As a portrait photographer, I’m all the time on the lookout for new props that don’t break the bank – particularly when the vacations roll round. Final 12 months, I purchased a can of low cost spray snow, a classic window from Fb Market, and I used it to border cozy Christmas portraits.
I used to be on the lookout for two key issues after I created this Christmas picture setup. First, I wished to take Christmas photographs indoors after the earlier 12 months’s freezing temperatures made my vacation classes a bit depressing. Second, I wished to provide households with younger children one thing to do in addition to sit and smile on the digital camera.
Concept in thoughts, I discovered an previous window on Fb Market. You may additionally use an precise window that’s nonetheless firmly the place it belongs, however I wished the liberty to maneuver round a bit. If you happen to don’t need the ornamental window grids, you might additionally use the glass from an outsized image body. I solely spent about $10 on the window.
After cleansing up the previous window, I used a can of spray snow to appear like frost on the perimeters. This admittedly took extra time than I anticipated. I wished to make use of the window in a number of pictures, and I didn’t wish to should repeatedly Photoshop poorly positioned snow, so I wiped it away after I wasn’t pleased and redid the spray till it appeared how I wished. (I like to recommend training maintain the spray can on a chunk of newspaper or paper first.)
As soon as I had the window, I did a apply session with my circle of relatives – which I extremely suggest earlier than attempting the setup with purchasers. Getting the window to border the pictures good proved to be the largest problem. I ended up utilizing my wide-angle lens as a substitute of my 50mm portrait favourite as a result of I wished multiple sq. of the window grid within the last shot.
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The opposite problem was holding the window in place. I used the outsized tote bag that I packed my Christmas decorations in to relaxation the underside of the window on. Once I did my check pictures, I simply held it upright (which is definitely extra of an arm exercise than it sounds). The second time that I did the shot, I used outsized clamps on the backside of the window to assist maintain it in place excessive of a tote field.
The snowy window setup was in all probability one among my tougher Christmas portraits that I’ve achieved – however I cherished the outcomes. I combined the window with Christmas decorations that I already owned, together with a blanket and ebook of vacation tales, and in a burst of last-minute inspiration, grabbed my son’s toy prepare, which was improbable for getting newly cell toddlers to take a seat nonetheless lengthy sufficient for photographs.
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