Checklist for home "mini studio"

[The Matt]

I'm finding myself faffing about with food photography more and more and I'm struggling with surfaces to shoot on, things to use as backdrops, surfaces to reflect light or shoot through. Hope you can help me out with a checklist of things I might need for a mini-studio kind of thing.

I am thinking I'll need the following:

- Lots of cardboard boxes to cut in various ways, use as light boxes, support a backdrop etc...
- Diffusion material: cheap shower curtain.
- White backdrop / surface: a3 or larger white paper or card.
- Black backdrop / surface: a3 or larger black paper or card. Last time I tried black card it came out more murky grey so is there anything that would be better?
- Reflective surface (black and white): some kind of plastic / acrylic, but I don't know where to get it from.
- Miscellany of scraps of material, table cloth etc to use for more interesting backgrounds.
- Reflectors: Paper stuck to a cardboard sheet. Also something silver and something gold. Perhaps foil, sort of crumpled to take the harshness off it a bit?

Any suggestions of what I'll need or where to get it would be appreciated.

 

[Garry Edwards]

I'm finding myself faffing about with food photography more and more and I'm struggling with surfaces to shoot on, things to use as backdrops, surfaces to reflect light or shoot through. Hope you can help me out with a checklist of things I might need for a mini-studio kind of thing.

I am thinking I'll need the following:

- Lots of cardboard boxes to cut in various ways, use as light boxes, support a backdrop etc...
- Diffusion material: cheap shower curtain. Yes, that will be fine but you may need to use it double thickness- White backdrop / surface: a3 or larger white paper or card. Much larger, because you'll often need a lot of distance between subject and background. Frosted acrylic is a much better surface, it allows underlighting
- Black backdrop / surface: a3 or larger black paper or card. Last time I tried black card it came out more murky grey so is there anything that would be better? Black velvet, brushed so that the nap is all in the same direction
- Reflective surface (black and white): some kind of plastic / acrylic, but I don't know where to get it from.
- Miscellany of scraps of material, table cloth etc to use for more interesting backgrounds. Bear in mind that any rough surface needs to be either in or out of focus - if it is being used as a base for the product then it will be in focus at that point and then out of focus closer/more distant, which can look terrible. See point below about a glass shelf
- Reflectors: Paper stuck to a cardboard sheet. Also something silver and something gold. Perhaps foil, sort of crumpled to take the harshness off it a bit?

Any suggestions of what I'll need or where to get it would be appreciated.

A glass shelf, supported some distance above the surface, will be a big help.

 

[Psmeg]

Black/white perspex is also pretty useful and can be purchased from eBay for a few quid, cut to the size you need it.