5 Tips for Variety in the (Home) Studio

Friday 3 October 2025, 12:24 by Elja Trum | 2,236 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

When you think of studio photography, you might picture a standard portrait against a white or black background. But there is much more you can do in a studio. And that can just as easily be a home studio.

Make use of props

Props are movable objects that you add to your image alongside your model and background. For example, a musical instrument, a book or a box to sit on.

Julia - f/4.5, 1/160s, 100 ISO @ 85mm
A prop gives the image a bit more to look at and can contribute to the story you want to tell. Another useful thing is that a prop gives your model something to do. This quickly gives you more natural-looking photos instead of very posed photos,

Use a few strips of wallpaper in the background

For some variety in your background, it can be fun to buy a few rolls of wallpaper, perhaps with different designs. Use double-sided tape to stick them to a wall and place your model in front of it. A few strips of wallpaper are usually more than enough.

Kristina - f/8, 1/160s, 100 ISO @ 100mm
The double-sided tape makes the wallpaper easy to remove and replace with a new design, for example.

Create a 'room'

If you work in a home studio, it is of course easier to use an existing room, but it can also be great fun to create a room in a studio. It does not have to be very elaborate.

Using the wallpaper from the previous tip, a few curtains and a sofa bed, I recreated this bedroom in my studio, for example.

Nikola - f/5.6, 1/160s, 100 ISO @ 70mm
I let the flash light fall indirectly through the curtains. This gives me lovely soft light and makes it look realistic, like a bedroom window.

Make it rain

It is rainy outside today, so it might be fun to bring that feeling into your studio too. With a sheet of perspex and a plant mister, you can turn any space into a drizzly day, even when the sun is shining outside.

Danien - f/4, 1/160s, 100 ISO @ 75mm

Add smoke and colour filters

By adding smoke and colour to your studio, you can create unusual photos. Colour filters are inexpensive and you can attach them in front of your flashes with a piece of tape. Do not let them touch the modelling light, as it gets very hot.

A smoke machine is affordable too, and the smoke fluid will probably last you for years. In my view, it is well worth buying for the great effects you can create with it.

Marinthe - f/9, 1/160s, 100 ISO @ 72mm
Use the smoke machine to place the smoke behind your model and in front of your flashes. That often works best, but do experiment with smoke and flash light coming from several directions too.

Fancy trying it out in the studio?

Do you have little or no studio experience? Then doing a studio shoot, even at home, can be difficult. Where do you start? Which settings should you use, and how do you actually find a model?

Sound familiar? Then why not join my Portrait Photography in the Studio Workshop.

With my help, you will work in the Photofacts studio, where all the photos in this article were taken. In one day, you will discover how to take beautiful studio photos yourself, including in your own home studio with affordable equipment.

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