Rainbow Photoshoot (Fun At Home Set Ups)
Our annual Rainbow Photoshoot at home has become quite the tradition! I love fun at home set ups. Every year I claim it’s our last year to take this photo on St. Patrick’s Day. Then I’ll come up with a fresh idea, or my daughters will start asking about what we’re going to do! I suppose this tradition will just keep going as long as they are interested.
Do you have any random or unique photo traditions in your family?
In case we haven’t met, my name is Kelley Hoagland and I’m a newborn and family photographer near Chattanooga, TN. Obviously, my favorite subjects are my own daughters! I try to plan little sessions with them and capture candid moments any chance I get!
How Our St. Patrick’s Day Photo Tradition Started
Our Rainbow Photoshoot tradition started in 2020. The week of St. Patricks’ Day was when everything shut down in my area. My then 2 year old and 4 year old daughters no longer had a Mother’s Day Out program to attend. My part time healthcare job went virtual. We had to cancel a much needed get-away my husband and I had been planning for my birthday. However, my husband continued to go into work due to being a home healthcare provider at the time.
Needless to say, it was a bleak week.
Since my daughters wouldn’t be doing any festive activities at their preschool program, I decided to make them happen on my own. We watched some clips about the real St. Patrick, listened to Celtic Music and made a festive treat. As a photographer (who knew her business was now on hold due to a pandemic), I had to take a photo.
I had seen inspiration for a lay flat rainbow photo on social media. Looking around the house, our shelves full of storybooks were an obvious choice. It was so easy to find every color of the rainbow! It also felt like a very natural part of our everyday life. My daughters thoroughly enjoyed helping arrange them.
A Tradition Was Born
The next year, we had added a new member to our family! She obviously had to be included in a fun rainbow photo. So we set it all up again, this time with blocks.
The tradition has carried on year after year. I generally try to use objects around the house that represent a current interest or our stage of life. 2025 is our 6th year doing a Rainbow Photoshoot! It is so fun to look back and see how the girls have grown and changed with each passing year.
I told my oldest this year that she’ll have to be my art director next year. She’s very crafty. Maybe I’ll buy her some yarn and have her crochet a rainbow for us! I think she’s up to the challenge.
What I Use to Create Our Rainbow Photoshoot
Every year but the first, I have used flash to create lighting for our images. This is partially because I’m trying to maintain a consistent look through the years. My other reason is the weather. The middle of March commonly has stormy weather in my area. I can remember more than one wet, foggy and gloomy St. Patrick’s Day at our house.
This year when I was setting up our Rainbow Photoshoot, the sun kept dipping in and out from behind clouds. The light was all over the place. It was annoying because I was trying to film behind the scenes footage using natural light. Thankfully, I wasn’t the least bit concerned about the results of my flash photos!
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For this session, I set up two Godox V1 flashes, off camera. I positioned them so that the light stands were near my daughters’ heads. I wanted the light to fall on them from their foreheads down, rather than under their chins and up their noses (not a flattering look). I triggered my flashes with the Godox Xpro II.
The first two years, I used our gray carpet as a background. The third year of our Rainbow Photoshoot, I switched to using seamless paper in order to offer a brighter background, more in line with my photography style. Specifically, I used 86 inch wide seamless paper from Savage in the color Pure White.
Try Your Own Rainbow Snapshot!
As you can tell from the photos, we’ve used all sorts of different household items to create our Rainbows! We’ve used books, blocks, markers, magnatiles, flowers, and now marshmallows. The marshmallows we used didn’t have purple in them (which is obviously a favorite for my little girls at this age). So I love how they became part of the rainbow this year by wearing purple. I wish I had thought of that touch sooner!
What objects do you have laying around the house that you could turn into a fun Rainbow Photoshoot of your own? I’d love to see the results! Send me a photo or tag me on Instagram! I’m also fully open to suggestions for next year!
This year’s photo may be hard to beat because it included CANDY! We ended up using the green, blue and yellow marshmallows to make festive green rice kristpie treats after the session. That make the whole experience a total win for everyone involved!
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