There's not a beauty or book post on this corner of the interwebs today. Are you surprised? I've been wanting to do a post for ages now about the bits 'n bobs you might spy in the background of my blog+Instagram photos. The photography side of blogging is something I really enjoy and I love composing different setups and incorporating various things into each shot. A couple of years back I used to shoot beauty products on patterned backgrounds but I found they often tended to distract from the product so nowadays I will do things like show a corner of a print and then objects in the background. It's all about how you compose shots+what perspective you use and so on as well. Side note: I have to give credit to Shauna and Kate for being the still life photography queens and constantly inspiring me to up my game. Anyway, on with the props.. 

I was gonna say we have recurring objects here but let's be real, they're all recurring. Books or magazines with attractive spines, covers and editorial imagery can look great in your photos. With objects like these I try to look for things that are complementary colour-wise to whatever the main focal point of my images are. Sometimes I forget though and will subconsciously group together objects of similar colour. I often collect cute little perfume cards or bookmarks to use as..bookmarks. Funny that. These also work perfectly in book photos. Mine are mainly from Etsy or independent sellers but things like perfume cards can be found in most department stores. 

This might have to be my favourite set of props because they're all relatively easy to acquire and/or make yourself. The two printed pages are actually free posters or calendars from Frankie and Yen magazine. They're perfect for adding a hint of pattern or colour to an otherwise simple image. You can also reuse them as wrapping paper or on a moodboard later on. That map you see was found in an information centre in Sydney. Don't discount info centres because they're great for things like that, as are museums and art galleries which often have complimentary or inexpensive cards to take away. The dotted paper was just a scrap of paper I cut up and dotted with a gold felt tip pen. Simple. I feel like stationery or cute notebooks look fab in the background of pictures so I whip out my supply. Kikki K, Nouvelle Daily and Rifle Paper Co. are my go-to's for rad notebooks. Oh-and that peony photo is one of my Instagrams from Print Society but you could always just print yours out on photo paper.

Last but not least we have the 'things I found and liked in my space' series. These are all things that you might already have or can acquire easily. Side note: Mix and match your props to suit your blog. If food is more your thing, why not throw some things in the background like the tools you use in cooking or a gorgeous cookbook cover? Here we have more stationery bits: shoutout to washi tape, Kikki K pens and that Rifle Paper Co. notepad. Seeing as my blog does focus on beauty every now and again I like to incorporate beauty products into the backgrounds of some of my shots, both for the blog and Instagram. If they're housed inside pretty packaging like these ones I feel like it makes images that bit more enticing. Another thing I am a big fan of using and working into photos are magazine pages. Again they just add a lil' something to pictures. I often tear out images to use in photos, on moodboards, in my journals etc rather than just binning magazines I'm finished with.

So there we have it. Sorry this post ended up being quite lengthy! Thinking about props for my photos is something I love so I wanted to make sure I covered everything. If you have any questions about anything in this post, please leave them in the comments and I will get back to you.

*Do you incorporate props into your blog photos? What ones do you like to use?