Most people do not like to be photographed at home because of the mundane environment. However, scenery is often used for shooting, and the decor of housing in this sense is not a bad option.
A photoshoot at home is often perceived as an amateur action, as a result of which beautiful pictures will never turn out the same as in magazines or on the websites of professionals. It's not like that at all. The lens sees the surrounding reality differently than the eyes of a person. In addition, if something in the house causes a complete emotional rejection, this can simply not be removed.
How to shoot?
Although professionals will begin to list many different technical tricks, there is only one main condition for a photo shoot to succeed at home. The photo should depict the model, not the surroundings.
That is, with a single shot, you do not need to photograph walls, furniture, floors, ceilings, batteries or something similar. It should be removed by a person. Most photography enthusiasts, having heard about this, shrug their shoulders in bewilderment - "you can crop the picture." It is possible, but it spoils the quality of the photo and deprives the frame of the initial proportional proportions. And not everything can be cut off. A photoshoot at home should not have been shot initially in the form of “somewhere in the far corner is the one who was filmed,” but full. To achieve the desired quality in the matter of the relationship between the situation and the model in the frame is simple. It is enough just to take your time and carefully look not at the objects of shooting, but at the camera’s display or through the window of its lens. This is necessary, since the technique and the eyes perceive the same thing completely differently.
The same requirement applies to any other survey, with the exception of general panoramic views or landscapes. Whatever is shot - still lifes, portraits, group “lifes” - most of the frame, not less than ¾, should occupy the objects of the photo shoot.
Is light needed?
Thinking about how to make a photo session at home, so that the result does not differ from studio shooting, sooner or later everyone is faced with lighting issues.
Light is important. No wonder that everywhere, from filming scenes of domestic TV shows to television studios, there are tripods with spotlights. If you look into any photo studio, then there will be a lot of them.
In an apartment, table lamps can be used for this purpose. And the lampshade can play the role of an “umbrella”, that is, that element that enhances the flow of light and prevents it from being scattered, or a lampshade that can be used as a regular, non-reflecting limiter.
Light allows you to solve many problems. And you can use it regardless of the time of day. Of course, if shooting is supposed to be at the window, where morning rays fall beautifully, then you can do without additional lighting.
Light, for example, directed to the model’s face, “knocks out” all minor defects, which is especially important for a girls photo shoot at home. Defects should be understood as wrinkles, pimples, spots, unevenness of makeup, "underglazes" and much more that the fairer sex always try to remove using various editor applications. In addition, light allows you to achieve many other effects. You need to experiment with it, trying to put it in different ways.
Flash and light are different concepts, and one does not cancel one another. Moreover, their combination and contrast in the direction of illumination give a very interesting result.
Filmed around the world or against it?
This question is asked by anyone who needs a quality, indistinguishable from a professional photo shoot at home. As a rule, when preparing, a large number of works of various photographers are viewed, and an attentive person is simply unable to not notice a completely different direction of light in them.
You can shoot along the line of light, taking a position behind its source, or on a par with it. And it is possible against the light. Also, the possibility of using side lighting or going from below is not excluded. You should experiment with light and determine the most advantageous location in a specific frame directly on the spot.
The only thing to avoid is top central lighting from a single source. The light coming from the chandelier is exactly what gives out their home origin in photographs. No studio shooting has such a lighting effect. And to fix several spotlights on the ceiling is quite difficult and troublesome, so it’s easier to turn off the chandelier or dilute it with powerful rays from the lamp directed in the right direction.
In what style to shoot?
There is only one answer - in which there is a desire. Very often you may come across tips that boil down to the fact that ideas for a photo shoot at home should be based on the situation.
This should not be taken literally. That is, if you want to be photographed in the genre of historical romanticism, you do not need to do this while sitting on a sideboard, released in the Soviet years and left from your grandmother. But to decorate a chair or a simple chair, to sit by the window or in the corner of the empty walls, or to lie on the carpet is quite acceptable. That is, not the situation dictates the conditions for determining the style in which the photo shoot will take place at home, but their own desires. In fact, in absolutely every apartment you can take photosets of any genre. You just need to think about how to do it and try to put it into practice.
How to dress?
Even if there is a clear idea of ​​in which style direction the home photoset will go, the issue of clothing still remains relevant.
Professional photographers often ask their customers not to wear any items. For example, women’s tight-fitting trousers are always spoiled or high-waisted “elastic” jeans. Of course, if it is not about shooting the thing itself. But fashion photographs, in which the model does not prevail over the costume, but only complements it, and capturing a person are completely different things.
As for the color scheme, the Christmas tree camera, ripple patterns and other similar options that distract from the model traditionally do not like it. That is, in the frame the most striking component should be the person who is being shot, and his clothes, in fact, are just a wrapper that creates an image that adds certain touches. It is thanks to her that a perception arises in one or another style. But the suit should not distract from the model.
What exactly is optimal from the wardrobe can be said only by putting on this thing and looking at the result already in the frame. Win-win options for girls are one-color men's shirts, a couple of sizes larger, with wrapped sleeves up to Âľ length. Such a thing makes the model much slimmer than it is, and in the frame the girl looks very fragile.
However, you can focus on the pictures that you like. That is, if, for example, you want to get a frame that is the same as in an advertisement with a well-known model, then dressing is similar. If the dream picture is an evening, completely crazy dress with a long train, you don’t need to wear a man’s shirt. It is quite enough to imitate an outfit, that is, to wrap yourself in a strip of fabric, secure it with pins or thread, leaving a "train". With a well-exposed light, the outcome of such a session would be incredible.
How to remove a newborn?
Photoshoot of newborns at home is the second most popular topic on social networks. This is understandable, because everyone wants to share their happiness and pride. However, it often turns out that the angelically beautiful baby in the pictures looks frankly unattractive. This upsets the parents, and the small person is no longer photographed.
However, avoiding such embarrassment is not difficult. Of course, you do not need to put the baby under the light of a lamp or dress up like a doll. Newborn photosets have completely different offscreen nuances.
Firstly, all children without exception, whom young mothers see in advertisements, are not newborns. Take off babies after 2.5-3 months. Secondly, the most beautiful pictures always have one feature, namely a close-up. This is the main key to a successful baby photoset.
Ideas for the smallest
For home shooting, you don’t have to wait until the baby grows to three months. The photoset of the just born baby may also be successful.
You will need a flat, flat surface, white or very light and large. If the wall enters the frame, the color and texture should merge with the surface. The size should be so large that the photographing person could lie down. Usually this is done simply - a thick white double bedspread is laid on the floor, and decorated with a sheet at the edge of any furniture, although when shooting outdoors, usually nothing extra gets into the frame.
You need a good sunny day and light falling through the window. That is, the room should be filled with sun. The baby should be put. And the photographer - lie facing him. All, then you just need to look into the lens and shoot.
If the child is completely “wrinkled” in the frame, then you can put something distracting attention, for example, a bright rubber duckling. There is one more thing. The baby does not need to undress or swaddle. The best option "suit" will be a plain light vest. Can be covered with a half-light blanket. There are a lot of options for the surroundings, they should be tried on the spot and see what happens.
Light colors are a must. Dark and overly saturated shades age, and in the case of newborns, their not quite photogenic features enhance them. Therefore, these colors should be avoided.
Ideas for girls
The ideas of girls photo shoots at home depend on what the girls want to get in the end.
For example, pictures ideally look at an open balcony door with a ray of light falling into the room, on which the model stands with its back or half a turn.
A good option would be shooting under the “palekh”. You don’t need to wear a Russian folk costume, it means how the frame is built. In such images there is nothing but a model, it seems to protrude from the darkness. Very good shots with an emphasis on the face. In addition, they avoid the presence of rear elements of a home environment, which is important for some. Everything is done technically simple - it is removed with a flash, if there is dim side light in the room somewhere far from the model and the photographer. That is, light in this case is needed only for the photographer to see the angle in the display and no more.
For those who do not feel hostility to the presence of home elements in the frame, you can perfectly shoot in the kitchen or in the bathroom. Such sets should be made humorous, with cool content they look much more advantageous than with a romantic facial expression.
The options for taking pictures at home are endless. In fact, every corner of the apartment can be made a photo studio for a while. Without even getting out of bed, you can shoot a magnificent, completely professional-looking photoset. The shooter only needs to stand not on the floor next to and capture the half of the bedroom, but on the bed and remove the model itself from above, slightly from the side, and so on.