Using a Set Background

SCOTT KELBY

If you’re shooting in the studio a lot, it won’t be long before you get bored with shooting on white, gray, and black seamless paper, and the easy way to leverage those is to create your own sets (don’t worry—it’s much easier than you’d think). Notice I didn’t say “build your own sets” (that’s too much work). So, to make this work, you’ll need to: (1) Go to your local Salvation Army, Goodwill, or thrift store (or keep an eye out at garage sales) for things like room dividers with shutters, large frames, coffee tables, an old couch, lamps on stands, basically just “stuff” to go in the background. It really doesn’t matter that much what it is because of #2 and #3. Now, (2) you need to create some depth between your white, gray, or black seamless and your subject, then put your set pieces in between them (so it goes: seamless, a few feet of empty space, then your set pieces, a few more feet, then your subject—to see the setup for the shot on the right above, go to www.kelbytraining.com/books/digphotogv3). Then (and this is key), (3) you need to shoot at a pretty wide open aperture like f/4, or f/2.8, so the background elements are thrown so far out of focus that you can’t tell if your shot was taken in a large mansion, or in a bedroom, or in a studio. I’m consistently amazed at how well just putting a few simple things in the background can look when you follow rules #2 and #3. Also, if you find anything you can hang off a boom stand—so it looks like it’s hanging from a ceiling in the background—that will help sell the effect big time. Remember, what makes this work is the depth between your background, your set pieces, and your subject, and the very shallow depth of field. You’ll be amazed at the results.