I love bokeh in the background of pictures! Bokeh is the out of focus area or blur in the background of a picture. Lights are significantly affected by depth so you can create different effects by moving your subject closer and farther away from the background.
I removed my couch from my living room so I could use that space on the wall for my Christmas lights. I used colored Christmas lights for my backdrop. I originally planned to use white Christmas lights but found the colored ones first so I went with those. I think the colorful lights work well for children’s portraits.
I hung my Christmas lights from a rope but you could attach your lights to the wall with tape or tacks if you don’t mind holes in the wall. I closed the curtain on the nearest window to darken my background and make the lights pop. Generally you want more light in front of your subject, not behind.
I didn’t use any professional studio lighting in these photos so you could easily set this up in your house as long as you have enough natural light. I had a large amount of natural light coming in from 5 windows. In some of the photos, I also used my Neewer Pro CN-160 LED light for some even lighting on the face (since most of my light was coming in from the left) You can purchase one from Amazon very cheap but they are well worth the money.
Besides proper light, you need space!! The farther away you are, the bigger the bokeh.
In this photo you can tell my uncooperative model is very close to the backdrop.
In this photo, my little model is about 8 feet from the backdrop…
And in this photo my subject is about 12 feet from the backdrop. This background (to me) is much more ideal.
You’ll need plenty of distance between the subject and background and a wide aperture lens. I used an 85mm f/1.8 for all of these photos above.
Here’s 9 other photography backdrop ideas you could easily create for a fun photo shoot or a photo booth at a party!
Disclaimer: This post is brought to you by christmaslightsetc.com. All views and opinions are my own.
I was looking at the light that you posted, it says that it is for video…does that make a difference in using it for photography? It’s pretty inexpensive and I’m looking for some lighting!
No definitely no difference! It’s really nothing fancy and can make your camera pretty heavy but it’s super cheap! There are some really great video reviews online that show you how bright the light gets. I hardly ever turn my light up the max unless I’m bouncing the light off another source. I absolutely would recommend trying it out! It’s worth the 30 bucks…
Cute backdrop ideas! Thanks for sharing!
These are great pictures!! I love the background.
Hi Amy! I love these backdrop ideas! I think it’ll help me take better pictures now =) Just stopping by to let you know that you’ve been featured at this week’s Get Crafty Friday! I hope you will stop by and share with us again this week. Have a wonderful weekend!
-Amy
Love these! Such cute ideas, I was trying to figure out what the heck bokeh meant at first, lol!
Love the lights idea! Great tips, and the photos look awesome!
Amy, these are great ideas for photos, Im always trying to think of something unique.
Your little girl is beautiful!!!
Thanks for visiting this week.
Oh My Heartsie Girl
Karren
These are wonderful homemade ideas for backdrops and so much cuter than the traditional backdrops. Now all I need is a better DLSR camera.
Those are really nice backgrounds! I hope to try this one day.
this is awesome! will have to try with my kids for xmas
Awesome ideas thank you
Love this idea! Thanks for the step-by-step instructions. Makes it seem like something I could do! 🙂
what were the camera settings?
Thanks for the hints. Love your final pics. I was wondering what you used for the floor your daughter is laying on?
The floor is actually just the wood floors in my house. Nothing special. 🙂
How did you use the neewer light? I only have two small windows in my house that don’t provide a lot of light :(. Would you bounce the light off something or what?
I just had mine attached to the camera pointing at my subject. You could set it up and bounce it off a reflector though.
Great detailed tutorials for creating inexpensive back drops.. Loved each of them!
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Thanks for the inspo I only have a day to prepare for my Xmas sessions!! So this has given me some great ideas ?
Love it
Just a word: AMAZING. Loved the background ideas. ?
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