lalunas wrote in post #18745566
Hello All,
I am starting a photo studio from home. I've been taking photos outside but want to finally bring it indoors. I want to know what you recommend for backdrops/ flooring(material, kind, size and best place to buy), Lighting (what's best for indoor lighting, i have no windows where I'll be working. What kind of extra lighting you recommend) what would be the best backdrop storage/ hanging material (what stand to buy), and anything else you can think I forgot. Please let me know as soon as you can. I am trying to do this before thanksgiving
Hi and Congratulations on setting up your own studio!
You say nothing about your level of experience with lighting. Your profile shows you have a nice modest set of equipment without flashes. Have you ever worked in a studio or rented studio time where you have equipment available for you to use? Have you ever used off-camera flash?
While I love your optimism to be up and running before Thanksgiving, less than two weeks away, you might want to start small. Go to the Strobist site linked below and start looking at the lighting 101, 102, and 103 links. You need to know something about working in a studio before you set one up. Until you can actually take a photo with off camera flash while manually controlling your flash, you're probably not ready to take that plunge. It doesn't take long. I went from never having taken an off-camera flash shot to doing it in 16 days, using a Rebel XSi (450D) and a Canon 430EX Speedlite. Less than a year later I shot the photo below in a real studio.
http://strobist.blogspot.com
IMAGE LINK: https://grahamglover.zenfolio.com/p12304857/ea449811 Yes, white seamless paper is a standard. It comes in multiple widths. Softboxes are great, but what amount of room do you have. Will you use Speedlites (or similar) or will you use studio strobes? How much space do you have?
This was shot with a 30ft wide cyc wall with 18ft ceilings and professional lighting gear and modifiers (soft boxes et al), obviously in a professional studio, given the size of the space.
IMAGE LINK: https://grahamglover.zenfolio.com/p12304857/e55298f7 This was shot with half width black seamless paper using two or three Canon Speedlites and umbrellas/Gary Fong modifiers in a tiny home library.
IMAGE LINK: https://grahamglover.zenfolio.com/p12304857/e2e67c11f What's the size of your studio space? What's your budget for setting up your studio? How much are you willing to spend?
My home studio is my single car garage. I use normal width and half width seamless, both black and white. I have two regular light stands, one C-stand, three Canon flashes, one off-brand flash, off-brand radio flash triggers, Sekonic light meter, various light modifiers including white foam core, and other sundry items. Everything serves my purpose, which is to make the photos I want. I didn't get it all at once.
Here's a final and fairly recent photo taken in the Studio Garage™. I watched a video years ago that told me the minimum space to have a studio. I didn't have that amount of space. I made my studio anyway, and it is temporary; I set it up when I need it and break it down after. I don't have the budget to get the strobes and modifiers I want, nor do I have the space to use them even if I had them. I make fairly decent use of what I've got.
IMAGE LINK: https://grahamglover.zenfolio.com/p12304857/e9f8fa366 Good luck! I hope this helps!
