Setting up a studio in my house, what would I need?

I'm not sure where this belongs, so I'll just post it here. My mom is getting a decent amount of money soon, and she said I can get some more camera stuff. I'm planning on a couple lenses, but I really want to get in to shooting portraits and the like. I really have no clue what I would need, or even how much it would cost. Can someone help me out here?

If you want to figure costs, it would help a great deal to know what you're getting first

I guess I'll start by saying some flashes/strobes and umbrellas and/or softboxes would be very nice to have for a "studio" set-up.

Well, as for lenses, I'd like to pick up the 24-70, 70-200mm f/4 IS, 135L, and possibly the 85 f/1.8. I'm still not sure how much my mom will let me buy, but we're coming in to a pretty good amount of money. Other lenses that I'd like to pick up are the 300 f/2.8, 85L, 50L, 35L, and swap the 70-200 f/4 for the f/2.8 IS MkII, but I may be getting a bit ambitious If it's possible, I'd love a 5Dc, but again, I'm not sure. But I should at least be able to get the first 3-4 that I listed. As for flashes, I'd probably be able to pick up 2 580EXII's. Would that be good? And is a budget of $1000-$2000 decent for setting up a studio from scratch?

I typed "Home Studio" into the search feature and came up with some ideas: Home Studio

Hmm, one question I have is about how big of a space should I have? I was thinking of doing it in my basement because that's one of the largest open spaces I have in my house. I just measured it and it was 20x14x8. I do have another room, but I'm not sure of the measurements and I can't measure it right now, but it has about 10ft ceilings. Is this big enough?

If you're just doing head & shoulders shots, that would work, but I'd rather have the 10' ceiling.
Look at these:
Simple 2 Light Portrait Set-up

VERY simple "outdoor studio"

The more space the merrier. 20' is not as big as it sounds.

If your on a budget don't waste your money on speedlites. A 580 is $400. You can get a genesis 2 light kit for that price.

My advise is to come back when you have a budget. That will determine your equipment. Strobes are better than speedlights. They work better with modifiers and have a modeling lamp so you can see what your lights are going to do.

A Calumet Genesis kit or Alien Bees kit is a good start. Here are basics of what you need.

1 light is good. 2 is better. 3 is great.
Stands for each.
Modifiers for each. Umbrellas are a good start. A rectangular siftboxes is the next logical step. Or you can go Octobox or beauty dish, etc.
Trigger and receivers. Cyber Syncs are the best value for the money. One trigger and a receiver for each light. If indoors you can rely on one receiver and using the optical triggers on your other lights to start.

If you want to leave the studio than a portable power solution is required.

You'll need a backdrop support system and then either paper or muslims. I recommend starting with a light grey roll of paper.

This is a good read:
http://www.zarias.com …torial-part-1-gear-space/

I have a home studio - I picked up a Genesis 200 2 light set (two lights, stands, umbrella's), some cheap ebay triggers - don't forget to buy a backdrop stand and backdrops (or bedsheets if your budget is running out)

Pick up a prime or two for the studio work - the other glass can come later.

Height is more important than you think. My normal height dining room ceilings are too low to do good full body length shots. Iwish I had more room to play with, and I do have one room I could use, but the wife would kill me if I moved everything out

Start small, build up.

Why you need so many lenses for a studio setup? You do know you'll be shooting everything at f/8
so it doesn't really matter what lens you use, just as long as the focal length is right. All you probably
need for a lens is 24-105, unless you really want a 24-70 for one stop, which is useless in studio.

Maybe a f/1.4 might be useful for special usages, but you need lights that go really dim.
If you really want to save $ you can use primes... probably a 50 and 85, since "foot zooming" is perfectly
fine when there's nothing in the background except solid color.

You would need at least 4 light stands, two for your cheap monos, two for your backdrop.
Spend $30-60 on 9-12 feet seamless paper, muslin looks really cheesy imho, you wouldn't see it
in a mag. The color you want is white, its much easier to do high key than neutral gray. Low key and
black background can be done via softbox and distance between model and paper.

For lights go with Alienbee or Genesis, should be more than enough. Grids would be nice.
You should forget umbrellas, they just spill way too much light for indoor use, probably only useful
on location. Spend a bit more and get some cheap Photoflex softboxes, one 24x36" , one 45"x60".
Keep in mind the big softbox is massive but you'll need it for full length since umbrellas
will have fall off and the small softbox wont be big enough.

Go with cactus v4s, since its indoors you have no need for really good triggers.

Most importantly you need a ton of space, enough width to fit the paper, and about 30-35 feet in
length so that you can adjust the model to paper distance between 5-15 feet and leave 5-15 feet for
you to play with the light distance, on top of that enough space for you to use a 50-85 for full length.

On a crop body, about 15-17 feet is enough to get full body on a 200mm, so use that as a reference.

Don't bother with shooting models with wide, distortion plus getting other stuff like the floor and
ceiling is just not good. The only time you would even do this is for distorting the legs to make them
skinnier, but frankly if the models are skinny it shouldn't be needed.

The Zarias article is really good as recommended above, but that flooring might be hard to find.

CosmoKid wrote in post #10499107
The more space the merrier. 20' is not as big as it sounds.

If your on a budget don't waste your money on speedlites. A 580 is $400. You can get a genesis 2 light kit for that price.

My advise is to come back when you have a budget. That will determine your equipment. Strobes are better than speedlights. They work better with modifiers and have a modeling lamp so you can see what your lights are going to do.

A Calumet Genesis kit or Alien Bees kit is a good start. Here are basics of what you need.

1 light is good. 2 is better. 3 is great.
Stands for each.
Modifiers for each. Umbrellas are a good start. A rectangular siftboxes is the next logical step. Or you can go Octobox or beauty dish, etc.
Trigger and receivers. Cyber Syncs are the best value for the money. One trigger and a receiver for each light. If indoors you can rely on one receiver and using the optical triggers on your other lights to start.

If you want to leave the studio than a portable power solution is required.

You'll need a backdrop support system and then either paper or muslims. I recommend starting with a light grey roll of paper.

IUnknown wrote in post #10499142
This is a good read:
http://www.zarias.com …torial-part-1-gear-space/

Thanks!

kuwazome wrote in post #10499371
Why you need so many lenses for a studio setup? You do know you'll be shooting everything at f/8
so it doesn't really matter what lens you use, just as long as the focal length is right. All you probably
need for a lens is 24-105, unless you really want a 24-70 for one stop, which is useless in studio.

Maybe a f/1.4 might be useful for special usages, but you need lights that go really dim.
If you really want to save $ you can use primes... probably a 50 and 85, since "foot zooming" is perfectly
fine when there's nothing in the background except solid color.

You would need at least 4 light stands, two for your cheap monos, two for your backdrop.
Spend $30-60 on 9-12 feet seamless paper, muslin looks really cheesy imho, you wouldn't see it
in a mag. The color you want is white, its much easier to do high key than neutral gray. Low key and
black background can be done via softbox and distance between model and paper.

For lights go with Alienbee or Genesis, should be more than enough. Grids would be nice.
You should forget umbrellas, they just spill way too much light for indoor use, probably only useful
on location. Spend a bit more and get some cheap Photoflex softboxes, one 24x36" , one 45"x60".
Keep in mind the big softbox is massive but you'll need it for full length since umbrellas
will have fall off and the small softbox wont be big enough.

Go with cactus v4s, since its indoors you have no need for really good triggers.

Most importantly you need a ton of space, enough width to fit the paper, and about 30-35 feet in
length so that you can adjust the model to paper distance between 5-15 feet and leave 5-15 feet for
you to play with the light distance, on top of that enough space for you to use a 50-85 for full length.

On a crop body, about 15-17 feet is enough to get full body on a 200mm, so use that as a reference.

Don't bother with shooting models with wide, distortion plus getting other stuff like the floor and
ceiling is just not good. The only time you would even do this is for distorting the legs to make them
skinnier, but frankly if the models are skinny it shouldn't be needed.

The Zarias article is really good as recommended above, but that flooring might be hard to find.

Well, the lenses wouldn't be just for the studio. I might be freelancing for the local paper if they like the shots I sent in, and since I'd be freelancing I'd have to use my own equipment. Plus, my cousin is really active in sports and its fun to go shoot him when he's at a game. Thanks for the tips though. I wasn't aware of just how involved this was D:

get a speedlight and 24-105, can't go wrong

Karl Johnston wrote in post #10499879
get a speedlight and 24-105, can't go wrong

Not powerful enough for studio. Not unless you wanna do some real studio work.

So after reading some threads and some other sites, I picked out this:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ails&Q=&sku=495​452&is=REG

Would that do for lighting?

And for the background, http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …tails&Q=&sku=45​468&is=REG and http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ails&Q=&sku=556​181&is=REG

GuitarFreak wrote in post #10501050
So after reading some threads and some other sites, I picked out this:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ails&Q=&sku=495​452&is=REG

Would that do for lighting?

And for the background, http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …tails&Q=&sku=45​468&is=REG and http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ails&Q=&sku=556​181&is=REG

Those are hotlights, you want flash. Hotlights are useful in their own means, but
for most things flash is the way to go. That paper is fine, don't know about the stands
never used them, I never buy anything other than Manfrotto or Gitzo.