Using backgrounds around the home
All is not lost if one does not have access to the sort of location opportunities or the lavished studios that some professionals use. There are plenty of photo-opportunities around the average home. One of the best places to use to photograph women is the conservatory. A conservatory can become a daylight studio. Even a small one is usually an extension of an existing room so that in itself gives the camera space to pull back from the subject enough to avoid distorting features and limbs. Daylight is great for shooting faces and bodies. If the conservatory has blinds even better because it is then easy to control the direction and quality of the light. Also the furniture and plants often found in conservatories can make ideal props. The conservatory is often a more comfortable environment outdoors for a model to work in if you are doing glamour or figure photography
French windows are the next best thing. They not only provide the necessary light but can be used to form the picture’s background. The world outside will burn out to become lighter so interest is concentrated on your subject. This is where a good reflector comes into play. It is needed to lighten the shadows on the dark side of the subject. There are lots of types of reflector commercially available but for cheapness there is nothing to beat a large thick sheet of builder’s insulating Polystyrene sheet. They are rigid light to handle and very effective.
The other way of using a room’s windows is to think of them as the main light. A french window can produced much the same quality of light as a huge soft box in the studio and is very kind to the skin in a glamour shot. If the room you are working in has windows in other walls the light coming from these can be used to provide interesting accents. Just as adding further lights to a main studio light can in the studio. If you do not like this additional effect just pull the curtains on that window.
Examples
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A sunny day with translucent blinds pulled down formed the background but allowed enough light shoot the girl. The blinds had been lowered al around the conservatory so she was in effect sitting inside a light-box. A reflector was placed on the four in front of her.
Same situation used as previous shot but a different time of day. More direct sunlight has been allowed into the space.
This time more of the conservatory has been used as a set. The sunlight was not as strong as it the other two shots. The scene outside the glass windows at the end forms the picture’s background.
Here the window is behind the camera and give the picture a soft overall effect.
The same window was used as the previous shot but this time it formed part of the background. A reflector and the white walls of the room filled in the shadows to light the model.
The room’s window together with a curtain forms the picture’s background and reflector used to provide the lighting for the girl.
Here the window is again the background and the model is lit by both a reflector and general lighting from another window set at a right angle to the first.
