Photography Series | Part 2, DIY Custom backdrops for under $10

This is my go-to trick for 99% of my styling - I buy wood boards from Home Depot and buy sample pots of paint. Easy, inexpensive, and the results are crazy good.

The sample pots at Home Depot are $5.00 and a board is also $5.00 - so for $10, I'm looking at a great backdrop for whatever I'm shooting. While waiting for the paint, I also tend to stock up on great colour chips, for you never know when you need that perfect shade for a project. And I hate picking colours in a store, so if you have a great collection of paint chips at home, you're saving yourself a step.

When you have your paint colour picked, just paint a board and, you're good to go.

Results in...

 Here are some more examples of boards that I've painted in custom colours....

The photo below is shot in the kitchen, and that is indeed my wall colour, however instead of my wood kitchen table, I placed a white board on the bottom.

Although all of the above look different they were all shot in the same spot.  Crazy right? Work space is small, but man oh man, you can get great shots with the right light and, the right backdrop.

The other thing you can do is paint things like kraft paper. It gives you a little more texture.... like one of my favourite shots below from this post and this post.  A little paint goes a long way.