Good photos without a studio

So, the truth is that I sew in the finished attic of my 2 bedroom apartment. I climb the stairs in the dark because the stairway is off our bedroom and most often I sew when Matt is asleep. We have two extra beds up in that room, plus my dresser, two sewing desks, an arm chair .... Ok, my point is that I don't have room for a photo studio set up.

Like it or not, a good photo sells an item. A bad photo does bupkis to sell an item.

What's a girl to do when she hasn't got a spare inch of space.

Enter my backyard. Green privacy fence with laundry line strapped to it. Add a few low-hanging tree branches, a handful of toys, and a bright orange water hose.

It's not a photo studio.

But that photo above was taken in my backyard, up against that ugly fence.

I hung two white bedsheets (over each other so it's not see-through) off the tree above the fence, using two clothespins. The resulting photos were okay, but you could see the lines in the bedsheet from folding, as well as the shadowing.

Using Photoshop Elements, I selected the lighten tool in brushes with blurred edge and cleaned up the wrinkles and shadows.

Boom. Easy as pie.