MODEL PERSPECTIVE How To Do a Home Photoshoot

With many parts of the world in and out of lockdown, the “home photoshoot” or making content at home on your own, has become a legitimate part of modelling both in magazines, social media, and beyond.

During lockdown, I embraced the idea of the home photoshoot, set my iPhone camera on 10 second timer, and ended up with pretty good results. Here are three tips if you’re thinking of doing your own home photoshoot!

1. Concept

Just like any “normal” photoshoot, it’s useful to have an idea of what you want to shoot. Usually, I’ll have an idea in my head of what I want to shoot, and ideas about how to make that happen. I try to keep it as simple as possible, with few props or things that I already have. In terms of wardrobe, I use combinations of clothes that I usually would wear. If you live with someone else, you could ask them if they don’t mind you using some of their pieces for a home photoshoot. The more you think about what you want to shoot, even if that involves creating a mood board, the more you’ll be able to figure out how to achieve it.

2. Lighting

The most important and basic part of a home photoshoot. Good lighting will ensure you’re taking good quality photos, that won’t be grainy or have strange looking shadows! Try shooting in natural light, in the morning or afternoon and not in the middle of the day when the sunlight is too strong. If you can’t shoot outside, then shoot near a natural light source like a window.

3. Editing

Sometimes, home photo shoots need a little bit of help. I find with mine, a good overlay in Photoshop helps to figure out lighting issues or reduces some of the noise or grain in the photo. My advice is to go easy on the retouching though, there’s definitely a line where a photoshopped image crosses a line and becomes “too much”, taking away from the integrity of the photo.

Here are a few examples of a recent home photoshoot of mine. I draped a plain white sheet over an ottoman, and collected a large rush looking thing (I’m not a botanist, don’t come for me) to add as an interesting prop. These images are lightly retouched in Photoshop, more so to correct some lighting and grain issues, because I shot these on my iPhone.