How do you take photos of your products?
If you're a blogger or selling stuff on apps like Mercari, you've probably wondered where to actually shoot your products. You can get a perfectly nice photo on a wooden floor or on a desk, but if you want to "improve the atmosphere a bit" or "tone down that everyday-life feel," buying a background can completely transform the mood of your shot.
Cut Plywood at the Home Center Is the Move
Home centers (hardware stores) sell "cut plywood" panels with attractive wood grain that work great as photo backgrounds. Sizes range from small panels around 30 cm wide to large 90 cm ones, with all kinds of patterns to pick from, and prices start from a few hundred yen (a couple of US dollars).
What's good about it
It's flat and rigid, so you get a stable shooting surface. Solid build, lasts a long time. You can see the actual product in person and pick the one you like.
What's not so good
The big sizes are a pain to store. It's real wood, so mold can grow on it. A bit of a hassle to throw away.
If you go for something with some thickness and rigidity, you can shoot solid photos even on unstable surfaces like a bed. Stocking up on a few different boards is also handy for matching the mood of the photo to the genre of product. Just be careful about storage when you buy the bigger sizes. Case in point: my own room is only about two tatami mats (around 3 m²), but I went and bought a 90 cm × 90 cm panel and now I have nowhere to put it.
Wallpaper Is Light and Easy to Handle
Wallpaper sold on Rakuten or Amazon also makes a perfectly respectable photo background. There's a huge variety of patterns out there — wood grain, brick, floral, you name it — and combining several different wallpapers lets you put together really stylish backdrops.
What's good about it
Even big sizes can be rolled up for storage. Tons of fashionable patterns like wood grain and brick. Generally cheaper than wood panels. You can order samples for very little money.
What's not so good
Some wallpapers look "too obviously like wallpaper" and lack realism. Creases and wrinkles set in easily. You need to flatten/secure it before shooting.
The best thing about wallpaper is honestly that it's light and easy to store, so it doesn't get in the way. Even after you stop using it for photography, you can stick it on a piece of furniture and reuse it for a little DIY project.
Vintage-style wood-grain wallpaper "SRE-7530" from Kabegamiyahonpo. [Note: this individual product page is no longer available on Rakuten; see the Kabegamiyahonpo shop for current items.]
If you spread wallpaper out without sticking it down, it'll pick up creases and wrinkles, so handle it carefully.
I Tried Shooting on Both — Here's the Comparison
I started with the plywood. Setup is super simple: just bring the panel over and plonk it down.
This is the standard brownish wood-grain type. It looks like the photo was taken on top of a desk, but it was actually shot on the panel.
Up close, you can tell the printed dots are visible — since it's not real wood — which is a small drawback. If that bothers you, give it a careful look before you buy.
Next, I shot on wallpaper. The wallpaper used here is all from samples by "Kabegamiyahonpo" (a Japanese wallpaper retailer).
This is a wood-grain wallpaper, but the grain is so realistic you'd never guess from the photo that it's actually wallpaper.
Vintage-style wood-grain wallpaper "SRE-7528" from Kabegamiyahonpo. [Note: this individual product page is no longer available on Rakuten; see the Kabegamiyahonpo shop for current items.]
This one is also wood-grain, and it likewise looks really realistic.
Natural wood-grain wallpaper "SBB-1589" from Kabegamiyahonpo. [Note: this individual product page is no longer available on Rakuten; see the Kabegamiyahonpo shop for current items.]
If you combine multiple wallpapers in one shot, the "real-room" feel comes out even more.
There are also brick and concrete patterns, so you can put together a cool, edgier vibe too. Just messing around with combinations is fun in itself.
A Simple Way to Add Style — Highly Recommended
When you want to make a product look stylish, having a background lets you take noticeably nicer, "step-up" photos, so I really recommend giving it a try. The wallpaper samples I bought were about 40 yen each (around $0.30), so it makes sense to order a bunch and then go full-size on the ones you like. The samples themselves are reasonably big, so for small items like accessories they're plenty for shooting. All the wallpapers I used are available from Kabegamiyahonpo on Rakuten. By the way, after browsing all those samples I started wanting to redo the actual wallpaper in my room, so I'm thinking I might just buy some as proper wall covering.
