Indoor Shots now...

Last week I had to shoot an outdoor scene in my studio and make the scene look like it was actually outdoors. This week, I was expected to build a set in my studio that looked like an indoor scene. I couldn't use an indoor scene that was already built (for instance, taking my camera to my living room and shooting a scene there); I had to build something from scratch in my studio to represent an indoor scene. This scene had to have both vertical and horizontal surfaces, and I had to use those surfaces along with appropriate props to create a scene that was relevant and cohesive.

In keeping with the sleeping theme (I must have a "thing" for sleeping scenes), I decided to build a bed. I have a queen sized headboard in my garage that isn't being used right now, but I'm just too in love with that bed to get rid of it. So it sits... waiting for us to move into a house large enough for this bed to be assembled again.

Morning tea, anybody?

Rather than lugging the whole bed out and assembling it in my studio, I decided to only use the headboard. The linens are on a foldable table. I just purchased some panel boards to use in my final project (where I'll build a different indoor scene), and decided to get an extra use out of it. They sat behind the headboard so that a "bedroom wall" was present.

I purposefully used blankets and sheets that had various textures, and lit them so that the differences were evident. The red blanket is obviously fluffy and soft, the gold blanket is more silky.

There is a rule in art that says the brightest/lightest object in an image is the focal point. Open a magazine and study the images inside. Pay attention to where your eyes go first. Is it the brightest thing in the image? Of course, like many rules, this one can be easily broken. But there has to be a reason for breaking an artistic rule.

For this image, I used that rule for my benefit. I chose a white tea set so that it wouldn't compete against the plaid pattern in the pillows behind it, nor would it get lost in the warm colors of the gold and red blankets. The tea set is my set's "hero", so to speak. It needs to stand out while also being part of the scene. So I used colors to accomplish this.

I also had to set up my lights to look like the indoor scene that I was trying to replicate. I used my super huge soft box (I like to call him Zeus) and the overhead light inside of my garage. In fact, I set up the "bed" under the light in my garage so that it could be the "bedroom light" for the room I built. Zeus was just there to fill in the shadows. Here's what the scene looked like when I stepped back. You can see the table legs that are the "bed", the clamps holding up the "wall", and my super organizational skills by putting all bikes on the wall to the side. ;)

The set in my studio. This was fun!