How To | Holiday Backdrop
Posted by Lindsey Mills on under Cool Finds, DIY & Fix It's, Props & Stuff
Did the holiday season sneak up on you? It sure did for me!
With my busy schedule, I start offering Holiday Sessions super early, in order to have time for them all. Well, when you go from Halloween to the Holidays in the same week…who has time to shop for new props?? And who wants to use the same props as last year??
So this year, I made my own backdrop…”Snow” I call it…It was super easy & extremely cheap. I think it turned out pretty swell, if I do say so myself.
Here’s How…
First, I went to the good ‘ol Dollar Store near my studio, and grabbed several $1.00 boxes of these…
White Christmas Lights (with white strands)…white on white is what I chose, to match the style I was going for. However, colored lights with green strands should look great too!
Next, I set up 2 backdrop stands, and placed them here…
The front stand has a “messy” strand of lights, that I use to shoot through…
And the back pole has all of the other light strands hanging vertically, all the way to the floor…
I placed my subject in between the two poles, and here is my outcome…
I hope you like my cheap DIY backdrop 
This was such a cute idea! Here is my attempt at it in my studio. For those interested, here is my settings: f1.8, ISO 800, 1/100 with a 50mm lens. I turned on my studio lights but left them on steady, no flash. I am still working on getting the photo to not be so warm, but for those that wanted to try this with no available natural light, this is how I did mine.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151117542682135&set=pb.210319377134.-2207520000.1352301634&type=3&theater
Any suggestions on lighting without proper photo lights? Want to try it so bad:)
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Love this and cannot wait to try it! Just wondering why you need the ‘messy’ strand in front?
I think the messy strand is used in the pics that look like they have floating balls/ornaments in the foreground.
This is great…just did a test run and the images are amazing.
Wondering why you don’t see the wires from the lights and just the white lights – is it a setting on more expensive cameras to make the background a little less in focus?
I don’t believe the camera is the main tool, as much as the lens.
Thanks to my amazing husband we were able to shoot the following with our alien bee studio lights:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151188239534217&set=a.10150128799044217.277770.184242074216&type=1&theater
Canon 5D Mark III, 70-200 lens, ISO 3200, f 3.2, 1/160
Just wondering if you were using the bees, why the ISO so high?
Hi Carrie, just to answer your question… she has high ISO because she has high shutter speed…
Beautiful. I am just a mom trying to learn photography in my very limited spare time. Here is my attempt: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54218148@N06/8189484100/in/photostream
I am hoping to do another shoot with my kids before the holidays. Has anyone tried this with a boost from off camera flash. Also, any suggestions for getting the great bokeh affect without the strings showing in a small space. I am shooting in my living room with very little natural light (this time of year) and not a lot of space to work with. I have a 50 mm 1.4 and a variable 15-85mm zoom lens. I usually use the 50mm because of the low aperture for inside winter shooting.
I figured I would add a few additional notes. I am hoping someone has some suggestions on achieving this in a small space. I have a rectangular shaped living room with a fireplace on the far wall – I clamped a white sheet doubled with the lights clamped straight onto it. I have natural window light from two small windows framing the fireplace and a picture window on the wall to the left of the fireplace. If it isn’t bitter cold I can also open up our front door at the far end of the left wall to add a bit more natural light. I was planning on setting up an off camera flash facing the kids to give a boost of light if the natural isn’t enough (not sure whether shoot through umbrella or bounce off ceiling would be better)? I set up an air mattress on the floor with a comforter on it about midway in the room – which brings the kids between 6 to 11 feet away from the fireplace and lights (it also keeps them contained to the mattress area for the most part – usually they are pretty much bouncing off the walls – (can I squeeze them a bit closer to the lights and still get the bokeh?) My room is a total of 16 1/2 feet long – so ,with the mattress this gives me about 3 1/2 feet to shoot from which I can stretch about another 2 feet if I shoot in a doorway and on an angle. This is very tight with my canon 7d APS-c sensor and 50mm. I guess a good starting question after all this info is what is the minimum I should have the kids from the lights to achieve the bokeh effect and eliminate the strings? Also suggestions of where and how to set up the flash would be greatly appreciated. Also is there a way to achieve this shooting al servo but keeping the focus on the kids so my camera doesn’t change and focus on the lights. I have a 2 1/2 and 9 month old. Al Servo/continuous shooting is usually the only way to capture them without benadryl being involved [kidding
].
Jess: I don’t know the answer to your question, but you could do a test using a doll or something as a subject, learn how to get the lighting just right, and then use the kids.
So I set up another session. I shot using my canon 7d, 50mm 1.4 prime lens. I used an external flash to boost the natural light bounced off ceiling. ISO 400. I set up the kids on a comforter about 5 ft away from the lights and then shot about 5 feet away from them scrunched up against the far wall of my living room. Here are the results:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54218148@N06/sets/72157632153734934/
I love your results! The sock monkey photos are great. I have similar space challenges and you have inspired me. Thanks!
Hi Jess, I am a mom that is just taking pics of my son and may I just say I love your pictures. My question though is how do you get the picture so clear? Do you use a editing software or are you just that good of a photographer
they look hd like i said im not a pro i just would love to take pictures of my family that looks as great as yours. Please help.
This is so ingenious! So dang cute
This is Awesome! I’m so using this for Grandbabies this year!!!! Thanks for sharing! ~Tammy
Very nice!! Exactly what I was looking for…. BUT…. How do you plug all of them in?!
We used large outdoor lights, and our christmas lights are far too bright in the background. What we did was use a white sheet in front of the subject to reflect some of that light back onto the subject’s foreground. Low f, high ISO, as much light on the subject as I can get. I also set white balance to “tungsten”.
What about on a regular Nikon point and shoot?
Ceecee: it will be difficult to get the background lights attractively blurred out with a point-and-shoot. This “bokeh” look is one of the reasons people get fancy cameras.
If you want to try, I would set your background lights as far away from the subject (that is, the people you’re photographing) as possible and make sure that your camera focuses just on the subject. This might produce a similar effect, or it might not. If your camera has any sort of manual controls, try setting the aperture to as low a number as possible before taking the picture.
I hope it works out for you!
Boooooo, haha. I figured as much. I am working on getting a fancy Nikon one, just so expensive! I will give that a try though, thank you so much!
So jealous of your studio!!! Thanks for the tips. I will try them out today in a much smaller space.
I have to ask…. what company Dollar store did you get these lights at!???? I need to find white on white, and they are soooo hard to find! Never tried a Dollar store… but that would be great if they carried them!
Stephanie, I found white on white at a thrift store! I got 5 strands for $2 Look around, I’m sure you’ll find something!
Has anyone tried putting white paper drop in front of the lights? Can you see the lights through it?
I only ask because then you wouldn’t see the wires through it maybe?
Great idea, I was searching for something unique but inexpensive,and I love it! Have only tested it at home so far, but I feel very confident about the outcome
Jeff, I’d love to see a sample of your outdoor lights. Maybe a sheet in front of the lights would work too to soften the effect.
Jessi, How did you use your Alien Bee. I’m shooting dance portraits with an alien bee and HUGE light box. I can either use my 50mm 1.8 or my 70-200 2.8. Also, what is that soft vertical sheeting in the photo?
I am running out the door right now to get some. I have a photoshoot at 4EST!
Thank you so much for the wonderful idea!
These photos are amazing!!! I don’t know much about photography. The lens and lighting seem to be the trick. I have a digital Canon Rebel XS with an 18-55 lens and the pop up flash. That’s all the equipment I have. Any suggestion for me to get some good portraits?
Can you explain how you shot through the lights in the front? Not quite sure what you mean by that and how there arent any lights shining in front of the subjects if they were in front of the lense. Wonderful idea thanks for sharing!