I’m very lucky to have photographed thousands of families, newborns, children, brides and grooms here in the northeast of Scotland. I’ve learned a little bit about things along the way, and I’d love to be able to share that with you.
While we’re all confined to our homes right now, I thought I would come up with a few ways for you to photograph your partner or family when you can’t make immediate plans for a professional portrait session. There are a few ‘tricks of the trade’ I use at every wedding or shoot, and I’d love to share these with you for you to try at home.
Why? Well, because it’s important to have memories, even in these difficult times. Even though we all want this whole thing to be over already, please try to take a few minutes to slow down and create. If you’re interested in taking part, then read on to find out more about my brand new ‘Stay at Home’ photography project. I promise it will be fun!
What is the ‘Stay At Home’ Photography Project?
Now is a great time to be taking family photographs since you will probably have the children at home or your partner more than usual, and you have extra time to spend together.
The idea of my ‘Stay at Home’ project is that you take photos from the safety and comfort of your own home on a set theme.
Assignments include teaching you how to create your background, editing tips, even the best apps to use to create professional photos in your home.
Follow my tips below and you’ll learn how to improve your photography skills whilst documenting your time at home during the current lockdown. I hope that these will become special memories to look back on in the future.
How to take part in the Kingshill Studios ‘Stay At Home’ photography project
So, here’s what you need to do….
STEP 1
Dig out your camera or smartphone. You don’t need any fancy equipment for this. We’re going to be keeping it simple!
STEP 2
Follow my tips. They’ll give you pointers on how to take better photos of your partner/children and encourage you to try different things with your camera.
STEP 3
Take photos and have fun! Experiment and see what results you get.
STEP 4
Then, share them with me using the hashtag #KingshillStayAtHome and don’t forget to tag me on Facebook @kingshillstudios and/or on Instagram @susanreneephoto so I can see your creations!
Join in the ‘Stay At Home’ Photography Project
Theme 1 – Doorways
Thankfully, during this time when we’re all being asked to stay at home, you don’t have to go further than your doorstep to create beautiful portraits.
At weddings I photograph, I nearly ALWAYS use doorways to frame my subject or use the lovely flattering light that comes from having top shade. It softens the way the light falls on the face, even on a very bright day.
Tip 1 – Make sure the doorway doesn’t have the sun shining directly into it.
If it does, either wait for a cloudy day or move the subject behind the line the sun makes on the floor. Move them further in and watch how the light falls on their face. If you put them too far in, the portrait will be too dark.
Clear the background of as much clutter as possible and turn off any other lights, so that you’re just using natural light.
Tip 2 – Google Snapseed is a free editing app for your phone and it’s really easy to use.
Click here for a tutorial we found to show you around it if you have trouble.
Tip 3 – Download the Layout App by Instagram or the Unfold App.
Both of these apps create fun photo collages for your images that you can use on Instagram, social media Stories, and Facebook
My Office Manager, Carla, has had a lot of fun with this one, photographing Luna at her doorway, as you can see here.
Hopefully, these pictures give you some inspiration of what you can achieve and encourage you to try creating something similar. The main thing is to have fun with it!
Take your portraits
Find the right spot in your house, and then snap away. Create a short sequence of photographs. These can be portrait or landscape. Don’t use your camera’s flash.
Get full-length shots and photographs of the face only. Try to get a few different expressions – and remember, the subject doesn’t have to be looking at the camera for a portrait to ‘work’.
Select and Edit
Go through your photographs and choose your favourites. Edit them all in the same way using the Snapseed app.
Design your Grid
Both the Layout app and the Unfold app work well. Carla used Layout app for the above sequence and tried a few different ways before she chose her favourite.
Sharing is caring!
Don’t forget to share your Stay at Home photographs with me by using the hashtag #KingshillStayAtHome and tag me on Facebook @kingshillstudios and/or on Instagram @susanreneephoto as I’d love to see your photographs and share them for others to enjoy too.
Go on, give it a go!! We’re all in this together.
NB – Please only share and tag your images if you are happy for your photographs to be shared publicly.
