Find inspiration in the everyday when shooting portraits at home

Professional portrait and fashion photographer, rising TikTok star and keen Instagrammer Michaela Efford has built a worldwide following on social media. Her success is partly due to sharing 'how-to' videos offering creative inspiration and guidance to photographers with wide-ranging levels of expertise.

Like many of us, Michaela felt somewhat stifled during lockdown and was keen to find outlets for her creativity. She turned limitations on her work to her advantage, using everyday items and different locations around her house to bring creative flair to stay-at-home shoots.

"I was thinking about how I could create dreamy photos at home and how I could experiment with lighting," she says. "I used Pinterest as inspiration for the kind of images I wanted to create and saw how other photographers had gone about shooting them. Music videos are another great springboard for creative ideas."

Here are some of her top tips and tricks for shooting creative portraits in your home.

Coming up with creative ideas is often the biggest challenge when shooting at home. "I usually try to get an image in my head of how I want the shoot to turn out," says Michaela. "I think about which colours will go together, what materials to use, and whether or not to include a backdrop. I love to use unconventional materials, like glass and tin foil."

Michaela says she always approaches a shoot with an idea but doesn't necessarily stick to it. She advises others to be open to their plans evolving during a shoot and to think outside the box. "Even when I'm shooting at home, I don't allow myself to be limited by any four walls. Different rooms around the house can give a different look and feel to images, so I'd advise you to not stick to a single location."

She advises others to focus on the kind of mood they want to convey when coming up with a concept for a shoot. "Pinterest comes in handy for looking at alternative styles, and I often make a mini mood board which helps to work out which props, materials and colours I want to use," she says. "It's important to be flexible and open to alternatives, rather than being too formulaic."

Stuck at home, Michaela realised the objects and rooms around her could work as a studio, with a little creative touch. "I have some beautiful objects and ornaments around my home, which I took for granted before lockdown," she says. "Seeing them every day, it's like they became invisible. Staying at home made me look at them with fresh eyes and I started to think about how I could include them creatively in shoots."

Michaela is a firm believer that good photography starts with the quality of light. "I use my sitting room or bedroom for most of my home shoots, as they have the best light in the morning, but different rooms work better at other times of the day," she says. If you're shooting at home, take a look at these tips for making your own home studio.

For self-portraits, and for videos that she posts on TikTok, Michaela prefers to focus on head-and-shoulders shots. "Working out poses for full-body shots can be awkward with so many limbs involved, and I think close-ups are more engaging anyway," she adds.

"When I'm doing self-portraits, I use a remote controller or the camera's self-timer. A lot of recent Canon cameras have vari-angle screens which are great for putting yourself in the picture. If I'm shooting someone else, I'll still often start with self-portraits to work out the best lighting and how the props and backgrounds all work together, then just go from there."

Michaela shoots with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, after falling in love with the EOS 5D-series cameras when she started out as a photographer. "Now though, I'm really tempted by the mirrorless Canon EOS R6. I've seen photographers using it for Fashion Week shoots. It's so compact and lightweight, and I've seen spectacular results for both stills and video."

You don't need to stretch to the expense of buying a full-frame camera to get striking results, however. Both the interchangeable-lens Canon EOS M50 Mark II and the compact Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III offer superb performance for both stills and 4K UHD video capture.

"I'm totally sold on Canon cameras because I love the way they handle colour," Michaela continues. "It's something I researched before buying and it's really paid off in my work. When it comes to portrait lenses, my go-to choices are the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM and the EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM. The natural perspective really suits the way I shoot, and the wide aperture gives me great control over depth of field."

Michaela is very keen to try the Canon RF 35mm F1.8 IS Macro STM lens. Like the Canon EOS RP and EOS R6 camera bodies, it's conveniently compact but delivers outstanding image quality and all-round performance, while adding the bonus of hybrid optical image stabilisation and the versatility of 0.5x macro magnification for extreme close-ups.

If you're shooting portraits of a friend, Michaela recommends giving them effective direction on how you want them to pose. "I'm better with body language than words so, for poses, I'll act out what I want people to do rather than telling them," she says. "It's more natural and interactive. And it's really important that people do feel as natural and comfortable as possible."

"When I'm shooting video for TikTok, I always try to capture some behind-the-scenes footage to edit in later. It adds a whole extra level of interest and people are often fascinated by seeing how a shot comes together."

If you experiment with shooting portraits you'll discover your own style. "Be confident and don't be afraid to express yourself," says Michaela. "Follow other photographers for inspiration but, as you develop your own style, stay true to it and celebrate being unique."


Written by Matthew Richards