How to Create a Window Backdrop for Your Studio Portrait Setup

Photography Tips  •  Portrait Photography  •  Studio Photography

A simple, solid seamless backdrop has more than the obvious applications. With a bit of creativity, you can transform it into a dungeon wall complete with a window, as Jay P Morgan demonstrates:

For this particular setting, Morgan used a charcoal gray seamless and cut an arched shaped window into it. He used tape to design the iron bars in the window and fired a strong light through the window to produce a shaft of light going in the model’s direction.

Morgan placed the light source producing the shaft of light in the next room (the working space was cramped). He used a blue gel on this light in order to give it a cooler feel.

The placement of the light was key, because the requirement was to have a shaft of light going toward the model.

You can be really creative with the window design on the seamless. You can cut four or more smaller windows, use diffusers on all of them or some of them and change the look of the whole thing.

Morgan filled the room with smoke to produce a thick atmosphere that you normally associate with a dark dungeon.

Several other lights and a fill card were also used for the set. Here is a complete diagram of the setup.

Dungeon Lighting Setup

The fill card had a half-CTO over it that bounced off a warm fill light.

Although professional lighting and other tools were used, it’s hard to deny that the DIY aspects of the shoot really added a punch.