Fabric Backdrop

Remember this cutie patootie from my Bow Tie Tutorial?

I promised I would show you how I got this cute picture.
I am not a professional photographer by any means,
but I do enjoy taking pictures of my children from time to time.
And I love changing it up and fabric is the perfect way to do that.

– Supplies –

One yard of beautiful Designer Fabric
(I used Red Ribbon Wonderland from Flurry by Kate Spain for Moda.)
Packaging tape
One yard Minky fabric (Optional)

This is the easiest tutorial ever. 🙂

Using your packaging tape, tape your fabric up to a wall.

Choose a wall that is near a window or a glass sliding door.
Natural light is key in getting great pictures.

I placed some white Minky fabric down because I don’t like the look of my carpet in the picture.
If you have wood floors, you could definitely just use those! 🙂

You could also get more fabric and have it come out onto the carpet and the child can sit on it.

Put your child down and you’re good to go!
I suggest doing this right after a feeding and a nap. It usually goes better. 🙂

I take pictures with my regular point and shoot camera.

The key is to NOT use your flash.
Just rely on the natural lighting.
This may be in the morning or afternoon, depending on where your window is.

If you need more light, you can wrap cardboard with aluminum foil
and use that to bounce light on the subject.

Here is a picture of the back of a general camera.

Most cameras have these buttons on them.

Do you see the +/- box in the main circle?
That is for exposure. I use this ALL the time. It makes all my pictures brighter or darker.

I always set it to a portrait setting when photographing the kids.
If I am photographing a finished product, I use a macro setting.
It’s that tulip on the left side of the circle.

Those are my two main things I do when taking pictures.
If you are great with pictures and have anything else to add, feel free. 🙂

Then I edit my pictures on Picnik.com.
(Picnik.com is no longer available, but another great website is Picmonkey.com)
It’s a free photo editing website.
I pay for the premium package, but most of what I use is free.

In Picnik I change the size of my pictures, brighten/contrast, fix color, sharpen, and add fun features.

If the photo is a little yellow, I use the colors tab under Basic Edits.
I click on the neutral picker, bring the dropper over to the picture and click on the most yellow spot.
I usually click on a few different spots to see what looks best to me.
This evens out the tone of the picture.

If I like the color of the picture, just not how dark it is, I go to the Exposure tab.
This would be next after you change the color of the picture as well.

I always increase the brightness and contrast up to my liking.
It’s something fun to play around with and see what you like.

You can also crop and resize the photos on this page.

Then if you want to go even farther, the effects tab can be a lot of fun!

I did everything above (except the color) and then “winterized”
my photos to get these cute pictures of my kids.

We had a lot of fun and you can too!
Just grab some cute designer fabric from
The Ribbon Retreat to use as a backdrop for beautiful memories. 🙂