May 18, 2017
DIY Styling Boards
All of us wedding photogs know this tale. You walk into the getting ready space where you’ll be doing bridal detail photos and your heart drops. There a no surfaces or objects in sight that will provide a good backdrop for photos! The blue carpet and yellow wall hotel room doesn’t exactly flow with your brides blush and gold wedding theme! So what to do??? Let me share my DIY hack that took my bridal detail photos to the next level!
I’ve always brought various styling items and props with me to wedding days, including various fabrics that I intended to use to shoot details on. The probably with loose fabric is that I could not keep the wrinkles out! But I really loved the look of photographing details on top of a nice linen fabric. So rather than spend hundreds of dollars on the nice pre-made linen styling boards- I made my own! With a $3 white foam board from Hobby Lobby and $5 worth of a nice linen fabric I was able to create my own styling boards!
And I didn’t stop there! I wanted to be able to have several different options for styling bridal details photos. Each of these fabrics are a little different in color and have different undertones. This allows me to pick the fabric that best matches the weddings color scheme. And not only did I want different color options, I also wanted to have texture options! So I decided to also make some boards that were painted! All those paint samples from when I was trying to find the perfect shade of gray for our walls came in handy! Now I have a few different painted boards in all different shades of gray!
These simple and inexpensive styling boards have saved me so much headache AND time on wedding days! Instead of scrambling around the room trying to find something to shoot on, I just go right to work with my boards! These have made such a difference in these photos! Not only do my bridal detail photos now have a consistent look across the board, I am also able to create photos that are more in line with that specific wedding theme. These boards have given me control over these photos! And since they are super light, it’s such a breeze to carry 5 or 6 of them to a wedding day! And to carry them, I literally bought some super cheap fabric at Hobby Lobby and made it into a bag! Voila! Well, my mom did. I have no skills with a needle and thread!
As for how I put these boards together, it’s super ghetto, so don’t judge! I literally just used regular staples to attach the fabric to the board! No fancy cutting or binding, just plain old staples. I don’t really mind the ugly frayed edges and staples popping out because they’re not going to be in the picture! And for the painted boards, one tip I will give you is to weigh the boards down on the edges while painting them! When you paint them, the ends want to curl up and then it’s not flat anymore! Oops! So I use the weights from our workout equipment in the garage to weigh down the edges! And leave them there until it’s completely dry! Like give it a day or two! And paint both sides to get the most use out of each board!
So if you’re struggling with creating pretty and consistent bridal details photos, give this trick a try! It’s super simple and cheap! Here’s some examples of how I’ve used my boards!
I painted this board with the paint that I used in my home office!
Give me allll the gray linen fabrics! 
I also include one plain white board in my bag to use as a reflector! Works like a charm!
This was one of my favorite bridal detail images from last year! This paint is literally deck paint that we used on our deck last year! I actually didn’t buy any extra paint for any of these boards because they were all ones that I already had! 
Some of the paint shades are actually really close to white, but I prefer the matte finish of a painted surface as opposed to the somewhat shiny surface of the foam board as is!
And my workshop attendees got to play around with all my boards at the styled shoot! I loved seeing how they used them!
Here are some more posts that you may find helpful!
7 Steps To Take Your Business Full Time
FREE Bridal Details Checklist Template!
Creating Your Own Definition of Success
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This seriously is such a good idea and is so handy! Thanks so much for sharing this I definitely plan on implementing this!
Um, yes! Thank you! I went and bought some supplies yesterday because this idea is BRILLIANT!
Such a perfect idea! I’m also just curious what your favorite lens is for these overheads if you wouldn’t mind sharing. They are stunning! :)
Hi Michelle! Depends on what I’m shooting! For wider shots, a 50, for ring shots, my 105 macro!