Make your first portfolio look professional and dramatic using cellophane paper.

by Jamie m.

Nowadays, learning photographers always look for ideas to shoot their first portfolios, including everything from finding perfect objects to clothes, makeup, hair, locations, and many more. This article is a good read if you are a newbie photographer.

The most concerning part of making your first portfolio is deciding on the perfect light and background to make your photos look crisp and professional. Since you need to be creative within a limited budget, choose all material that goes easy on your pocket. You would be good to go if you order some cellophane paper online in different colors without breaking your bank by buying expensive backgrounds. They are cheap but versatile props that make your portfolio look very professional and creative at the same time, thus polishing your photography skills without spending too much money.

Your model for photography can be anyone and anything. If it is a person, then start with your model’s dresses. Pre-plan everything on a piece of paper and begin with what color clothes do you need? Do not overdo the model’s clothes or makeup.

If your object is something like a car in a showroom or a product like food or cosmetics, you should make sure that your backdrops are of a single solid color to make your product look crisp and clear. Keep everything minimal because the “less is the new more” philosophy works well in photography.

Backdrop made out of cellophane paper

You do not need very costly backgrounds for your pictures in your first portfolio, as you have already spent a lot buying your desired photography gear. A creative mind is enough to make ordinary things look extraordinary and beautiful simultaneously. There are so many ways to make your backdrop colorful; one of them is that you either buy a chroma and set the color of your choice in the editing. Though this is the easiest way, chroma can be heavy on pockets, and also, the colors sometimes make the great pictures appear artificial.

Here is what you can do. Buy a white backdrop and work around the cellophane paper. If you have strobe lights to click your product portraits, wrap cellophane paper of any color around them. It will make the white color appear colorful and textured to get your desired color backdrop. You can also make your backdrop a multi-colored one by cutting different colors of cellophane paper and sticking them to your strobe lights.

The best part about it is that these cellophane papers are not hefty in the pockets, and there are hundreds of cellophane paper suppliers everywhere around the world.

Results!

Here you go! With just one prop, a cellophane paper, you can create hundreds of different color backdrops and even filters to make your portfolio look versatile and full of colors. Nobody could make it out if the background you used is fake or accurate, and that is precisely what is needed. You have to fake it until you make it.

Work on your shots until you get that one shot to show off and display as one of your best works ever.

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