Living Room Studio for Christmas Portraits

My parents were in need of new portraits of themselves to share with family members for Christmas this year. Once we agreed on a day where we were all available, I brought my studio cases to them and set up my lights and backdrop in their living room. I had about five feet from left to right for the width of the room with the sofa on one side, and for length it was about ten feet from where I could stand to my backdrop stands. Not a large studio shooting space for any photographer, but we decided that full length poses would be impractical, so we focused on 1/2 to 3/4 length poses. We started with my hand-dyed fabric backdrop and some simple poses both standing and seated. 

I photographed both my parents individually as well as together. I also shot portraits of my brother and sister and my nieces and their friend who happened to come over unexpectedly. Once we were finished with the fabric backdrop, I brought out my seamless white paper for some high key closeup portraits. The white paper is not wide enough for multiple people, which is why I only use it for individuals. I rearranged my lights several times throughout the session, moving them closer or farther and up or down to change the direction of the shadows. My kit for this session included two umbrellas, one large soft box, a home-made strip light, a collapsible silver reflector, two backdrops and backdrop support stands.