Wouldn’t it be amazing to have lots of different spaces to use for your still life photography! I’ve seen some people’s spaces and they have so many options available to them. Not that they have several rooms, but lots of options in one room. There are others of us out there who just don’t have those possibilities.
Today I’m going to give you some ideas of how you can use the exact same space (no matter how small) and the some of the same objects and get several different looks in your photos.
For me, using the same objects for many still life shots is important. It takes time collecting the items and then figuring out what goes best together, so being able to have several layout options with the same objects is super important.
My location that I use 98% of the time these days is in my craft room/studio space … one day it will just be a studio! The lighting is best in this room and it’s where I store all of my treasures.
The first thing I do is keep the window bare. We have some of the faux wood blinds on the window, but when I’m doing photography I keep them pulled up so that all I have behind my object is clear glass and whatever is outside the window. I also keep a piece of fabric attached to the blind so that if I want I can use it as a portion of a curtain in my photos.
In this space, I can do photos with:
- back lighting
- side lighting – both from the right or left
- a solid white background or dark (I pretty much always do white)
- flay lay
- 3/4 view
Basically, all I need is about a 5×5 foot space to get all of these options done in. I also need a counter stool to stand on to get the flat lay photos. My space to the right and left of the window have objects in the way, so I use either a white foam core board or a white canvas as a backdrop and I just prop it up to get the side lighting options.
As far as props go, the tea cup I’ve had for years, the clear vase is an apothecary jar we used at a baby shower, the envelope is from cards I made to sell, the pencil … well, it’s just a pencil I bought in a pack in the dollar section at Target, and I picked the flowers on the side of the road. 🙂
I hope you’re inspired by my posts … my goal is to help.
Beautiful colours! I shall definitely try out your techniques when I next get out my camera 🙂
This is so helpful, can’t wait try these out 😀
Thank you Natalia!
Wonderful post. Posts of great ideas. Thank you. ?
Thank you Gerri!
This is such good information! It is inspiring me to get my old homeschool room set up! I’ve been trying still lifes more lately, inspired by so many of you still lifers (?), even more since I got involved with Country_Stilllife! I love how you set up your work area.
That’s great Kelly! I’m so glad you’re inspired! I hope you do! That sounds like it could be a great space. We homeschooled our three girls also. ? I can’t wait to see what you come up with!