How to Set Up a Home Studio for Photographing Children

Video Transcript

"So, I know a lot of you, when you hear the word, studio, or even home studio, it's a little scary. You get images in your mid of this huge studio, with all these lights and all this equipment and you think, I could never do that. But I'm here to tell you that you can. And you can do it McGyver style with just household items that you find laying around. So, let's think about the things you need for a studio. The first thing to consider is probably the background. So what I would like you to do, is go to your closet, pull out all of those sheets and blankets, try to find things that don't have a lot of pattern, but texture can be good and interesting. So look for light colored, whites, creams, maybe pale yellows. Or really rich dark browns and purples and things. And you can use those for your backdrops. You can also use the walls in your house, both inside and outside. If you have a stucco house, that can make a really nice backdrop. The next thing we need to think about is your lights. Now, I tend to use natural lights, I really like it, I think it gives a nice diffuse light and it's flattering for most people. So, you can go by a doorway, or by a window and utilize that light that's already available to you. And I talked a little bit about it in other segments, but this is a good time to break out those reflectors, like poster board or sheets that are light colored and provide a lot of light. And if you need even more light, you can use the tin foil on one side of the poster board, and use that to direct the light in the areas that you want a little additional light or to fill in some shadows. Now, you'll need all kinds of little supplies, like tape or clamps or even paperclips sometimes to sort of rig a background. Something to think about is in the studio they tend to use what's called a seamless background, so when you are setting up your blanket, or your sheet, you are going to want to attach it to the wall and kind of let it flow down onto the floor. and have your child play on the part that is on the floor. With the background kind of sweeping up and away from them. If you are outside, you also can have wonderful studio type photographs. And we have discussed this a little bit in other places, too. But now your backdrop can be the park, or the ocean, or if it's a snowy day you can have them out sledding or whatever. And you can use all kinds of different ways to help maximize. So, now that we've covered the McGyver studio inside, we can take it outside and again nature has provided you with more things than any studio could possibly afford you. For example, I do a lot of shooting right here in my alley. Now, I live in southern California, so it's nice most of the year. But I can just walk down the alley, and I've got a neighbor who has a great blue garage door, and then I've got a wonderful brick wall, and I kind of have an old farmhouse door that I can look for. So go around your neighborhood, or your park and find places and make sure it's okay for you to shoot in those locations. But you can use pretty much anything. Bring some friends along to hold up the background or the reflector, and bring your props with you and you can basically make anything work, just like McGyver. "