Sometimes, location-based photography isn’t going to cut it. Whether it’s bad weather or it just doesn’t fit the concept, sometimes your list of go-to locations simply won’t work for your photoshoot.

For me, this is usually the case for my more “themed” photoshoots: think monochromatic shoots, editorial style photos, or anything you may want a professional studio for. Professional studios, however, cost money. And while creating a mini studio at home also costs money, it costs a lot less.

Here’s how I go about creating a photoshoot set at home, without breaking the bank. This is the process I’ve used a lot over the month of February, due to the amount of self-portrait shoots I’ve done at home this month. However, the same things can be adapted and applied to whatever your photoshoot needs are.

Step 1: What’s Your Theme?

Before beginning to create your set, you need to nail down what your theme or concept is. I’ve recently started creating mood boards to help me solidify my ideas, so those can be super helpful to flesh out your concepts.

Step 2: Scout Your Home

Scouting your location is still important, even when shooting at home. You may be surprised how many interesting locations your home actually has– it just takes looking in a different, creative eye to find them. I’ve shot in showers, bathrooms, boiler-type rooms. Anything that sparks some inspiration is a good start.

Part of this scouting should also be looking for props or set pieces you might want to use in your photoshoot set. Furniture pieces can be great for this: move them around or dress them up in some way, and your photoshoot set can be pretty much complete at this step.

The last thing about scouting in your home should be keeping an eye out for lighting in your home. Depending on your concept, different lighting will be needed. How can you achieve this lighting in your home? Take note of lighting in different rooms at different times of day. Should you shoot opposite windows, or try to find a more secluded room with minimal natural lighting? How do the light fixtures affect your shoot– are the bulbs fluorescent or incandescent? These will all affect how you create a set at home.

Step 3: Buying Props and Set Pieces

After a thorough scouting of deciding what your location is and what props/set pieces you already have, you should have a pretty good idea of what you need to buy. When buying additional things for your photoshoot set, I’d recommend keeping it simple, so you can reuse items for multiple shoots. This will help to set off costs in some way because of the use you’ll get out of your items. Dollar Tree has been great for this in my experience. I bought a bunch of wrapping papers, plastic tablecloths, and poster boards all for a dollar or less than I’m able to use and reuse as backdrops.

If you need to buy wardrobe pieces, specialty props, or other more specific pieces, still try to go as cheap as you can. Borrow from friends, check out convenience stores (I bought a four dollar box of chocolates at CVS for my Valentine’s Day shoot), or look at your local thrift stores. These will allow you to get a more specific photoshoot set while still not breaking the bank.

Step 4: Put It All Together!

After you have everything necessary, put together your items in your chosen photoshoot set location. I just use masking tape to hang my backdrops, and try to keep everything pretty temporary so I can take it down or change it whenever necessary– this is my home, after all, and not an actual studio.

It’s important to remember to stay flexible, and use all your creativity. You can create some really amazing shots, all from the comfort of your home. This is even more important right now, while COVID is still a concern for many of us.

Let me know how you set up your photoshoot sets! I’d love to hear about them. Until next time!