Looking to try something new for your holiday portrait projects this year? Incorporating DIY elements can give you a bunch of out-of-the-box ideas, as fashion and beauty photographer Lindsay Adler demonstrates in a recent shoot!

In the Adorama video above, Adler shares some ideas for creating elegant and impactful holiday portraits on a budget. Likewise, it won’t take you much time and effort to set everything up in the studio. All you need is one light and some inexpensive Christmas ornaments to “dress up” your model with.

For this shoot, Adler used a bunch of $15 glitter poinsettias to create a sparkling top and headpiece. Next, her team decided to use the classic holiday color palette of red, green and gold. The deep red/burgundy background gave a touch of elegance to the festive mood of the gold ornaments and green eye make up.

Next, to complete the setup, Adler used a single Profoto Beauty Dish with a grid. This allowed her to create soft but sculpted light on her model’s face. As for the gear, she paired a Canon R5 with a Canon RF 24-105mm f/4. This gave her the flexibility of wider focal lengths for wide shots that showcase the top and headpiece.

Got some cool ideas for DIY styling for holiday portraits? Share them with us in the comments below, or in our group discussion if you’re already part of the Photofocus Community!