Behind The Scenes
In My Studio With Samantha
Beautiful inside and out, I'd like you to meet Samantha, a good friend who's unique beauty finally decided to grace my small, humble makeshift home studio!
She came wanting graduation photos which I was happy to do for her but I wanted her to walk away with something a bit more.
wish I could invite you ALL to my home studio but believe me - we wouldn't all fit. In fact my home studio is nothing more than my very own dining room! It's the price I pay for not investing yet in a warehouse somewhere in the heart of St. Augustine. But actually I don't have to pay very much! Just move that sturdy hard
I
wood dining table that sits eight aside, push and shove massive, bar height, dark wood chairs (yes eight of them) into the hallway, slide a large dusty fake palm tree into the foyer, pull down my large white paper backdrop and voila! A studio room. Drag in and set up my lighting and we're ready to roll; by this time I'm already sweating and I haven't even starting taking pictures yet. { Behold, the routine of a photographer in her makeshift home studio. }
Lighting is always a game of trial and error for me. What I lack in this area I gain in my photoshop editing skills. But I've got the basics down between window lighting, overhead lighting, side lighting and fillers and for now that's all I need.
My living room was chosen for it's simple four walls and that one single large window that lets in plenty of natural light. The studio lights I use as dramatic exposures or fillers. I'd rather have too much light than not enough. Light gives me sharpness and to me, that's most important. But there's still that crucial balance between dark grainy shadows and over exposure. It's a constant dance between the two.
As you can see from my raw, unedited photo on the
left, my low light is too far away. No worries, in this case I bust out Photoshop for some ... tweaking.
MY STUDIO IS A DANCE BETWEEN LIGHT AND SHADOW.
Samantha posing for the next shot.
BEFORE
AFTER. { And viola! }
I started out photographing outdoors only. For me, the studio walls, the fake lighting, the unnatural setting - it was another animal for me and I'm still learning. I'm always learning. And I want to encourage you too, to push beyond what you find comfortable and make it work for you. Stretch, push, pull out the chairs and find your space. Adjust the lighting ever so slightly till you find that one image that makes you stop and say, "I can work with that." and go from there. I hope you visit my studio again soon as I add, grow and learn! Till then - happy clickings!