. If you can peel and stick, you can make this background. I’m including the option to make it double sided by painting the back, but that is totally optional and not at all necessary. It does add about $8 to the project total if you choose to do both sides, unless you already have a paintbrush and a little paint on hand.

You will need:

• A 24×24 inch piece of plywood (I used this one for $4.39)
• 4 6×24 inch peel and stick vinyl flooring strips (I used these for $1.28 each)
• Optional: A sample sized can of paint + paintbrush

The plywood, four vinyl strips, and tax in my state came out to $10.37 – not bad at all! I already had a paintbrush on hand and I threw in the paint at the last minute for another $5. Now here’s how you put it together:

STEP 1: Assemble the materials in an area where you have room to work.

STEP 2: Peel and stick the flooring strips to the plywood, pressing them down firmly. Be careful to line up the edges up before you stick them down because they can be difficult to move after. Repeat until the plywood is covered. Once you have applied all the strips, let the the background sit flat for a day or so to let the adhesive stick really well so that your strips don’t fall off when you move it around.

STEP 3 (Optional): Paint the other side. I actually recommend doing this step first if you plan to do both. Choose a low gloss option and apply one or two coats, depending on how much coverage you want. I just did one because I wanted to be able to see a little bit of the wood texture.

FINAL RESULT:

How easy is that? I absolutely love this double-sided background, especially the vinyl side. It has made such a difference in my food photos, and I’m keeping my eye out for some white peel and stick vinyl so that I can make another for a little variety.

If you want to see more examples of this background in action, here are some recent recipes I posted for S’mores Pancakes and Creamy Cheese Tortellini that used it and I was pretty happy with the results.

Let me know in the comments if this seems like a DIY you might want to try! What is you favorite DIY project that you’ve ever done?