How I got my hands on the perfect photography backdrop!

I’ve recently been looking for the perfect white wooden floorboard or/and marble texture for use as a blog photography backdrop. I love white backgrounds in photos but they can get a bit boring and it’s nice to have something of texture and something that’s Pinterest worthy. Photography backdrops can be so expensive though and I’ve found it so hard to find one that’s just how I want it. I think every blogger has the marble adhesive you can get hold of on eBay which I own myself, and I do really like (and probably will still use from time to time) but to be honest, I’m sick of seeing it everywhereeeee. I wanted a marble texture that’s more realistic looking, like an expensive marble table rather than sort of plastic looking. You also usually get far too much with a photography backdrop, they generally come in massive rolls and I only want it the size of a square tabletop or desk. So I came up with a brilliant solution to my problem and made the order for it. I wasn’t sure how well it would work out but it’s honestly the best idea I’ve ever had and has worked out perfectly so I had to share it with you guys!

It’s not even an idea that you would think is really hard to come up with or think of but it’s just the fact that I’ve never thought of doing it before so maybe others haven’t either?! Anyway, basically what I did was figure out approximately the size I want my background to be. This worked out to be roughly the size of an A1 sheet of paper, pretty big but basically the same size as the marble adhesive you can get on eBay. If you have it, you’ll probably know it’s the perfect size for a blog backdrop. It’s large enough to fit in lots of things for a big flat lay or you can just use part of it in the middle section for a smaller or more close up flat lay.

Then I decided to order myself some A1 prints. They work out to be so much cheaper than buying huge rolls of adhesive or paper where you won’t even use 80% of it. A1 is the perfect size. You can get the prints for around £5/£6 each which is so affordable for a realistic looking backdrop of anything you choose. I’ve ordered rolls of paper before that cost me nearly £20 and it barely ever gets used, this is such a better solution and so much more affordable. You need a pretty large and high quality image for print however, so you can have a look around online for some free stock images or if you have a monthly subscription with a stock image site like I do, you can get them off there. I do not recommend sending off a low quality image as you will end up receiving a blurred and pixelated print and it won’t look like a realistic backdrop whatsoever, so make sure it’s 300 DPI.I work as a Graphic Designer so I pay for a monthly subscription with Adobe Stock which is full of thousands and thousands of photographs of everything. I found myself a couple of textures that I liked on there, photographs of a marble worktop and a white wooden floor, just what I’d been looking for in a background. The great thing about this is that you can basically choose a high quality image of anything you want, it can be marble, wood, a pattern, literally anything that you can lie flat to look realistic. I then downloaded the images I wanted, sized them up in Photoshop to an A1 canvas, saved them ready for print and ordered my prints online! It was so easy and they arrived within a couple of days. I’m honestly so happy with how they turned out, I am definitely ordering more in the future.Here are the images I used & the prints that arrived:

I am in love with how realistic they look, especially in the backgrounds of my blog photos! I ordered these from katebackdrop and it cost me around £15 for the two prints which I think is so good. They are going to last me such a long time. There’s plenty of other printers online as well that do them for prices really similar.They came in a tube so they’re already rolled up and are so easy to store. All you do when you want to use them is lay them out on a flat surface. Mine don’t even roll back up when I lay them out, they just stay flat and then roll back up easily when I’m finished, it’s so ideal! I have a portable table top with my marble adhesive stuck to it, and I just lay that on my bed and then roll out the paper on top for the perfect flat lay background. Also I order them on silk or matte paper not glossy, as you don’t want any light to reflect on them as then your photos won’t look realistic. Especially if you use flash on a dull day but even natural light can reflect and make it look fake. The ones I ordered were on silk paper so they have the slightest reflection but it’s not enough to make them look fake, it’s just enough for a realistic effect.

If you don’t have the luxury of having a real marble table or worktop, or a white wooden floor, then this solution is perfect. I love them and I can’t wait to order more! I’ve used them a couple of times already (the white wooden floorboard one is in the photograph for this blog post above) but here are some examples of the marble one in use:

Let me know if you’ve ever got yourself a backdrop this way before, I’m really into my photography so I reckon I will have rolls and rolls of backdrops soon haha!