What is essential for portraiture?

[leahmt47]

I have been a photography enthusiast for years but just recently have started to try and make a small business out of it. So far I have just shot friends and friends of friends, but I would like to do more.

I of course have a limited budget as I am not a high paid photographer at this point, but I want to step up my photos and want to know what essentials I need to have a basic in home studio and also be able to take portraits outside (since the weather is starting to permit this).

My current equipment is listed with my signature (I have an off camera shoe cord on the way). I am thinking about getting the Tamron 17-50 2.8 to have for outdoors and maybe group shots.

The room that I will be taking my photos in has two nice windows that allow quite a bit of natural light in. I am debating about whether or not I need an additional flash. I have three strobes (very old from my grandfather) that I may be able to get up and running as well.

As far as backdrops, I know I need good stands for that and I was thinking about getting some fabric to use as backdrops for now.

What else might be key for my set-up?

I appreciate any advice. Thanks so much!

[Alleh]

I suggest you just learn to use what you have better. All you really need is a camera and lens to create good portraits. I would however create a simple accounting system for invoicing clients and tracking expenses.

[Helen Bartlett]

Hi Leah,

Alleh has great advice - a studio management system is a must - it makes a huge difference to keep everything in order from when you are starting out. I use

http://www.lightbluesoftware.com/

but I think there are lots of different option.

In terms of kit I think you are fine with what you have - as you say, a wide angle would be useful, but you can add that when your business is up and running. I use a 50mm for most of my work and I find it such a flexible lens, great for indoors and outdoors and the 40D is a great camera. If you get to grips with available light then you can decide weather to add more flash later on, you may find that you love available light so much that you never want to and so you can save that money.

Good luck with it all

[tim]

Studio management software would be a waste of money at this point. If you want to do studio type portraiture you will need working studio lights and a decent standard zoom lens.

[RDKirk]

What kind of portraits do you want to do? Answer that first.

You don't need a lot of lenses--up until quite recently, most portrait photographers were using medium format film cameras for which they seldom had more than three lenses--a moderate wide, a normal, and a moderate telephoto.

That's all you really "need." Right now all your lenses are effectively telephotos on your camera. You can add a 28mm lens as a normal lens and something wider to your current camera and do very decently in certain portrait niches with no other expenditures whatsoever (except a backup body). Everything else is just for convenience.

What kind of portraiture you want to do will determine what kind of lighting you need.

[leahmt47]

What kind of portraits do you want to do? Answer that first.

You don't need a lot of lenses--up until quite recently, most portrait photographers were using medium format film cameras for which they seldom had more than three lenses--a moderate wide, a normal, and a moderate telephoto.

That's all you really "need." Right now all your lenses are effectively telephotos on your camera. You can add a 28mm lens as a normal lens and something wider to your current camera and do very decently in certain portrait niches with no other expenditures whatsoever (except a backup body). Everything else is just for convenience.

What kind of portraiture you want to do will determine what kind of lighting you need.

For now, I have been doing children and families. No adults by themselves at this point.

[Redrum]

I highly recommend a gray card or target and a light meter. These items will save you tons of time and help get it done right.

[dreamcatcher23]

spend the money on branding and advertising.

[Nevilleblack]

Do you think that somebody could do portraiture with just a couple backdrops, 5dmkii and a 35mm 1.4?
Or is having lighting and a reflector very important? I figure it is for indoor portraiture.

[leahmt47]

Do you think that somebody could do portraiture with just a couple backdrops, 5dmkii and a 35mm 1.4?
Or is having lighting and a reflector very important? I figure it is for indoor portraiture.


From what I have gathered from people here, you can use window light as your backlight but you probably need one off camera light source on your subject. For candid shots you can just use natural light with high iso.