Wood Backgrounds

What is in this collection

Rustic and reclaimed boards make up a big part of this collection: silver-grey barn siding with vertical battens, faded red barn wood with peeling paint, reclaimed pallet slats in mixed tones, sun-bleached driftwood, rough-sawn cedar fence boards, thick reclaimed scaffold boards and the cut ends of stacked firewood. For lighter looks there is whitewashed shiplap with the grain showing through, greywashed Scandinavian oak and cream boards with chipped shabby chic paint. Finer woods include smooth honey oak, dark walnut, polished mahogany, a close-up of swirling elm grain, knotty pine cabin panelling, an oak herringbone panel, a smoked oak chevron wall and light maple slats over a dark backing. Painted planks come in dusty blue shiplap, sage green, chipped navy, matte black, blush pink, pastel pink, mint and lilac, and chippy turquoise beach shack boards, and there is a charred black shou sugi ban finish and snow-dusted barn planks for winter.

Wood backdrops for photo booth templates and prints

A wood backdrop is an easy base for a booth layout: photo boxes and text sit straight on top. Pick the tone by the text you plan to use. The whitewashed shiplap, greywashed oak and cream chipped boards make a white wood background that takes dark lettering, while walnut, matte black, charred shou sugi ban and chipped navy carry white or gold text.

For a country wedding, harvest party or western night, the barn siding and red barn wood give a rustic wood background with real wear in the grain. The honey oak, herringbone, chevron and maple slat walls are cleaner and suit corporate events and modern booth strips. See photo booth backgrounds for print sizes.

Tips for using these backgrounds

• Match the light on the grain. Most of these wood backgrounds are lit softly from one side, which shows in the shadow lines between the boards. Light your subject from the same side, or choose an evenly lit option such as the dusty blue shiplap or the greywashed oak when you cannot control your lighting.
• Let the board direction choose the orientation. Vertical boards, like the barn siding, sage and pastel planks, run down a portrait file or a 2x6 strip. Horizontal planks and shiplap suit landscape 4x6 prints and give a line of text something to sit on.
• Keep the plank width believable. For one to three people, crop to head and shoulders so a face is wider than one board. For bigger groups, use the wide oak, walnut and scaffold boards, and treat the elm grain and log ends as abstract texture rather than a wall.

Try brick wall backgrounds, stone and plaster walls or all textured backgrounds.