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I made the background in that photo in an afternoon. (Well, technically I didn’t make it. My little girlies did.) And it only cost me around $30, a fair amount of cleanup, and a little bit of my sanity!
Here’s what you need:
Foam Hearts
Chunky Glitter in red
, purple, or whatever colors you want! (Note: I used the brand Tree House Glitter from Hobby Lobby, but these are Amazon links in case you’re a shop in your pjs kind gal!)
White Simply Tacky (I got mine at Hobby Lobby for like $1.99… I don’t know why it’s so e’spensive on Amazon!)
Glue (I just used whatever Elmers glue we had at home)
Paintbrushes (ones that you don’t mind getting all gluey- we tried a couple, and I found foam brushes like thisworked the best)
Yep, that’s it. That’s your whole shopping list for this project. Once you have the materials, here’s what you (or your kiddos) do:
Make the backdrop
Step 1. Grab a heart and stick it on top of a piece of paper. The paper is going to act like a funnel for pouring excess glitter back in the container.
Step 2. Spread the glue evenly across the heart
Step 3. Sprinkle glitter in a corresponding color with the heart (red glitter on red hearts, pink glitter on pink hearts, etc.) generously over the heart (this is the part that cost me a fair bit of my sanity as I watched my two year old get a little overly enthusiastic with glitter dumping).
Step 4. Lift heart and gently shake off excess glitter onto paper.
Step 5. Funnel excess glitter back into container.
Step 6. Set aside glitter heart at a designated “drying spot” to let the glue and glitter set.
Step 7. Repeat steps 1-6. (Until you run out of hearts, glitter, or patience.)
It’s okay if the hearts and glitter aren’t a perfect color match. Having the coordinating color underneath just makes it a little more forgiving if you end up having some uneven glitter spread. I used the same three colors of glitter on the white ones.
Setup the Backdrop
Where you set up the backdrop is entirely up to you! I recommend shooting in your favorite natural light corner of your house. The best spots tend to have windows facing north or south since those windows don’t get direct sunlight. One thing I do not recommend is having your light source right in front of your backdrop (i.e. right behind where you will be shooting). I haven’t tried it, but methinks the glitter might be blinding if you do this.
Once you’ve chosen your wall, figure out how high and wide you need the backdrop to be. I knew that I only needed enough for a headshot of each of my 3 kiddos. So I had my oldest come over and I eyeballed the area I needed to cover.
Now that you know how big of an area you need to cover, start applying those hearts to the wall! Use the simply sticky by rolling it into a ball and placing it on the back, middle of your glitter heart. Then simply stick it to the wall. Yes, some glitter will fall off in this process, but if you did a decent job covering the heart, you won’t be able to tell in the pictures. Continue placing hearts on the wall, overlapping them to avoid seeing the wall through the backdrop.
The key to making this backdrop look awesome is in your depth of field. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you’ll probably be disappointed with your results (I’m sorry to say!). I shot at f/2.0 and had my subject about a foot or two away from the backdrop. Experiment with your f stop and subject placement until you find the right amount of blur you want.
So there you have it! An easy-peasy DIY Valentine’s Day backdrop!
Note: This is not a make it and store it professionally kind of backdrop. This is like an oh-shoot-it’s-almost-Valentine’s-Day-and-I-haven’t-gotten-anything-for-the-kids’-grandparents-type backdrop! In other words, the glitter is pretty fragile on there, so set up and shoot as soon as you can!