I celebrated New Year's at our friends the Smiths' house
and was excited to photograph their
beautiful daughters and niece.
When I shared the portraits with others
they lamented that they didn't have a studio
with professional lights to take nice photos.
The truth is...I prefer natural light and
my favorite place to shoot portraits is
at the entrance to a garage
like this:
Yep, all the photos in this blog post
were taken in this make-shift "studio"
at the edge of the Smith's garage!
Shoot just beyond any direct, harsh rays.
This day, it was cloudy, so we could be at the very edge of the garage.
To make the white board background,
I bought a sheet of foam insulation board from Home Depot and
cut it in half...then covered it with white bulletin board
paper I bought from Michael's. A roll is $8 and I use this
paper ALL THE TIME for white backgrounds.
I can easily transport this white board in my car.
Just roll out more white paper on the ground, or as seen here,
use a white blanket.
Later, you can add a background.
Here, I used one of the freebie papers from this week's newsletter!
I know this garage make-shift studio isn't very glamorous...
But, the portraits ARE glamorous!
You can also take the photos against a white wall or hang a white sheet
or blanket. But the garage light is PERFECTION for these
high key, white background portraits!
To whiten the background even more in post processing...
simply adjust the opacity of your dodge tool and paint over the background.
I also like shooting on a wheeled seat
so I can move about freely and
quickly adjust clothing and props
without ruining my knees.
Oh, did I mention it was January 1st
and just 28-degrees outside?
My hands were FREEZING!
But, it was WORTH IT:
The natural lighting right at the edge of the garage
is flawless...no harsh shadows on the face
or behind the models.
I added the newsletter freebie paper to the background
of this next portrait:
You gotta love redheads in leopard print!
I bought the jacket at a thrift store for $3.
That's where I buy ALL my props and portrait
clothing!
Many of my favorite portraits
are taken this way.
So even if you don't have a professional studio,
you can still create some professional portraits
in a GARAGE!!!
