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Conducting a Home Photoshoot
Without Professional Equipment
A guide on how you can set up a photoshoot with items you already own.
By Phylicia Law
Harvinder Singh, 18, self-directed and modelled in a photoshoot at home during the Circuit Breaker. Photo: Harvinder Singh
Harvinder Singh, 18, a Singapore Polytechnic student, has been cooped up at home due to the current Covid-19 situation with nothing interesting to do until a brilliant idea struck him.
“I had watched a few TikTok videos prior to the home photoshoot, which gave me some inspiration and ideas on the aesthetic of the photoshoot,” says Harvinder. With the equipment he found in his own home, he conducted an indoor fashion photoshoot where he is both the model and the photographer.
Home photoshoots are a rising trend on Instagram and TikTok, with over 62,000 posts on Instagram with the hashtag #homephotoshoot and more 20,000 views on Tiktok videos with the hashtag #homephotoshootchallenge. However, in a poll of 115 respondents, 74 per cent of them feel that they are unable to conduct a photoshoot without professional equipment.
Here are some tips on how you can make use of common items to substitute professional equipment in a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) home photoshoot.
Backdrops and props
The first step to setting up a photoshoot is deciding on the shooting location. “My favourite area to shoot is in my balcony because of all the plants!” says Charlotte Chan, 17, owner of online thrift store Charmài Thrifts on Instagram. “I personally find nature very aesthetically pleasing… so I like to include plants in the background to add more visual interest to the shot.”
Charlotte also uses props such as paintings, existing decorations on her cupboard and even the wooden carving of her bed frame, depending on what type of aesthetic she is trying to go for.
In an interview with The Straits Times, Ms Lenne Chai, 29, a local fashion photographer, advised those who aspire to do a home photoshoot to work with a white wall or fabric as “it already looks like a typical fashion photograph or editorial image”.
Camera
In today’s day and age, most of us own a smartphone, which is the next best lens one can find. Jayden Ong, 17, a professional photographer, says that if he were to have a photoshoot without any of his equipment, he would use his smartphone to take photos. He also suggested that one can experiment shooting from different perspectives to get the desired photo enhancement.
Charlotte revealed that even though she owns a Sony camera, she sometimes still uses her iPhone X to shoot as it is more convenient. She emphasised the importance of the placement of the camera, which includes the angle, height and distance.
“For phone cameras, your face will generally appear wider if you put the camera an arm’s length or more away from you, while your face will appear leaner with the camera around 30 cm away from you,” says Charlotte.
Lighting
Good lighting is a major key to visually pleasant photos but fret not if you do not have professional studio lights because sunlight is all you need.
Jayden explained that the daylight from one’s window can brighten up the photo to a great extent, hence the drastic difference between shooting in the day and at night.
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“I find that natural lighting brings out the colours of skin and clothing best,” says Charlotte. She suggested that taking photos with sunlight between 11am-5pm will give off a cleaner look, while sunlight before and after this period will give photos a glowing effect.
Editing
Photos taken without fancy equipment might seem a little rough, and this is where the magic of editing comes into play.
One free editing application that can be found on all devices is Adobe Lightroom. Harvinder made use of Adobe Lightroom to filter his photos and applied the same set of adjustments to all of his photos, which saved a lot of time and effort when editing photos. As for how he did it, he expressed that he “learnt how to create presets that celebrities use from Youtube”.
“Another photography hack is learning how to edit using Red-Green-Blue (RGB) curves, it would enhance one's photos by a lot!” Jayden says, recommending a free application called Snapseed, which allows one to edit the RGB curves of a photo.
“You shouldn't let your gear limit your creativity!” says Jayden.
1 June 2020
About the Author
Phylicia Law
Phylicia is a passionate writer who loves learning more about others and sharing their stories. She actively seeks out new story ideas and is always excited to share them with the world.
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