Capturing Relaxed Personality Portraits in Natural Light with Ceiling Tiles Backdrops
Some of us are fortunate enough to live where winters are mild. For us, weather doesn’t confine portrait activity to the studio for months at a time. Being able to arrange for outdoor settings means better, more natural and softer lighting and more relaxed shoots. You’ve seen how hard it can be to get a subject to relax in the studio, how much time is spent in making small talk and maybe explaining your equipment in an effort to get the spontaneous smile or laugh that really reveals the person and the personality you’re trying to capture in your images.
Personal portraits don’t need to be in the studio. You can more easily capture the shots you want when your subject is more relaxed. You want them comfortable, at ease and at home with their surroundings. Outdoors offers the opportunities for natural settings in combination with studio settings that let people feel natural and relaxed. Light is natural and you won’t need to set up studio lighting to get the effect you’re after.
Working outdoors does not mean we need to stick to a shallow depth of field to keep portrait details well defined against a busy background. My best results have been to take some of the studio outdoors with me. I can achieve the settings I would have used in the studio in natural outdoor lighting. The combination rocks! It produces innovative Images that have life and dimension to them.
What kind of studio settings can be used outdoors? My favorite backdrops have character and add their own atmosphere wherever I use them. They are lightweight, durable and inexpensive: ceiling tiles! Available in classic white and metallic looks like Faux Tin PVC Tiles in shades of bronze and copper or even real tin tiles that you can get with or without paint and in finishes like polished copper or brass. These tiles are available in any color under the sun, the good folks at Decorative Ceiling Tiles will even hand paint your tiles to your specifications. To use tiles in the studio I have mounted different colors and textures on individual lightweight boards. The boards are made of 1/4" plywood stabilized on the back with narrow wood strips. This makes handling, mounting and storage of my backdrops easier than changing a backdrop drape. I built my own stands that can hold the tiled boards upright or at just about any angle. I’m using velcro straps and a simple lightweight stand 
With a board mounted on the stand I could arrange a drape if the situation needs that, but nearly all of my best portrait images use a backdrop of ceiling tiles and have a distinctly different look than indoor portraits: lighter, more relaxed and spontaneous. The natural outdoor light can be manipulated with the colors and textures of the tiles. Because the ceiling tiles have a sculpted surface there are no sharp shadows like you can get with flat walls and artificial lighting. At the most I carry a collapsible reflector to direct and tinge the light if it’s needed.
I belong to a photo group that helps amateur photographers learn techniques. After sharing my ceiling tiles tips with them, a few of the pros in the group have shared several shots with me. These are using outdoor daylight and ceiling tiles backdrops and I think you’ll agree it is a nice, easy look in these portraits.
 148 Faux Tin Ceiling Tile Can be Hand Painted |
 2414 Tin Ceiling Tile Classic Al Fresco |