Don't let foul weather keep you from shooting during the winter. You can bundle up and venture out-of-doors to get those magical snow shots and earn the bragging rights of winter-wonderland explorer.
But, if being cold and wet aren't your cup of tea, setting up indoor sets with makeshift backdrops and ambient light is an easy workaround to keep your camera and creativity going when winter odds are working against us.
Here are some examples of fun, creative shots that we took indoors using our own DIY photography sets. We hope these shots bring you inspiration to keep on shooting through the dreary, bitter weather.
But, if being cold and wet aren't your cup of tea, setting up indoor sets with makeshift backdrops and ambient light is an easy workaround to keep your camera and creativity going when winter odds are working against us.
Here are some examples of fun, creative shots that we took indoors using our own DIY photography sets. We hope these shots bring you inspiration to keep on shooting through the dreary, bitter weather.
White Christmas
We shot this photo to use as our 2016 Christmas card. This is a collectible toy truck with miniature presents, Christmas tree, wreath and linked fence.
Where did we set up?
Right on our kitchen table! We used this seamless white tabletop background by MyStudio (found here on Amazon) as our starting point.
To create our snowy scene, we sprinkled unbleached all-purpose flour through a sieve around the base of the set, then gently tapped dustings of flour, a little at a time, from a small makeup brush onto the fence posts and vehicle's hood and windshield. Remember, less is more when doing setups. It's easier to add more than subtract excess.
This project created hours of photo fun for us to tackle as a team. We later added the falling snow in post in Photoshop. We've shared some links below to a few tutorials for a few alternate techniques.
Helpful Snow Tutorials:
We shot this photo to use as our 2016 Christmas card. This is a collectible toy truck with miniature presents, Christmas tree, wreath and linked fence.
Where did we set up?
Right on our kitchen table! We used this seamless white tabletop background by MyStudio (found here on Amazon) as our starting point.
To create our snowy scene, we sprinkled unbleached all-purpose flour through a sieve around the base of the set, then gently tapped dustings of flour, a little at a time, from a small makeup brush onto the fence posts and vehicle's hood and windshield. Remember, less is more when doing setups. It's easier to add more than subtract excess.
This project created hours of photo fun for us to tackle as a team. We later added the falling snow in post in Photoshop. We've shared some links below to a few tutorials for a few alternate techniques.
Helpful Snow Tutorials:
- How to Create Snow in Photoshop by PHLEARN.com -- Learn more...
- Adding Fake Snow by Fstoppers — Learn more...
- Instant Snow (Action for Photoshop) by Gavtrain.com — Learn more...
Ghosts of Christmas Past
We tied this lively bunch by their necks along the length of a chopstick and hung the ensemble with thread and pins from a foam board off our kitchen counter. We positioned the camera at a sharp angle to the skeletons and shot with a 100mm macro lens set to f2.8 so that the fellas in the back fell out of focus.
How'd we make the funky background?
We simply saved a bokeh JPG from online to our iPad, opened it in the Photos app, and handheld the iPad steadily behind the last skeleton.
The sun beamed gloriously through our patio window to spotlight our subjects perfectly. Minutes after we clicked the shutter for this frame, the sun was already around the corner of the house and no longer helpful. When using ambient light, timing is everything. Plan ahead to ensure the sun's position generates the perfect intensity and duration of light.
Here are a few BTS (behind the scenes) shots of our DIY setup for our bony friends.
We tied this lively bunch by their necks along the length of a chopstick and hung the ensemble with thread and pins from a foam board off our kitchen counter. We positioned the camera at a sharp angle to the skeletons and shot with a 100mm macro lens set to f2.8 so that the fellas in the back fell out of focus.
How'd we make the funky background?
We simply saved a bokeh JPG from online to our iPad, opened it in the Photos app, and handheld the iPad steadily behind the last skeleton.
The sun beamed gloriously through our patio window to spotlight our subjects perfectly. Minutes after we clicked the shutter for this frame, the sun was already around the corner of the house and no longer helpful. When using ambient light, timing is everything. Plan ahead to ensure the sun's position generates the perfect intensity and duration of light.
Here are a few BTS (behind the scenes) shots of our DIY setup for our bony friends.
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