My thing has never really been recipes, kitchen shots, or perfectly composed flat lays. I’ll leave that to the pros. But once in a while, I do like to be able to take pictures of my latest snack hauls and have them look decent or have a random product I need to photograph for the blog. My brown granite kitchen island is too glossy (plus I don’t love the colors), and my faux wood desk is usually too cluttered and small.

So, I went looking for photo backdrops that were small, cute, and affordable and came up almost empty-handed. But if you don’t need super small backdrops, don’t like DIYs, or don’t mind spending a little extra, check out the businesses at the end of the post.

I did what I do best and decided to DIY it since nothing met my exact needs. I’m sticking to brand colors for my wallet’s sake, because there is an infinite number of patterns, colors and textures I could use. Which means I’ll be doing only grays, blacks, whites, and some turquoise and gold here and there.

In the materials I listed wallpaper, contact paper, shelf liners and tiles or backsplash, but many of them seem to be the same thing, just sold under a different name. As long as there’s a nice pattern or design on the front, and the back is adhesive, you’re good to go.

I got mine from a few different places including JoAnn, Amazon and Dollar Tree. Of course, Michael’s, Lowe’s and Home Depot all have variations on these. I was quite surprised to find all of the above at Dollar Tree alone. They have foil backsplash in the kitchen section, shelf liners and contact paper in storage, and wallpaper and tiles in crafts, right in front of the foam boards I got for this project too. So, depending on the exact materials you get, you could absolutely make a solid backdrop for about 7 USD. You really can’t beat that.

Anyways, with all my materials gathered, onward.

Print Recipe

DIY Photo Backdrops

Custom backdrops good for flat lays, lightboxes, and everything else you can think of.

Cook Time20

Total Time20

Author: Andrea Wintergerst

Equipment

1 craft knife or pair of scissors
1 cutting board
1 ruler
1 vinyl squeegee tool or other similar scraping tool
1 pencil

Materials

foam boards
peel and stick wallpaper (waterproof)
decorative contact paper
adhesive shelf liners
peel and stick tiles (or backsplash)
washi tape (or crafter's tape)

Instructions

Cut down the foam boards down to desired size. In my case, one 20"x20" and two 10"x10". Foam boards are notoriously hard to cut so make sure your knife/scissors are sharp enough.

Wallpaper, contact paper, and shelf liner

Use a pencil to mark your desired dimensions on the backing paper, including a bit of margin. Cut.
Peel a little bit of the backing away from the decorative film and carefully place the adhesive side on the foam board, leaving the bit of margin on the edge.
A little at a time, keep peeling off the backing paper and smoothing out the film onto the board with the squeegee. I used a bench scraper.
Once the entire board is covered, remove the excess film with the knife, or fold it towards the back of the board so it wraps around and covers the sides.

Peel and stick tiles and backsplash

For tiles and backsplash sold in squares, follow the above instructions.
For tiles with uneven sides (they usually have an overlap area), trim off the excess on one side with the knife to create a straight edge.
Remove the backing and stick the adhesive side to the board, starting with a corner.
Interlock the following tiles on the overlap area. Once the entire board is covered, cut off the excess tile with the knife.

Washi tape

Washi or crafting tape can be used to create patterns with straight lines. I used thick black tape to create the stripes, and then super thin gold tape as a highlight between the black and white.
You can waterproof the board with clear adhesive film, which is usually available in both matte and glossy finishes.

Notes

These are the exact materials I used:

(NOT affiliate links)

This is how my DIY photo backdrops came out. The irony of needing a backdrop to take a picture of my backdrops is not lost on me.

They actually fit perfectly in this little space on my desk, so when I’m not using them for photography, I’ll be swapping out my wallpaper.

I’m really happy with how they turned out, so I’ll likely be making more in the future. If you’re not feeling like a DIY, there are a lot of companies out there that make these, and they come in a wide range of prices and for different skill levels.

Will you be making these, or is your kitchen nice enough that you don’t need backdrops?

DIY Photo Backdrops
Making my own for about $20 > Buying one for $50+