Using Backgrounds for Photographing Children

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name is Ed Cody and on behalf of ExpertVillage.com, I am going to talk to you today about using backgrounds. If you need a little example on what I am talking about, go to our website codyharris.com and you will see a little bit of that. But for you at home, you know what works really best, something as simple as your bed sheet. Just drape it on the wall and you will have a nice solid white background, what we call a Hi Key type image. What that does is it keeps from competing with your child, you put the bed sheet up there, put him in front of a sofa or a chair so that you have nothing to distract from your child. At that point, you can put this whole setup maybe next to a window to get some natural light coming in. you will be surprised what a neutral backdrop like a white sheet, a blue soft sheet, something soft in color will do for your portraits. It will be something great and it will not take away from your child. When you are using a backdrop the other things that I recommend is to perhaps come in tight. One of the things that a lot of parents do is they try to do too much of a shot. Too much of the backdrop, not enough about the child. Remember the portraits that you are looking for are for your child and for you, not for the backdrop. So backdrops are important but the key is a lot less of them and a lot more of your child. "