For those of us who are abiding by the stay-at-home laws in place (thank you!) you may be feeling a little unmotivated to create some content or take photos, since you’re stuck in your house. I might be one of those weird people that has decided to take this time at home to immerse myself in my creative projects. But I know at times, it can be hard to find inspiration at home and find a good space to create content. If you’re feeling like that, thankfully you’ve stumbled upon this post. Here are five different photo backdrops that you can easily set up in your home for more control over your photos.
1.Use a sheet or blanket
Probably the easiest backdrop you can set up for yourself is a plain sheet or blanket. In the picture above I threw the sheet over the awning on my deck. This is definitely where the best lighting in my house is, especially on an overcast day or when the sun passes over my house enough so that its pretty shady here. As you can see in this photo, my sheet wasn’t long enough, but honestly, neither are my pants. I’ve also throw sheets over chairs and a drying rack just to give myself a plain canvas behind me for photos. I’ve also hung this black blanket behind me for more edgy and dark photos. You can use whatever you have and crop wherever the backdrop falls short (literally).
2. Use magazine clippings
I feel like I pulled a real Tezza on this one. I know her collage kits have been super popular right now, but I actually ended up just using magazine clippings and old printed out pictures from college to make this wall collage. (Here’s my blog post on how to make a vision board!) One day I randomly decided to rearrange all my furniture in my room and make this collage. I actually still have this up even though I moved everything back because I love the way it looks (so does my mom). You’d also be surprised with how much space you can cover with magazine clippings and how personalized you can make it. All of this is from one magazine and I feel like I could have covered twice as much wall space with the rest of the magazine.
3. Use newspaper
This is a trend I’ve seen a lot on Instagram lately, probably because a lot of people have old newspapers lying around. Truth be told, it took a while for me to get all this newspaper up, but it was worth it. This is a pretty simple background that has a lot of little details, so it doesn’t distract too much from you. I used the entire Sunday paper for this after my dad finished reading it, so shoutout to the Baltimore Sun.
4. Scrapbook Paper/ Wrapping Paper
The other day I wanted to spice up my photos and I had just found this random book of scrapbook paper I had originally bought for making door decs when I was a RA. I taped up a few pages on my bedroom wall that faced a window and started shooting. It was super easy and went along with my prop super well. I probably could have cropped this better, but you get the point. You can also use wrapping paper to tape up behind you on a wall or even throw over a piece of furniture, if you have limited wall space. I think the more patterns, colors or designs you use, the more visually dynamic the photo becomes.
5. Any Blank Wall
Sometimes you just need a blank wall to create some fun and interesting backgrounds through editing. If you have Lightroom or Photoshop, you can learn how to edit the color behind you and insert new backgrounds. I have been using Picsart to random graphics and stickers to my photos. I know a lot of bloggers that use Picsart to add graphics like the paint strokes above to personalize and decorate bland photos. If you have the blank wall space anywhere in your house or apartment, you have the capability to make some pretty cool background virtually.
What are some new methods you’ve tried to create new content in your house since the stay-at-home orders started? Comment below!
Thanks for reading! xx