Archives For portrait

kids_3801 copy

From Living Room to Studio – Here’s How We Do It

Varina Patel —  September 13, 2012

We don’t do a whole lot of studio photography – but it’s great having a studio in our home so that we have the freedom to shoot whatever and whenever we choose! I recently mentioned our studio setup on Google+, and I ended up with an inbox full of emails requesting photos of our photography workspace. So, I’ll give you one better. Here’s a video showing how it all comes together.

Almost everything in our studio is built or made from scratch. It’s not necessary to spend a fortune to build a simple studio. A large roll of paper hangs above the window. We hung it with two hooks, a couple of carabiners (generally used for climbing), and a hollow metal pipe (more often used for plumbing). When it’s rolled up, nobody notices it. More hooks hold the large black curtains – which are made from sheets of heavy fabric. When they aren’t in use, they are neatly rolled up and hidden away in the closet. The floor panels are just sheets of thick plywood – with two shiny wallboard panels on top. They spend their down time in the basement – stacked against a wall and out of the way. It’s an incredibly simple solution for us – and it only take a few minutes to set it all up.

To learn more about exposure and creativity check out our eBooks below:

In Videos , , ,
permalink

Portrait Photography – Baby Lucas

Varina Patel —  August 7, 2012

Portrait photography is fun – and photographing babies is the best. Check out this cutie! I photographed Lucas (and his big brother, Dylan) in my living room/studio. We have a very simple home studio that tears down so that our living room can return to normal. A roll of paper hung from the ceiling that nobody notices when it’s rolled up… shiny, white panels for the floor that are stacked in the basement when we aren’t using them… black curtains that hang from hooks and get rolled up and stored at the back of the coat closet… and flash units, umbrellas, and stands that disappear into a nice little trunk in the corner when I don’t need them. Our furniture is easy to move aside, and the room is wide open with lots of windows for natural lighting – and blinds that close easily for when I don’t want natural light. The whole setup is very simple and it takes me about ten minutes to get the whole thing ready.

We’ve used this setup for thousands of photo shoots – everything from portraits to stock to product photography.

So – what about you? How do you set up for indoor photography? Do you have a studio in your home? Do you drape a sheet and use natural light from a window? Do you just grab a camera and to heck with the light or the background?

In Photo of the Day ,
permalink

Snow Day!

Varina Patel —  December 6, 2010

We have alarms set for 5:45 am so that the kids can get ready for school. Today, just moments before the alarms went off, the phone rang – SNOW DAY! I opened the blinds to see blizzard conditions – a good six to eight inches of snow on the driveway, and more falling fast. The kids were asking to go outside by 7:30, so we all went out and shoveled the driveway. (I don’t think that’s quite what they had in mind… but I told them that’s the price you pay for a snow day.) :) Afterward, they spent the morning playing in the drifts… building snow forts and making angels, throwing snow balls and sledding… and getting cold.

I pulled out my camera. I guess you aren’t surprised.

Nick, Damian, Anna, and Nora preparing NOT to throw snowballs at my camera. Or else. :)

Anna wearing two hats and a hood. Did I mention it’s cold out there?

Nora being her sweet self…

and Damian, catching snowflakes with his tongue.My fingers were freezing, so I came in and processed my photos while they enjoyed the winter wonderland. It’s still coming down out there. I see that we may get as much as two feet of snow by tomorrow morning. The kids will be happy… and the snow shovels will get a lot of use. Oh boy oh boy. ;) Hot chocolate, anyone?

* LATER *

I wanted to add one more photo, so rather than start another blog post, I’ll just add it here. Like I said – it was a fun morning.

And for those who are interested, I shot these with a 28-70mm lens on my Canon 7D. An aperture of 6.3 and a 1/60-second shutter speed let me capture the kids in sharp focus when they stood still for a portrait – and still get some moving snow. A faster shutter speed would have made the snow seem to freeze in the frame, but I wanted a sense of movement and fun… it’s a bunch of kids in a blizzard, right?

Processing was pretty easy since the sky was (and still is… and will be until about May) pretty heavily overcast. The light is incredibly even – diffused by the heavy clouds, and reflecting off the snow – so I have no glaring highlights or dark shadows to drag me down. The hardest part was keeping the camera dry… which I managed right up until Damian threw a snowball at Nick’s head. It bounced off his head, and hit the camera square in the lens. Oops!

In Blog , ,
permalink