Lighting is always important in a photoshoot, even when the subjects are inanimate and there’s no light coming out of them. When shooting with a retro-inspired theme, it’s often best to use backlighting instead of hard, artificial lighting. This gives your subjects a warm glow that lends to the overall nostalgic feel and can even make some of the colors in your scene appear richer.
You can’t deny that retro is all the rage right now. From fashion to décor, the ’60s and ’70s have made a big comeback. A retro-inspired theme can be achieved with a few simple touches. You can decorate with vintage-inspired pieces that will set the tone for your space, from artwork to furniture. Retro-inspired lighting can also set the perfect mood for your photos.
Here Are Tips for a Retro-Inspired Theme, Achieved with Proper Lighting:
Select a Theme for Consistency
Consistency is key in photography. Unless you let your clients know the look and feel of all previous shoots, they will expect more of the same. The same goes for choosing a theme for your next photography session. When your clients know what to expect, they can prepare accordingly. Lighting is one of the most important aspects of photography because it enables photographers to control the mood and tone of the images. Take, for instance, this retro-styled composition. Light from a flash would create harsh shadows on this image, but the trick here is using natural light to create selective shadows. The photographer decided to position her subject off-center in every shot to do this. By keeping her subject off-center, she achieved a retro-inspired theme.
Capture Overly Posed Spontaneous-Looking Images
Do you want to use your phone camera to take better, more spontaneous-looking photos? Then play with the color of your lighting, but use proper lighting techniques first. The Retro-Inspired theme lets you try a different style of photography with a classic Retro look. The effect is achieved by using light and shadow. The Retro-Inspired theme also lets you add drama to your images with dramatic dark shadow effects. This Retro-inspired theme for photography was created with simplicity in mind. Rather than shooting multiple exposures, the Retro-inspired theme is a simple one-push process. The contrast, colors, and tones are reminiscent of old films, and this theme is perfect for capturing candid and posed photos. The Retro-inspired theme works well with both daylight and artificial light, so regardless of the lighting condition, the Retro-inspired theme will still look its best.
Soft Look
Retro-inspired photography themes are all the rage these days and for a good reason. They can easily transform any photo into a beautiful design with subtle retro touches. But the true beauty of retro-inspired photographs is in their use of lighting. It’s easy to take modern photos in bright, well-lit settings, but retro photos generally look soft, warm, and muted. It is incredibly difficult to take great photographs in low-light situations unless you can somehow physically alter the light level. Fortunately, some tricks can help you capture beautiful images even in low light. Using artificial light is a great way to give your photos that soft, inviting light, and you can achieve this with the use of a diffuser or softbox.
Capture Classical Compositions
Sometimes, we want to capture photos that remind us of our childhood, and what better way to do that than with a retro-inspired color palette? The old-fashioned style is a popular theme for weddings, and vintage-inspired props and themes are very popular in wedding photography. Through the process of photography, I wanted to create a retro-inspired living room. Before jumping headfirst into a room makeover, I tackled the lighting first. The lighting in any room can have a huge impact on how a space looks and feels. As a photographer, I wanted to create the look and feel of a classic portrait shoot with a modern twist. I took inspiration from a 1950’s style photoshoot and incorporated antique vintage props to match.
Capture Black and White or Sepia-Toned Images
In the 1940s and 50s, photographers had to use plain white light to get their photos right. The white-on-white look was the standard, so when people saw slightly tinted images, they assumed they were fashionably vintage. Of course, now that digital images are common, it’s easy to create that look using a photo-editing program. The effect is called sepia toning, and it can be a retro-fabulous addition to your portfolio. In the past, photographers used black and white photography to sharpen images. Instead of using color, photographers added filters to their images to accentuate the defining lines and shadows of a scene. In the same way, today, you may find yourself wanting to feature a retro feel in your images.
You likely have a retro-inspired theme in your home, whether it be a passion for the 50s, 60s, 70s, or 80s, or a fascination with a particular decade. These themes are easy, inexpensive, and fairly simple to achieve if you have the right combination of decor and furniture.
A retro-inspired theme is all the rage these days, but many older cameras can’t capture these images at the quality that modern photographers demand. With proper lighting, you can capture great photographs that look like they were taken with an older film camera.
