Portrait Photography How To

Have you ever wished you had a few serious strobes and light modifiers so you could shoot professional looking portraits? If so, save your cash because in the video below you’ll learn how to turn your bathroom into a giant softbox and use window light to work some magic.

Jay P. Morgan has over two decades of commercial studio experience, as well as a unique ability to help others improve their photography with simple and affordable techniques. In just about three-minutes, Morgan demonstrates how to create a “bathroom studio” and use it to shoot some very nice portraits.

Morgan creates a simple background by taping black paper to a door facing the window.  If one of your bathroom walls faces the window you can put your background there instead. If the bathroom window isn’t frosted, simply cover it with tracing paper to soften the light.

As Morgan explains, frosted windows (or those covered with tracing paper) cut light levels significantly, so you’ll likely be shooting at slow shutter speeds and that means using a tripod.

You can find more innovative ideas on Morgan’s YouTube channel, and be sure to watch our earlier tutorial on using window light with bounce flash for flattering home portraits.