As a portrait photographer, I’m always looking for new props that don’t cost a fortune – especially when the holidays roll around. Last year, I bought a can of cheap spray snow, a vintage window from Facebook Marketplace, and I used it to frame cozy Christmas portraits.
I was looking for two key things when I created this Christmas photo setup. First, I wanted to take Christmas photos indoors after the previous year’s freezing temperatures made my holiday sessions a bit miserable. Second, I wanted to give families with young kids something to do besides sit and smile at the camera.
Idea in mind, I found an old window on Facebook Marketplace. You could also use an actual window that’s still firmly where it belongs, but I wanted the freedom to move around a bit. If you don’t want the decorative window grids, you could also use the glass from an oversized picture frame. I only spent about $10 on the window.
After cleaning up the old window, I used a can of spray snow to look like frost on the edges. This admittedly took more time than I expected. I wanted to use the window in several shots, and I didn’t want to have to repeatedly Photoshop poorly placed snow, so I wiped it away when I wasn’t happy and redid the spray until it looked how I wanted. (I recommend practicing how to hold the spray can on a piece of newspaper or paper first.)
Once I had the window, I did a practice session with my own family – which I highly recommend before trying the setup with clients. Getting the window to frame the shots just right proved to be the biggest challenge. I ended up using my wide-angle lens instead of my 50mm portrait favorite because I wanted more than one square of the window grid in the final shot.
The other challenge was holding the window in place. I used the oversized tote bag that I packed my Christmas decorations in to rest the bottom of the window on. When I did my test shots, I just held it upright (which is actually more of an arm workout than it sounds). The second time that I did the shot, I used oversized clamps at the bottom of the window to help hold it in place over the top of a tote box.
The snowy window setup was probably one of my more challenging Christmas portraits that I’ve done – but I loved the results. I mixed the window with Christmas decorations that I already owned, including a blanket and book of holiday stories, and in a burst of last-minute inspiration, grabbed my son’s toy train, which was fantastic for getting newly mobile toddlers to sit still long enough for photos.
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