By using everyday items like an old cookie sheet, a cool wooden cutting board, or a pretty cloth napkin or fabric swatch, you can take your food photos from drab to delicious!

I recently spoke at the annual meeting of the Illinois Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics about food photography for smartphones. As part of my presentation, I emphasized the importance of choosing interesting background props to make your (healthy) food photos shine.

Before you think about plates and bowls, give some thought to the background canvas for your food photos. Here are my Top 5 Favorite Background Props:

A WOODEN BOARD, BARN BOARD OR CUTTING BOARD

Have you ever picked something out of your neighbor’s trash? I have, but in the case of this antique-looking board, I actually found it in my own trash. My husband had been doing some repairs on the outside of our house, and when I saw that he had tossed this in the trash, I grabbed it. I use it all the time and love how it showed off my recipe for Peanut Butter Crepes with Strawberry Sauce. As for barn board, it’s literally just that: a board off the side of an old barn!

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OLD COOKIE SHEET

Don’t get rid of those weathered old cookie sheets, keep ’em around for grabbing eye-catching photos. For this Swiss Chard & Zucchini Quiche, I baked the quick on this cookie sheet, grabbed my smart phone, and took this shot. (Blog post coming soon!) Put a piece of parchment paper on that baking sheet, and now you get a whole new layered and interesting look.

COMMERCIALLY MADE PHOTOGRAPHY BACKDROPS

Instead of making your own boards, you can invest in a few backdrop boards. I recently discovered TheBackdropShop.com and went nuts buying half a dozen vinyl backdrops. I chose various wood backdrops like the turquoise one I used with my new Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin Makeover recipe, and I also ordered two tiled patterned backdrops. {I ordered 3×3 foot vinyl backdrops, and I just noticed that everything on the site is on sale right now!}

FABRIC SAMPLES OR SCRAPS, OR LINENS

Every few months, I stop by a local fabric store called Joanne Fabrics and buy a bunch of quarter yard fabric samples. They cost about two dollars, and I use them all the time for backgrounds and accents. If you have a quilting store in your area, be sure to check that out for scraps and samples. This image of my Tabbouleh with the Works looks gorgeous (if I must say so myself) on that pink fabric sample. Check out my Healthy Homemade Beefaroni and you’ll see how I used my bedroom curtain fabric as the backdrop.

HOMEMADE “DIY” PHOTOGRAPHY BOARDS