5 Photographic Uses For Foam Board

On this video photographer and videographer Caleb Pike from DSLR Video Shooter takes a look at five simple but very effective uses for foamboard for both photography and videography.

Foam board (or foam-core as it was originally called) was first introduced as a 1/8 inch (3 mm) and 3/16 inch (5 mm) thicknesses for the graphic arts industry by (you probably never guessed it) Monsanto Company under the trade name “Fome-Cor” in 1957″. Although this trivia bit isn’t that important the material itself is super useful for photography.

So what can you do with this stuff which you can usually get for a few $ (depending on where you get it and what size and thickness you buy)? well here are the five uses Pike mentions in this video:

Use it as fill – help fill dark area in your image or video – simple and useful – play with the angles to get the best result.
Use as bounce – instead of lighting directly, use the foam to reflect light and get softer result.
Use as flag – use a black foam as flag to block light and control spill.
User as background – either behind or beneath your product.
Creating cookies – you can make a more interesting background.

Bonus video: Pike takes an $8 Ikea table and build a shoot booth for products

You can find many more helpful lighting tips here. LensVid. You can also check out more of Wallace tutorials here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.