building up a budget studio?

[nucki]

hi folks!

because its another day of lousy weather outside, I've picking up an idea wich I wanted to start in the cold month. so, today we've got 16°C (and that on the 11th of july) and so I thought, ok the cold months are here!

I want to set up a "homemade" studio. because I'm not doing quite a lot of portrait stuff it would be a small 1 room studio. more for macro or product shots. some kind of table top.

The only thing wich is important to me is it had to be cheap! so no original stuff and so on. I want to build everything with stuff from the hardware store. I'm not a pro, so I cant spend several thousand $$$ for a studio.

But, I think it should be possible with low budget and a little bit of cleverness.

I bet anybody of you allready did that! building his/her own lightboxes, tabletops and other gadgets...

will you please share your thoughts and ideas with me...

thanks very much!

best regards
Peter

[DaveG]

hi folks!

because its another day of lousy weather outside, I've picking up an idea wich I wanted to start in the cold month. so, today we've got 16°C (and that on the 11th of july) and so I thought, ok the cold months are here!

I want to set up a "homemade" studio. because I'm not doing quite a lot of portrait stuff it would be a small 1 room studio. more for macro or product shots. some kind of table top.

The only thing wich is important to me is it had to be cheap! so no original stuff and so on. I want to build everything with stuff from the hardware store. I'm not a pro, so I cant spend several thousand $$$ for a studio.

But, I think it should be possible with low budget and a little bit of cleverness.

I bet anybody of you allready did that! building his/her own lightboxes, tabletops and other gadgets...

will you please share your thoughts and ideas with me...

thanks very much!

best regards
Peter

Some things you can build and save money on, and somethings are better if you just buy them.

I'd start with two or three moderately priced monolights. In North America the Alien Bees are a good choice, but you'll have to look around to see what there is in Austria. They'll have modeling lights and variable power. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT HOT LIGHTS!!!! They are incredibly dangerous, have a colour cast and are far less powerful than you'd think.

You will need a flashmeter and I use the Minolta Autometer IVf. You can get away with a digital camera by using trial and error for the exposure, but it will be very difficult to establish a lighting ratio without a flash meter.

Next I'd use umbrellas rather than softboxes if I was trying to save money. You should look to get some sheets of foam core too. These can be obtained at art supply stores and can be used as reflectors. I have some that are white on one side and black on the other so they can be used as reflectors, but also as flags and even emergency backdrops.

[evilenglishman]

DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT HOT LIGHTS!!!! They are incredibly dangerous, have a colour cast and are far less powerful than you'd think.

Sorry but i have to disagree with that comment. I use redheads all the time and I mix them with flash heads. I use them when I want added warmth to images, sometimes flash comes out too cold.
When used on their own its just a matter of setting the white balance to tungsten, when mixed its just a matter of shooting a bit of paper and using that as a setting, or even using auto.

I don't know how 'dangerous' they are?
I'm sure you are referring to the heat but ive found its not that bad - especially if your 'studio' is a touch on the chilly side :wink:
When used with a softbox they don't project virtually any heat

you are right regarding power though. I have a 100w flash head that i have to use on 1/4 power when combining it with a 1000w redhead or else it drowns out the redhead.

Here is a pic that shows what i meant about warmer colours, a few people have asked if it was shot in sunlight.

http://www.electricvenus.com/redhead.jpg

[robert62]

I use them when I want added warmth to images, sometimes flash comes out too cold.

Isn't it just a question of adjusting the white balance to your taste when you want a warmer light with flash?

regards Robert

[DaveG]

DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT HOT LIGHTS!!!! They are incredibly dangerous, have a colour cast and are far less powerful than you'd think.

Sorry but i have to disagree with that comment. I use redheads all the time and I mix them with flash heads. I use them when I want added warmth to images, sometimes flash comes out too cold.
When used on their own its just a matter of setting the white balance to tungsten, when mixed its just a matter of shooting a bit of paper and using that as a setting, or even using auto.

I don't know how 'dangerous' they are?
I'm sure you are referring to the heat but ive found its not that bad - especially if your 'studio' is a touch on the chilly side :wink:
When used with a softbox they don't project virtually any heat

you are right regarding power though. I have a 100w flash head that i have to use on 1/4 power when combining it with a 1000w redhead or else it drowns out the redhead.

Here is a pic that shows what i meant about warmer colours, a few people have asked if it was shot in sunlight.

http://www.electricvenus.com/redhead.jpg

If you are doing something for fun then there should be no chance of danger, at least to others. Hot lights are indeed hot. I can't imagine the kind of burn a kid could get if they reached up and touched one, or had it fall over on them. If you didn't pay attention at some point - running to the phone for example - they could start a fire.

We used to use quartz halogen 500 watt lights to keep pizza hot on Friday afternoons at school, but other than that they are far too dangerous to mess with. Especially when there are safe and more powerful alternatives. And I'll fix my RAW colour balance in Photoshop CS.

[robertwgross]

I set up a small studio with hot lights and had no problems. If I were a careless person, then maybe I could knock a light over, but I'm not. Further, I arranged them so that it would take a massive earthquake to rock one around. The light stands are steel, with ballast at the bottom, and the power cables go up instead of down.

Each light is a 500-watt quartz work light, and I had to pay prices varying from $12.95 for a single to $19.95 for a double, so I ended up with five. I will admit, the heat is good for the middle of the winter in an unheated studio. The rest of the year, that is enough to toast the pizza.

I had to take the step of setting up a custom white balance, and then there is no color shift problem.

The bad news is that the quartz elements will not tolerate overheating. I built one aluminum reflector that allowed too little convection cooling, and the element failed.

---Bob Gross---

[evilenglishman]

Isn't it just a question of adjusting the white balance to your taste when you want a warmer light with flash?

regards Robert

actually no it isnt, the higher you go on the "k" scale the yellower the whole image becomes including eyeballs, teeth and anything else that is white.

##edit##

the model in that photo was very pale. The photo below was taken under flash/softbox and bumping up the colour temperature doesn't have the same warming effect
http://www.electricvenus.com/softbox.jpg

[whowie]

WOW, lots of strong opinions here on the hot light issue.

I have a small table top setup and I use hot lights except that I don't use "hot lights" in the fixtures. If you're shooting macro shots of things that don't move you can easily use longer shutter speeds and still get sharp images. I think the strongest light I have might be 150W. You want soft light? Bounce a hot light off a piece of white foam core or shine it through one of those plastic sheets you see in ceiling mounted flourescent light fixtures or a piece of thin lexan. Most digicams allow you to set a custom white balance so buy yourself a kodak grey card and set your white balance according to the light setup for the shot.

Nucki, I set up a table top studio for under $100 and I'm having a blast with it. It's not adequate for portraiture, but I think you asked about macro and product shots. If you PM me to remind me I'll post some images of my setup.

[DaveG]

... If I were a careless person, then maybe I could knock a light over, but I'm not. Further, I arranged them so that it would take a massive earthquake to rock one around. The light stands are steel, with ballast at the bottom, and the power cables go up instead of down....

I don't know whether to say, "Famous last words." or "Man makes plan. God laughs." Hope you have good insurance. Me, I'm chicken.

[SeanDempsey]

how are hot lights any more dangerous than say, a candle?

I guess I don't see the danger in using them when you're right there... or are you supposed to leave these lights on at full blast while you take a 2 week vacation?

[DaveG]

how are hot lights any more dangerous than say, a candle?

I guess I don't see the danger in using them when you're right there... or are you supposed to leave these lights on at full blast while you take a 2 week vacation?

Who says candles are safe?

These hots lights are perfectly safe as long as nothing goes wrong. But things do go wrong, which is why you wear seat belts, buy insurance, and don't point empty guns at people. Sure the first time you use these lights you're very careful. The 40th time you use them you duck out to make a phone call, and that's when bad things happen.

[evilenglishman]

how are hot lights any more dangerous than say, a candle?

I guess I don't see the danger in using them when you're right there... or are you supposed to leave these lights on at full blast while you take a 2 week vacation?

:lol:

also if we are being picky, they are no more dangerous than a flash head modelling lamp. I would guess its quite easy to set a softbox on fire if left on too long

[nucki]

well, thank you all for your thoughts. I have forgotten to say, that I dont want to make all by my self. I dont want to use hot lights from the hardware store, because the room isnt that big, for three external heaters ;-) so it would be like in a sauna and thats not what I want...

I just want to make lightboxes, and these things by my self. I allready saw a lightning kit which is not that expensive (for austrian proportions)
Its cold light not hot light.

here is a photo of whats in the kit. let me translate it to english:

3x BIGSTAND S Tripod
3x BIGLAMP MAXI
3x Daylight spirallamps 5000K
3x Diffusor

what do you think about? I think it should be enough for the first time. It can be extendet later on. Its the cheapest I found, but for now its good enough I think

http://www.picturebase.at/bilder/canon_forum/IMG_5664.JPG

[evilenglishman]

i think they are "always on" lights - which would calss them as hot lights. If they are you could do it yourself much cheaper.

Just buy 500w daylight corrected lightbulbs and make your own housings for them with switches etc.
or you could buy slave lamps like this one:
http://www.jessops.com/search/viewproduct.cfm?PRODUCT=POR208W&BRAND=&CONTINUE=fa lse&FEATS=&FIRSTPRICE=&KEYWORD=&LEVEL=&MODELNUMBER =&NEWQUERY=True&NODE=263&ORD=ASC&ORDERBY=&QUANTITY =10&RECENT=0&REFINE=&SEARCH_FOR=&SEARCHNODE=0&SEAR CHURL=dointellisearch.cfm&SECONDPRICE=&SHOWCASEID= &STARTROW=1&SUBS=&WORD_SEARCH=N&

Important things you should consider are:
Can I dim the lights or change the output power.
How easy will it be to attach items like softboxes, umbrellas, barn doors etc