Photography Props

Welcome to my new readers, some of whom may have found me via Instagram.  Please say Hi – would love to hear what attracted you to my images and what information you have found useful on the blog!

One discussion with Allen around my props used in my dark light food photography led to this post.

Above is an image of my dishes and plates with a soup spoon beside them for scale.  You can see the dishes are all quite small -thats because the smaller the dish, the less food you have to put into it – and a food image looks best when it is abundantly full – so yes small dishes and side plates.

Nearly all of my dishes are specially chosen for a matte (not shiny finish) – you can see the small black dish in the bottom left corner is very silvery and shiny and reflective, which I was concerned about but the size and shape was so appealing I bought it anyway 🙂

The big flat rectangular thing is my favourite prop – its a piece of slate, which is a natural stone.  I love the texture.  On top of that is some of my utensils – spoons and a bamboo scoop. Finally a couple of linen dish towels.

This is the stuff I use most of the time, I have some silverware, glass bottles, other fabric but this is the basis of my collection.  Carefully chosen for size, shape, colour, finish, adaptability – all in neutral colours and plain pattern so that the food becomes the hero in the shot.

I spent a *lot* of time on Pinterest, researching props and getting ideas and recommendations before I went and purchased these.  Some are new and some are well used and purchased in second hand shops.  The most expensive item was the linen towels which were $16 each.  The four metal rusted pie dishes cost me $18 in total and the slate which should be expensive cost me $13 from a commercial kitchen supply.

My distressed chair cost me $30 to buy and about $20 in paint and sandpaper supplies (both of which I already had on hand) and the same chair new was $169 but mine was broken.

Same picture but this time showing Taz who was supervising from a safe distance 🙂

So there you go, a look behind the scenes at the props, thanks Allen for the questions and discussion. Any tips on other prop ideas on a budget gratefully received 🙂

Questions and feedback are always welcome!

Advertisement