How To Set Up A Basic Photography Studio In Your Home

I pride myself on my natural outdoor work, it is something I am passionate about. My love of photography and the great outdoors combined, to capture memories for my clients that last forever. I never imagined I would need a photography studio.


However, I have found a flaw already with this new business of mine and that is winter! My last shoot had to be cancelled twice before we managed to get a good day and I'm so glad we waited, because what a beautiful day we had.



But what happens to all the shoots that can't wait or be postponed? Shoots like baby bumps that are due within days? Or newborn babies, that you can't possibly ask to lie around outside half naked on a cold and frosty morning?


So, I had to quickly rethink my options last week when I had my first baby bump shoot and decided to turn my living room into a basic photography studio for a day. I figured that all I needed was a couple of backdrops.


 I bought two kingsize fitted sheets, one black and one white from Tescos (you can't seem to buy normal sheets anymore,) and cut the elastic out. Then I fixed them one on top of the other to a big unit I have against one wall.


I'm very lucky to have a largish living room with a big bay window to the right and the doorway to the kitchen on the left. This provides plenty of natural light so I didn't even need to use a flash or studio lighting.


Above is an unedited version to show you how I set up my basic photography studio and how natural light can still be great for indoor shoots on a cold dreary day. All I did was aim my subject towards the light and crop the images afterwards.


I had a tweak here and there in Lightroom to darken the background more and edit out the creases on the sheet. I then reduced the clarity to soften skin tone, upped the slider to get ride of the slight shadows and warmed the image up a bit.


One of the best things about a baby bump shoot is the props and thinking of different ways to tell the story in each photo.


It is amazing what you can find around the house, above is one of my favourite quote plaques which worked well as a prop. Then below is some of the kids red paint that I used to create hand prints that pop, especially when the saturation was turned down on the rest of the image.


I think this goes to show that you don't need to spend a fortune on expensive equipment to get some good indoor shots. Just a bit of forward thinking and natural lighting can work just as well as a professional photography studio.