Blog post props and backgrounds that are already in your home

I'm a lazy blogger, we all know that, and so far I have spent more money on this blog (buying domains, posting prizes, travel to events, blogger meet tickets etc) than I have ever made from it, and it's easy to be disheartened when you start out in blogging seeing all the gorgeous photographs that are out there in blog land.

You have a few choices with regard to blog photos I guess, you could not bother at all and just go with a text blog, you could buy stock images (I sometimes use 123RF for royalty free stock images) , you could learn more about photography and buy lots of fabulous props, or you could make do and be damned. I opted for a mix, I try to take reasonable photos and I buy the odd stock image when I really can't get what I need from stuff I have lying around the house.

Yeah I bought this one :-) Copyright: bialasiewicz / 123RF Stock Photo

And that brings us nicely to :

Ideas for blog props

Whether you realise it or not, you are bound to have lots of props around your house, or cheaply available from local shops. You don't need a light box (although they are fab!) you can use natural  light, lamps or even good old camera flash (tape tissue paper over a cheap camera flash to help soften the light).

For back drops and flat lays look at your floors. Tiles and wood are both great, as are nice laminates, but don't forget the smooth white interior of a bath tub, or the fake fur coat you could use as a backdrop for small items. Grab samples of mosaic tile lino at carpet shops, and wallpaper samples from DIY shops. Off cuts of white laminated MDF can be useful too, check the garage or shed! Charity shops can be a rich source of unusual fabrics too.

Children's toys can be great too, blackboards laid flat as a base, or a Lego mat, board games can be good visual aids to all sorts of posts, and a snakes and ladders board can be an effective background.

When you are looking for items to include in the photo, empty photo frames are good, also vases, trays, pretty cups and saucers, and strings of (fake unless you are posh) pearls. Shiny green apples and fuzzy ripe peaches and lots of other fruit photographs well.

In fact the kitchen is a ripe (pun intended) source of props for all sorts of posts, not just recipe ones. Jars full of coloured lentils and herbs as a blurry background, glasses with jewellery, wine bottles, wooden chopping boards and sets of retro scales; my house is full of retro things and antiques, but whatever your style, take a look around.

The garden can be a good place to photograph things too. Either with a simple grass background, or flowering bushes, daffodils in the spring and snow (if you are lucky) in winter. Take some of your own 'stock' photos when you get the chance! Some wellies in the snow, a toy among the snowdrops, a picnic on a blanket on a sunny lawn. And look for some rustic additions too, bricks, logs, piles of sticks, bird baths and old terracotta flowerpots.

I'd love to add more suggestions, so please add them in the comments or pop over to chat on my facebook page.