Apple's Photo Booth app is (in this author's humble opinion) one of the greatest inventions to hit the tech scene. It's the best cure for boredom and has even created a whole new acronym for blogging: the GPOY (gratuitous picture of yourself). At the end of the day, though, you don't need a professional photographer to take a great portrait anymore; a simple stack of books and point-and-shoot is all you really need. But if you want to take your home portraits to the next level, A Cup of Jo's Joanna Goddard has three simple steps (yep, just three — it's that easy).
All you need to do is place a chair in front of a well-lit window, tape a fun background on the wall behind the chair (wallpaper, a blanket), and prop up a white piece of board to reflect the light onto the subject. It's up to you where you place your camera, but we'd suggest cropping in close enough to your subject's face, so the background fills the frame. That's it. Post that puppy to Facebook and watch the likes roll right in. You can thank us (and Jo!) later for the ego boost. (A Cup of Jo)
Photo: Courtesy of Joanna Goddard.