Home studio questions??

So right now I shoot all most everything that I do on location.... I have everything for a studio (I think) and I have in the past set it up and taken it down before for different things.... But it's such a pain in the butt to set everything up and take it down again. And would really love to set up my own home studio. I have a huge empty basement that is just being used right now for storage, pretty easy to divide it off and set up a studio...

So what I'm wondering is....

How many of you have home studios? How did you set it up? Do you find it easier than shooting everything on location?? What do you use for light systems and back drop stands? Have any "do it yourself" ideas to make your studio less costly, but still look great? Where do you get most of your stands, back drops ect???

This is what I have for "studio" equipment.... (it's pretty low tech.. LOL!!)
A medium portable screen (one that would be used in schools for movies and such) it's probably 6x10? 1000 watt lighting set, lots of back drops of different colors and fabrics, a few little props, 2 different size stools, a couple of reflectors.

Any suggestions and comments would be really helpful....

I do set up and tear down my studio stuff a bit. Here are a couple thoughts I have for you:

What is the access to your basement? A separate entrance would be best. Having to take people through your laundry room wouldn't be very professional.

How high is the ceiling? Often they are quite low in the basement, and that would be a regular nuissance.

Having your own studio would be great, if the space really works. Otherwise you might want to be known as the person who's great a location work.

Hi Greg:

Thanks for your comments and questions....

The access to my basement is right through my front door, you walk in and take a left and you're heading down the basement steps.... So there's no tracking though the house and once you come in the door, you can see a bit of my living room, but it's a wall with a bunch of my photos framed and hanging on it...

The ceilings are 8 feet.... And they are staying that way, I hate low ceilings in a basement. My basement is an "L" shape. With lots of natural lighting along the "long" part of the "L" if you know what I mean??

And don't get me wrong, I love doing locations shots, but having a small studio for the "not so nice days" would be so great!!!

I have a home studio set up in my garage. I will tell you a little about it and what I got to give you an idea. I am working with a space about 25 x 25 feet (give or take) the ceilings are about 8-9 feet. That being said I have a autopole system for my backdrops that holds 3 rolls of paper. They are all chain driven so unrolling/rolling is quick and painless. For lighting I have 3 Hensel Integra Pro 500. I also have a few muslin that I can just clip to my autopole system. I have various softboxes and reflectors nothting home made. I just leave it up all the time. If I want to shoot on location and need light I just use my 580EXII and slap it onto one of my light stands and use a 45" silver shoot through umbrella. I am planning on getting another 580EXII very soon. I am deploying to the middle east and leaving my camera gear at home with the wife . But I will be buying a 5D, 24-70L, 70-200L 2.8 IS, and the other 580 while I am there . But I am getting off the point. I feel it is way easier to do it that way (home studio and ability to take things to locations) That way I dont have to worry about rushing to set things up at home on short notice. I would love to have a basement or a room other than my garage to work out of. Ultimately I would like to have a studio outside my house, but being in the Military, that is pretty unlikely. I would just suggest tyou get out as much stuff in your basement as possible because you will need all the room you can get. Hopefully in all this rambling I came close to formulating an answer to your question.

Oh yeah, BnH Photo, Adorama, and Amazon are your friends! My bank acct hates them though.

Berlotti Photography wrote in post #5505787
I have a home studio set up in my garage. I will tell you a little about it and what I got to give you an idea. I am working with a space about 25 x 25 feet (give or take) the ceilings are about 8-9 feet. That being said I have a autopole system for my backdrops that holds 3 rolls of paper. They are all chain driven so unrolling/rolling is quick and painless. For lighting I have 3 Hensel Integra Pro 500. I also have a few muslin that I can just clip to my autopole system. I have various softboxes and reflectors nothting home made. I just leave it up all the time. If I want to shoot on location and need light I just use my 580EXII and slap it onto one of my light stands and use a 45" silver shoot through umbrella. I am planning on getting another 580EXII very soon. I am deploying to the middle east and leaving my camera gear at home with the wife . But I will be buying a 5D, 24-70L, 70-200L 2.8 IS, and the other 580 while I am there . But I am getting off the point. I feel it is way easier to do it that way (home studio and ability to take things to locations) That way I dont have to worry about rushing to set things up at home on short notice. I would love to have a basement or a room other than my garage to work out of. Ultimately I would like to have a studio outside my house, but being in the Military, that is pretty unlikely. I would just suggest tyou get out as much stuff in your basement as possible because you will need all the room you can get. Hopefully in all this rambling I came close to formulating an answer to your question.

Oh yeah, BnH Photo, Adorama, and Amazon are your friends! My bank acct hates them though.

Thanks for the comments and ideas..... I've been looking here at the local photo store and checking out prices.... I've checked out some lights stands and stands and such... And I've been getting ideas and such on how to set everything up...

Kiddo wrote in post #5510495
Thanks for the comments and ideas..... I've been looking here at the local photo store and checking out prices.... I've checked out some lights stands and stands and such... And I've been getting ideas and such on how to set everything up...

Just make sure that you get a minimum of 3 lights for your set up. When it comes into shooting dark hair on dark backrounds or vice versa you will need that third light for the hair light/backround light. I am getting at least one more if not two. I find that when it comes to white backround I need at least 2 lights to blow out the paper to white it out. If I had a 4th/5th light I would be a lot more flexible than I am right now in that situation. Something to think about.