home » Ideas » How to take a good photo on instagram: photophone. How to make a wooden photo backdrop

How to take a good photo on instagram: photophone. How to make a wooden photo backdrop

I've been meaning to for a long time, and I finally did it. Now I have a wooden photo background for food photography (well, for product photography in general, because the trends are such that a lot of things are photographed on a tree now).

For those who are far from the topic of working with wood, I publish my detailed report on how I made a wooden photo background.

Let's start in order. From boards.

For a photo background, it is best to take beautiful, textured boards, on which the pattern of growth rings is clearly visible. (I hope everyone remembers from biology lessons what it is)).
This texture has larch. But not only. I have hardwood boards. And in the process of working on the smell, I can say that it looks like pine. So pine is fine too.

Boards are processed (smooth, which do not plant a splinter) and not processed. I would recommend taking processed ones, because. they will not need to be processed (sorry for the tautology)) - skin (handmade and so will suffice).

Further, the boards differ in thickness and length. It is clear that the thicker the board, the heavier it is. For our purposes, the thinnest boards are suitable (why carry extra weights). The thinnest that I found - 2 cm thick.
The length of the board is usually 2 and 3 meters. For a photophone, a length of 70 cm to 1 meter is quite enough, so they will need to be cut into 2 or three parts.

Of course, you can cut it at home (if there is anyone), but many sellers provide sawing services. They can be paid or free.

In general, you can go for boards either to the construction market, or to a hypermarket like Obi or Castorama. I don't like markets, so I preferred a hypermarket. In Obi, I encountered the fact that they cannot cut the boards, because. they have a machine only for thin materials. But at Obi, wood cutting services are free.

In Castorama, boards are cut for 30 rubles (for one cut).

Among other products of hypermarkets, you can find already glued boards, but this is a lumber product, i.e. it doesn't look that natural. It is better than natural boards.

The boards themselves can be sold by cubic meters, or by the piece. We search individually and choose the most beautiful ones (do not forget to look at both sides of the board, because we can paint each side of the boards in a different color and thus we will have two options for a wooden background at once).

The width of the boards also varies. For example, those boards that I bought turned out to be 9.5 cm wide. I figured that three boards would be enough for me (each sawn into two parts). The total width turned out to be 9.5x6 = 57 cm. In principle, this is enough for not too wide compositions, but I would not refuse an additional 10 cm, to be honest. So keep that in mind.

Sticker-marking on my boards:

So. Boards bought and sawn. I suggest using the boards just like this - putting them together one by one each time. That is, do not put them together. First, this will allow us to use both sides of the boards (and we will have two options for the background). Secondly, it turns out much more compact in storage. Thirdly, each board separately weighs lighter than all these boards knocked together.

Now we need to think about coverage. Can be painted or stained. I chose stain. I'll tell you about her. And about the paint, I can assume that acrylic paint may well come up (it is odorless).

In the rustic style (which is now popular in food photography and not only), everything old is quoted, so it is best to age the wooden background as well. To do this, use an iron brush like this:

It costs about 60 rubles. Of course, it is best to use a power tool (I don’t know exactly what is used there - a drill or a grinder) with a nozzle of a similar plan. It will be much faster and easier, but this option is not suitable for everyone. Therefore the brush.

Next is the stain.

The choice of colors is quite large. I decided to try on one side of the boards to use the color "larch" (diluted with water so that it was not so intensely bright - the color of the tree itself has such a beautiful color), and on the other side to make a mixture of two shades - Ebony wood and rosewood.

You can also use varnish:

The varnish is colorless and with shades, as well as varying degrees of gloss / matte. I recommend taking either matte or semi-matte or matte.

Next - sandpaper. We need it in order to emphasize the texture of the tree after applying the stain. I took two sizes, on one sheet there were numbers 320 (more grainy), on the other - 400 (smaller). For a light shade, I liked how the picture looks after a smaller one, and on a dark one - traces of a more grainy one.

It is worth considering that the sandpaper is painted in the color of the stain, so it is better to buy for each color separately (or cut each sheet in half, which I did not do and later regretted).

And don't forget the gloves.

In general, all together it cost me almost 600 rubles. Not cheap, I must say, it turns out ...

So, here are the boards before processing:

First, we “age” with an iron brush. Three brush along the boards, paying special attention to the places with the most beautiful wood pattern.

Type TO:

View AFTER:

The photo shows small bumps and in the areas of the transition of the pattern from dark to light, a little more relief appears. In general, doing it all manually is quite tedious (both morally and for the muscles of the hands). And I will not say that I saw a very noticeable result. So I would call this stage optional :)

Next, you need to remove all the garbage that was formed from this aging procedure, because. stain must be applied to a clean, dry surface. I used a vacuum cleaner for this purpose. And then, when applying the stain on the other side, I vacuumed each board again.

Then we apply stain. Let me remind you that my larch color was diluted with water and I applied the stain with a rag, not with a brush. Here's what I got:

Do not forget to apply the stain lightly on the sides of the boards, as the gaps between the boards can also be seen.

Since I applied the stain in a thin layer, it dried rather quickly: by the time I finished with the last board, the first one was already dry.

Here are close-up examples of before and after.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

After sanding, some of the yellowness went away and it got a little better.

General plan AFTER:

Then I did the same with the other side of the boards and with the dark colors of the stain. I mixed colors on electronic scales (since I have them), but you can just use some measuring containers or by eye. Since ebony is a darker color, I took 30 g of it and 40 g of rosewood shade. From what I got, I can say that you can safely distort the proportion even more - take even more rosewood and even less ebon wood. For example, not 3:4 (like mine), but 1:2. I applied the stain with a brush in two layers. The amount of stain weighing 70 g was enough for me once for all the boards. For the second application, I again mixed the same amount of stain in the same proportion.

Drying between applications - a couple of hours. Here's what happened after sanding:

I am more satisfied with this color, although if possible, I would make the shade more brown.

While sanding the dark background, I managed to notice that the stain paints the hands. I wiped it with a damp cloth (after sanding everything), but still there is a desire to cover it with either varnish or some kind of special wax. Moreover, the stain does not protect the surface from stains (and not only from oil stains, but also from water stains, too).

In terms of time - in the evening I bought boards. The next morning - stains, brushes, scissors, and somewhere around 11 am work began. With breaks for drying, it took all day.

A tutorial on creating a stylish background for those who like to photograph food and objects.

Wooden photophones are gaining more and more popularity. If you want to have a unique photophone now, it is better to buy it from an experienced master. But you can make a beautiful background yourself, albeit not very vintage, but textured. To begin with, it is better to make a background of classic colors, one side of which is brown, the other is white.

Creating a background begins with the choice of a tree. At any hardware store, you can buy boards, saw them to the right length, or choose a solid pine canvas of the right size. You can use boards from a pallet, but they will be unfinished and it will take a lot of effort to get them textured and not leave splinters.

Pay attention to the pattern and knots on the tree, the more there are, the more textured the background will be.

Materials for work:

Primer for wood (you can use PVA glue)
Acrylic paint white, gray, brown
Acrylic matte lacquer
Wide brush with natural bristles
Wide synthetic brush
Gloves
Sandpaper (fine grit 80 or 100)
grinder (if any)
Respirator (Required! Fine dust during grinding very easily penetrates into the lungs)
Rag or rag
Paper (newspapers, film on which the tree will lie when stained)
Before work, cover the surface with paper on which you will process the photophone.

Let's start making the first side of the background - brown.

The first stage of work is to prime the surface of the tree, let it dry. Apply a second coat of primer. If after that the wood becomes rough, go over it with sandpaper, it is after the primer that the pile has risen, which often happens when the wood is poorly sanded. Brush off sanding dust with a dry brush or cloth.

After that, you can apply the first layer of brown paint. Apply with a dry brush, as if rubbing into the surface. If you plan to make the wood pattern strongly visible, then the layer should not be thick and try not to leave brush marks. After drying, the color of the paint may be lighter and it is better to apply a second coat. If desired, after the second layer has dried out, you can walk with sandpaper in several places (at the junctions of the boards), give it a shabby look, or you can leave it in this form. Keep in mind that when photographing on a monitor screen, the background color will be slightly lighter, so do not be too zealous when sanding. Wipe the entire surface with a rag.

To make the background last for a long time, it is better to cover it with acrylic varnish, apply one layer, let it dry, and then a second.

Let's make the second side white and create a shabby chic effect. In this case, we will not see a beautiful pattern of the tree, but we will create the effect of paint worn by time.

Do the same with primer and sander. Apply one coat of gray paint, let it dry. This is the basis of the color that will be visible from under the white paint.

Now you can apply the first coat of white paint, let dry and then the second. After the last layer has dried, at the joints of the boards, rub with sandpaper at intervals over the surface, doing it randomly and to varying degrees in terms of the amount of abrasions.

Wipe off the sanded paint with a dry brush, wipe the surface and cover with two layers of varnish alternately. Your photophone is ready and will serve you for a long time.

Adviсe:

It is necessary to grind the wood in the direction of the wood fibers and be sure to wear a respirator and gloves.
Buy high-quality acrylic paints so that you are sure to get the expected result. Cheap paints do not cover the wood well and when dried, a different shade of color is obtained.
If the acrylic paint is very thick, you can dilute it a little with water and mix well.
Each layer of application must dry well.
Keep the photophone away from heat sources and not on a balcony, even a glazed one. The wood very readily absorbs moisture, dries well too, but during these processes it can lead and there is a risk that the background can bend.

After long trips, it would be time to remember that I am still a photographer and tell you something useful and interesting from this area. I decided on the topic a long time ago and I think that it will be relevant not only for photographers, but also for designers, decorators, bloggers, needlewomen, and just for people who are interested in creating beautiful things with their own hands.

In general, we will make a photophone, but you must understand that in the same way you can process any wooden surface and make it, for example, a chic table or even an entire wall, or maybe a floor? It all depends on your imagination and desire to create.

For me, the most difficult and interesting thing in a creative task is to understand, but what should the result of our work look like? What do we want? Photophone - it's clear, but what will it be? What technique to use when creating? What materials to take? In these matters, I trusted my designers from the workshop "ArtBoutique Nadia Lavik". We decided that it should be shabby chic almost immediately, firstly, it's fashionable now, secondly, it's cool, and thirdly, it's beautiful ... um, well, I really like this style! We also decided on the length and width quite quickly, in our case, these parameters depended solely on the size of the objects that we planned to shoot on the photo background.

So, with the dimensions and design over, let's get down to business.

To create a photo background, you will need: boards, sandpaper No. 120, a wax candle, impregnation (stain), paint in 2 colors, a brush for construction work, semi-gloss acrylic interior varnish and glue. We took all paint and varnish materials from Dufa, as we are already confident in this brand. As for the boards, we opted for pine with a size of 20 * 95 * 2000 mm. The store ordered a cut.

1. Stage of preparation of boards. After all the materials are purchased, we get to work. Each board must be sanded on all sides with sandpaper. With light hand movements, we clean off small fibers in the direction of the wood pattern. Sandpaper should be slightly wider than your palm to avoid splinters.

After the boards are sanded, we take an iron brush and lightly pass it along the entire length of the boards. In no case across (as with sandpaper), so as not to disturb the pattern. Thanks to this manipulation, we take out the soft structure of wood, thereby making our future photo background more textured. Shake off the scraped fibers with a construction brush.

The initial stage also includes coating the surface with impregnation (stain), it prepares the tree for further painting, tints it, but does not hide the texture. We are waiting for complete drying!

2. After the stain has dried, we apply the first layer of paint (basic), it is he who will look through the rubbing, which we will do a little later. In our case, it is gold. For applying paint, it is better to take a wide construction brush. If you plan to use acrylic paint, then keep in mind that it dries very quickly and, immediately after application, the brush must be thoroughly rinsed.

3. As soon as the paint has dried, we take a candle in our hands and begin to carefully “draw” all the “stumps”, fiber lines and do not forget to wax the corners.

4. Having “drawn” with wax the pattern that we want to develop in the future, we apply a second layer of paint, which differs in color from the first. We are waiting for complete drying.

10.

5. Here, all our boards are thoroughly dry and we can proceed to the most interesting part of creating a shabby chic photo background. We take sandpaper and begin to clean off the wax. Be sure to clean in the direction of the wood pattern! Where there was wax, the second layer of paint could not soak and color the entire board evenly, thanks to which we get such a “shabby” pattern.

11.

12.

6. Having brushed away the remains of the cleaned layer, we cover the treated side of the boards with a semi-matt varnish with a construction brush. It gives the background a finished look and does not give glare.

13.

14.

7. It remains to fasten the boards together and you can start the photo shoot.

And one last tip: divide the boards equally, fasten them together, but leave the resulting halves as they are, this will allow you to make a right angle from the photophone, sometimes this is necessary. We fixed the boards with ordinary universal super glue. Holds great!

15.

16.

I would like to say that "with a slight movement of the hand" the boards turn, the boards turn into an amazing photo background, but, unfortunately, this is not so. The process itself, though not difficult, but very long. We spent almost five hours creating this particular background. And this is not counting the time to purchase materials and discuss the design itself, but the result is certainly worth it.
Many thanks to the craftsmen

The carpet and the festive table have not been seen in photographs from events for a long time, which is very pleasing. Their places were taken by beautiful thematic backgrounds and zones, selected dresses and suits, and high-quality professionally processed photos at the exit. Yes, and products have long been photographed using special devices - light boxes or backdrop systems for product photography.

All this can be rented in photo studios or from photographers, or you can do it yourself, spending a little effort, time and materials. The main criterion for choosing a background is the purpose - for a wedding and for product photography, you need to use different equipment.

Background for a home photo shoot

You can make a home photo studio for a portrait or family photo session and backgrounds for it with your own hands, using a free wall or any frame made of wood or metal. The peculiarity of filming at home is the presence of walls and the frequency of filming. For a holiday or an important event, it is not necessary to design a capital base for the background.

To fix the background, you can use ordinary paper clips and a vertical surface, a rope firmly stretched between two walls, a spacer for curtains in the bathroom, ordinary baguettes or a cornice attached to the wall, and any other device.

The main condition is that the background must be stretched, then the photo will look harmonious. The material is used absolutely any, as the photographer intended - a colored or plain background, an image or a thematic landscape. You can supplement the image with accessories, pieces of furniture or attributes to fill the picture and create volume.

What dimensions should the background have for home use? If subject shooting is planned, then the volumes should be based on the size of the object, if a child is being photographed - a height of 1.5 meters, a width of 1 meter, the more, the farther the photographer can move.

Again, a newborn baby and a 14-year-old child require a different amount of space, this must also be taken into account. For an adult, the background height will be from 2 meters, and the width - from 1.5 meters.

In home photography, backgrounds are required for celebrating a birthday or wedding anniversary at home or in a cafe. For the past 3-4 years, it has been popular to have a photo wall or an area for filming at a holiday, which attracts the attention of guests and allows you to take memorable pictures. It is necessary to take into account the number of guests in the frame at the same time - for 5-7 people, the background width will already be from 3 meters and the design will need to be more durable and stable.

Background for a wedding photo shoot

On their most important day, a young family tries to take the maximum number of memorable pictures, beautiful holiday pictures. To do this, many order photo walls or photo corners, where there are various accessories, paraphernalia and a background hangs.

Popular themes are a wall with cut frames, a flower theme, the names of the newlyweds and the date of marriage. Such a background is already heavier than homemade and requires more thorough preparation. Usually, a wooden or metal structure is used, which is assembled and disassembled directly on the day of the holiday, a fabric, film or paper with an image is attached to it.

You can also make a backdrop for a wedding photo shoot with your own hands from dug-in poles with a stretched rope or cable for tension. All this is decorated with flowers, ribbons, balloons, funny or beautiful pictures and creates an atmosphere of the evening.

Guests can take pictures in the area. Since the wedding option involves shooting adults, it is better if it is 3 meters wide and 2 - 2.5 meters high.

Background for product photography

Another option, fundamentally different from the first two, is a home-made background for product photography. What it is used for - photography of goods, jewelry, toys of one's own making, shooting items for sale on the network. Its size directly depends on the object - 50 x 50 cm is enough for jewelry, 1 meter by 1 meter or more may be needed for goods.

The peculiarity of shooting in the position of the object and the camera is that the product lies against the background, and the light and the lens are on top.

To create a background, you can use wood, paper, plastic, drywall, fabric and other materials that create the desired texture. They are decorated, painted, and created the right color and look for specific shoots or items. All these materials are easy to process and do not require special skills. This type of design does not require fastening and can be transferred to the right place.

Another option is to create the background of the house from a section of the wall or interior items. There are a lot of options - decorate the right place, hang it with a cloth or paper, just put the elements on a sofa or table. If shooting is required frequently, then it makes sense to find a place in the house with the right light and equip a permanent background there.

Backgrounds are portable, on stands

The most convenient option for outdoor shooting is photophones on special gates. They are assembled and disassembled in a couple of minutes and are a metal frame on racks, on which the background is attached - fabric, banner, paper. Background gates are an indispensable item in a photographer's arsenal; they can be used to create a photo zone anywhere.

They are offered in different sizes, height from 2 to 4.5 meters, and width from 2 meters, optimally 3.8 - 4.1 m.

They are adjustable and can be set beyond the maximum dimensions, they are stable, easy to assemble and weigh little. The “gate” type background mounting system is an excellent option both for home shooting and for going out into nature, and you can also arrange subject shooting with its help.

In addition to the “gate”, you will need fasteners for the background - ties, wire, clips. They are also necessary to stretch the material, especially if fabric is used, because it tends to give out kinks and shadows in the photo.

Background setting system

A more complex and expensive mechanism for photo shoots is the backdrop installation system. It is a suspension system of gear brackets on which the material is attached - fabric, film or paper.

Rollers with backgrounds can be set in motion manually, according to the principle of blinds, or automatically, using a motor and a remote control. Up to 6 backgrounds can be installed on the system at the same time, they are in a twisted state, if necessary, the desired one is lowered. The width of the entire structure is from 2 meters, rolls with backgrounds can be replaced.

The cost of such a system is much higher than other options, it needs to be mounted on a wall, and paper backgrounds are quickly used up because the bottom part gets dirty. Therefore, it is advisable to take it only if necessary - for a studio or photo studio.

DIY photophone on the wall

One of the simplest decor options that does not require construction and depends only on your image is a photo wall. Decor is applied directly to the wall section, you can use a primer, textured plaster, paint, tiles, drywall elements, stickers and much more. You can paint the wall with drawings, stick it with paper flowers or balloons, hang pictures or ribbons, fasten letters or numbers, drape with a cloth. This design option is suitable for a holiday or meeting guests, according to this principle, a candy-bar is created - a table with treats.

DIY light box

Light-box is a special box for product photography that you can make yourself. The main idea of a light box is the absence of shadows from the subject, due to the scattering of the supplied light. The design is simple, to create it you will need:

The basis, for example, a cardboard box of the desired size. Everything superfluous is cut off from it, the side walls are cut for light access;
A piece of white paper, whatman paper is ideal. It should close the back wall and smoothly, without an angle, go to the bottom of the box.

Scotch tape or pushpins, they are needed to secure all the elements on the box.
tracing paper is a translucent or white fabric with which the upper and side slots are draped so that the light coming from the sources is scattered as much as possible;
Light sources of the shade and power you need;
Actually, a camera that needs to be set up for subject shooting and check the white balance on whatman paper before starting.

Cyclorama - a background for shooting with your own hands

Cyclorama is essentially the same light box, but larger. This is the background of the walls and floor without corners, which gives the impression of endless space. It can be white, black, blue or green, used for catalog and advertising shooting, for photo and video filming of people, objects, cars.

In a home photo studio, a light-box will be enough for infrequent use, but a cyclorama is necessary for studio shooting. You can create it with your own hands using the same materials, you just need to correctly calculate the corners and transitions so that the boundaries of the floor and wall are not visible.

Interior items and improvised means for creating a photophone

The greatest scope of imagination gives the use of any improvised means for photography. Interior items, furniture, mirrors, household appliances, fences, doors, trees and any other objects can be used as a background. They can be decorated with decorative elements, painted and supplemented with any details.

Rustic weddings against the backdrop of trees, shooting pregnant women in fabric huts in the forest, children's birthday parties and shooting in the yard, in paper balloons and ribbons, and many other ideas and options. They usually do not require fastening, the maximum that needs to be done is to hang the swing on a branch or arrange elements, throw fabric or toys. This kind of backdrop is gaining popularity, many take cameras and beautiful objects and go to shoot.

Materials suitable for creating photophones

Regardless of the type of attachment or its purpose, each photophone must have certain qualities: strength, ease of attachment, relative dust and dirt resistance. An important factor is the price of the background. Most commonly used:

Fabric bases for the background or fabric with a printed pattern, plain canvas, the choice depends on the idea. It is durable, ironed, easy to transport, easy to mount and looks very nice in photographs, as it does not reflect light, but scatters it.

The minus of the fabric is the need for its tension, if the kinks and irregularities are not intended by the plot. This is a rather expensive version of the background, suitable for mounting in any way - on the wall with buttons, on the "gate" with ties, rolls on the backdrop lifting system. Specialized stores offer a wide range of fabric photophones with various thematic patterns and compositions.

paper backgrounds

Budget material, great for occasional shoots or for home use. It can be made independently from whatman paper or rolled wallpaper. Photography stores offer a huge selection of designs for such backgrounds, they can be plain, multi-colored, textured, with thematic images, landscapes and panoramas. The paper is light, easy to store, transport and install, but not strong enough and easily soiled. If the background is laid on the floor, then it is practically disposable, because marks and spots in the photo will be very noticeable.

Spunbond

Plastic

Often used as a basis for creating a background. It is strong, dense and holds heavy decorative elements well. Such material is sold per meter in plates, has a thickness of 1 mm to 7 mm and different densities, respectively. To fix it, you need a base made of wood or metal, since ordinary paper clips or ties will not hold it.

banner film

This is the advertising material familiar to us, which is used on the streets. Almost anything can be printed on it and used outdoors in any weather, which other materials are not capable of. Banner film requires an installation frame or stretcher made of metal or wood, is quick and easy to stretch and looks great in photographs.

Before choosing a background for your photo session, you should decide on the theme, shooting conditions, attributes and decor, and choose the material already according to your idea. Is it possible to attach this or that material, can it be used for decoration, will the background withstand wind, rain or a large number of guests and other points. There are numerous companies that rent or make custom photo walls and backgrounds for the holidays, you can order them to create a photo zone. Or make it with your own hands according to your own idea.

This article is useful not only for photographers, as we photograph any of our work for demonstration on the web or for our portfolio. There are many simple tricks with which you will create beautiful photos, which means you will arouse people's interest, because beauty always attracts.

Filter

This do-it-yourself filter option is very easy. You need a plastic bag (white, colored or transparent - depending on what result you want).

It is best to take a transparent one and paint with markers on the part that is enough to wrap the lens. Look at the photo below.

We tied the package

Got this result

reflector

A set of materials: cardboard, kitchen foil, glue and adhesive tape.

It is desirable that the foil is not too thin and has an area of 1 square meter for the same area of \u200b\u200bcardboard. Having generously smeared the cardboard with glue, you put foil on it, pulling it a little and securing it with adhesive tape at the back. This is the result you should get:

Lightbox or black tile

If you want to do a subject photo session, then a lightbox that you can make yourself is ideal for this. I warn you, making a photobox is a very time-consuming process. The frame can be made of anything: cardboard, wood, plastic, iron slats. Here are some options:

You stretch a perfectly white fabric or paper onto the slats. In this case, the inner front part should be without bends.

If you don't have time to fiddle around with a photobox, but you or someone you know has black tiles, that's pretty cool. After all, it will serve as an ideal backdrop for subject photography. And if it's glossy, it will reflect the subject, and it will add impact to your shots.

flash diffuser

The function of the diffuser is to remove shine on the face, too sharp transitions, shadows, and also make the light softer. Such a useful tool is very easy to make. A sheet of paper attached to a flash with a rubber band, a plastic or paper cup, a table tennis ball, even a pack of cigarettes - all this can become a diffuser.

Time lapse and kitchen timer

Mirror

In the case of this item, you do not need to craft anything. Just remember that with a mirror you can create some very original shots. Here are some hackneyed ideas, look at them and create new ones!