Creating a Photoshoot on a Budget

Juhamatti Vahdersalo gives us another glimpse in to how he creates scenes in one of his latest projects “Too Much is Never Enough.” With studios potentially spending thousands of dollars to bring sets alive, Vahdersalo walks us through how this setup cost a mere $75. If you don’t remember, we featured his creations in November when he showed everyone what cardboard and a little imagination can do.

“I had this idea of a photo with an environmental aspect that describes greed, gluttony, and overconsumption in our modern world,” Vahdersalo said. “The scenario of this idea is in a rugged living room that has a disgusting and filthy man sitting on an old sofa and he is surrounded by all the waste of the food he has consumed.”

The basics of the set came down to a mask that was purchased inexpensively online, two pieces of plywood roughly painted with paper hung off of them, copious amounts of food containers and drink cans laying around, and a little Photoshop magic. Vahdersalo finished the set off when he ran across a couch left at a recycling center. You can't beat free.

Who else bargain shops for props to prepare for shoots? Resell and consignment shops can have fantastic finds, albeit a little more time consuming to find what your in search for but worth it if your on a budget.

Check out the original article on Bored Panda. You can find more from Vahdersalo on his website and Facebook.

All images used with permission.

[via Bored Panda]

Trey Amick's picture

Trey Amick is a full-time photographer based in Northern VA. Trey found photography as an outlet to the work-life he wanted out of, and after several years made the jump. Trey focuses on landscapes for personal projects but can be found working on commercial projects and weddings as well. Trey also enjoys bladesmithing.

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8 Comments

Love this, I do this for every shoot where I have a wardrobe or a set. It's so much fun to be able to create something from the ground up like this. Good will is my best friend lol

Yeah and the prosthetic makeup came for free too. He was also lucky that it fit perfectly in place on the model's face in a pinch with no one's help. Pretty convenient !

Hi Ron Fya! There was no prosthetic makeup used. Only mask and regular makeup to blend the mask to skin. This was the mask we used :)
https://www.funidelia.fi/aikuisten-juoppo-naamio-43915.html

Good to know. Next time I'll just ask instead of throwing around sarcasms. :D
I have been way too cautious with those kind of posts with some variations of "yeah we did it for 100$ (but please don't pay attention to all the fancy gear, the crazy locations, the great crew we had, the food we ate, the publicity we got, ... all of that just happened to be lying around nearby)"

Well done on this one then ! ;-)

I agree though, some gear is a given in most cases, but a lot of these "cheap" setups depend on some expensive item that someone already owns to make it all work

wow, kudos to that guy...that image is powerful

Really good job ! I like this kind of stuff. Starting from not much, to arrive at a great result ! Bravo !

Great to know! Will keep a look out for more of this genre.