• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Glamorously Vintage

Vintage Decorating, Selling Vintage and Film & Photo Props

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Office Organization
  • Photography Props
  • Shop
  • About
You are here: Home / Photography Props / What Kind Of Product Photography Background Should You Use?

What Kind Of Product Photography Background Should You Use?

June 16, 2016 By Glamorously Vintage 3 Comments

5shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

What Kind Of Product Photography Background Should You Use?

I was doing some of the product photography for our new Glamorously Vintage store and (of course) the first thing that came up was what kind of backgrounds was I going to use for all the pictures.

This is one thing that sometimes holds back creators and keeps them from moving forward. Instead of just going for it, they just stop in their tracks until they can “figure it out”.

I knew that I wanted a certain look for the shop because it will be all vintage items. As you can see in the photo above I tried two different kinds of backgrounds… one a more “busy” red polka dotted version and one a more muted weathered wood version.

Some notes about choosing a standard-ish background for your product photography photos:

  • Obviously I am not doing the “plain white” backgrounds that some people recommend. Instead I am choosing to have some kind of texture, just at this point deciding what to use.
  • I have 4 different colors of the polka dotted Martha Stewart napkins that I could use for photos BUT there is ultimately a size limit that I run up against as they are roughly 18 inches long and 12 inches wide making it hard to take pictures of big items.
  • I already have a bunch of weathered wood boxes and do have the ability to buy weathered wood or make my own vintage textured backgrounds relatively easily.

When you are making a big decision like this, it is worth dinking around a bit, loading up some pictures to the live Ecommerce site to see what you really like or don’t like!

I did this with the two different versions, checking to see which ones I thought looked the best…

Product Photography Backgrounds - Etsy Shots

Once I saw them live on the site I immediately knew that I wanted to use a variety of weathered wood backgrounds for my pictures instead of the polka dots. While the polka dots were big and bold, they were distracting to the product (which is kind of the point of the shot).

So one last thing I wanted to be aware of was the overall shop look. Should I JUST use dark weathered boards or JUST white boards… hmmm.

Glamorously Vintage Overall Shop Look

Ultimately I decided that “weathered boards” would be the theme and I would use all different kinds of boards depending on the subject (product).

I personally feel that using the exact same background makes for a very boring store. While I can admire the crispness of a store that has all white backgrounds, that is just not a look that I think works well for vintage or “kitchy” products like I sell.

Choosing Your Product Photography Background

Now, if you are choosing your background, the most important thing to consider (beyond even what you like) is what your customers like.

I can choose between quirky and weathered because people who like vintage things are okay with dings and worm holes in their backgrounds.

If you are selling high end, luxury gold jewelry you might want to consider using a slick piece of black marble or even a bolt of high quality silk.

Say you are selling mens knives, then you might want to use a toolbox or garage floor as your background since that would appeal to the primary buyer of your product.

Whatever you pick, please make sure that you like it and that you can take the majority of your product photos on it easily.

Want to see my product photography background pictures in action? Check out our store, Glamorously Vintage, in action.

What Kind of Product Photography Background Should You Use? I was doing some of the product photography for our new Glamorously Vintage store and (of course) the first thing that came up was what kind of backgrounds was I going to use for all the pictures.
(Visited 318 times, 1 visits today)

Filed Under: Photography Props Tagged With: photo props, photography backgrounds, photography props

Previous Post: « Why I Like To Move!
Next Post: 12 Ways I Use Vintage In My Office »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anila Jain says

    September 2, 2016 at 8:28 am

    As long as I have seen customers prefer to see the product shots in decent and clean background. In that case to me, a solid white or plain background is always a better choice for product photography.

    Reply
  2. Nadia says

    October 14, 2016 at 4:56 pm

    Highly informative, looking frontward to coming back. http://tinyurl.com/jjl3tn9

    Reply
  3. Cynthia J Avalos says

    December 10, 2016 at 12:18 am

    Thank you for confirming what I have thought about backgrounds for vintage items. The only other advice I’ve had was really only appropriate for handmade items. Some of my items need all white, but most need a variety.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Who We Are

Hi! I am Tara, and she is Tena D. We are super excited to bring amazing photography props and styling to your blogging photos. We love scouring estate sales and antique shops to find super fun items to use in your photography!

 

Learn how to start and grow your food blog with Food Blogger Pro.

brought to you by CreativeLive

Popular posts:

  • Kitchen Colors – Colors Through The Years… (53,153)
  • An Eclectic Office or Craft Room – 15 Great… (24,818)
  • Using Kitchen Towels In Your Food Photography (2,381)
  • How To Get Your Very First Sale On Etsy (1,514)
  • Fun Backgrounds For Your Food Photography Shot (1,439)
  • They Used Mine! Vintage Dark Food Photography Props (970)
  • Photography Props You Can Use In Your Food Blogging… (901)
  • Food Photography Props Review – Busy and Beautiful (813)
  • 12 Ways I Use Vintage In My Office (707)
  • Super Cool Tim Holtz Inspired Vintage Office Organizing (560)

Footer

Tara’s “tell it like it is” personality combined with her 100 miles per hour presentations have earned her the title “The Queen of Marketing Ahhh’s” from her raving fans. Check out her marketing courses and products at her Etsy Store, Paperly People.
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
Marketing Artfully
Tara L. Jacobsen, PA
tara (at) marketingartfully.com
(727) 415-9165 (text please)

Policies | Advertise
10 Mistakes that Bloggers Make Free eBook

© 2016 Tara L. Jacobsen, PA. All rights reserved. | A MarketingArtfully.com | Website Privacy Policy