What kind of equipment needed for studio?
What all do you need to setup a small studio at home? What kind of lighting? and what else would I need for a studio besides backdrops/props? I don't need the VERY expensive things or the BEST BEST out there, but would want good equipment that'd be worth my time and that I'll find "good". I have been asked if I would do some photos for a church and well I really don't have any inside lighting nor setup for inside shots.. I have only done my work outside because of how my lighting is very poor on the camera. I use Rebel XT - Sorry, forgot to add this! I dont have any fabrics but I could buy that no problem.
I'm not getting paid for this but I want to get into it and I also would like to setup my own studio at home as a "hobby" and maybe even charge a small amount for family/friends and people they know. as well as "animal" photo shooting. So if anyone can give me a idea of what I would need (right equipment) please let me know. I know I might be putting my head in a little too far but I have to learn somewhere and well I think this would be the best way until I can go further.
I have looked on Ebay and they have a reasonable price studio setup... but not sure if that's such a good "deal" or not... So just wondering if anyone that have there OWN studio would share there ideas!
Thanks alot,
I'm not getting paid for this but I want to get into it and I also would like to setup my own studio at home as a "hobby" and maybe even charge a small amount for family/friends and people they know. as well as "animal" photo shooting. So if anyone can give me a idea of what I would need (right equipment) please let me know. I know I might be putting my head in a little too far but I have to learn somewhere and well I think this would be the best way until I can go further.
I have looked on Ebay and they have a reasonable price studio setup... but not sure if that's such a good "deal" or not... So just wondering if anyone that have there OWN studio would share there ideas!
Thanks alot,
~*~Fristles~*~
"Unexpected actions speak louder than words."
"Unexpected actions speak louder than words."
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What kind of camera do you have - that is needed to tell you about equipment.
Do you have any backdrops? All kinds of fabrics can be used. A used backdrop stand is nice, but you can use rope too if that's what you have and sheets too. A lens that will give you a lot of bokeh can be wonderful too.
Lighting is dependent somewhat on your camera since they work together. You can start with umbrellas for modifiers and they are not terribly expensive. You can even start with Home Depot lights ...
Look over at www.strobist.com for lighting.
Flash Frozen Photography, Inc.
http://flashfrozenphotography.com
For lighting, if you want to use flashes you can use either dedicated flashes or non-dedicated flashes/strobes
- Dedicated flashes are designed to work with your camera and to communicate with it on a very intimate level. So, if you want dedicated flashes then we do, indeed, need to know something of your current kit to help you. These can be quite expensive - depending on your camera system but you can, typically, control them through your camera and use the in-camera meter to help set their power.
- Non-dedicated flashes - it doesn't matter what camera you already have as long as it has some way to trigger the flashes. Typically, these are much less expensive than dedicated flashes. Down-side of these is that you need to manually set the power.
- Strobes are used in much the same manner as non-dedicated flashes but can (usually) produce more power, more consistantly, and will re-cycle faster (they are, typically, AC powered units).
I must humbly (but strongly) disagree with the recommendation to start with the Home Depot specials. These are called hot lights - and for a very good reason. At 500W per and needing two or more, you will be well set to bake a cake - lots of heat. You would be much better off with one or two strobes. Alien Bees is a good place to start.A decently fast lens will help. The larger the aperture, the better the brokeh and the better/easier it will be seperating your subject from the background. Depending on the amount of room you have and the type of shots you are looking to do ... well, the nifty fifty (EF 50mm f/1.8) would do quite well for headshots. This lens might be a little long for anything else in a home studio setting. Consider the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 - a sharp copy will work quite well.
I most certainly agree with the recommendation to visit the strobist blog. Lots of great information there.
You will find, in time, that there's a reason why many studio photographers work with manual strobes/flashs. Beyond the bang-for-the-buck analysis, the photographer can have much finer control of the light when using manual lighting.
Something else that will come in handy, especially if you go the route of manual flashes/strobes and that is an flash/ambient incident light meter. The Sekonic L-358 is one such that is widely well regarded.
Light modifiers are almost a requirement. Unmodified flash/strobe light produces very strong contrast light. Modifiers are used to control the direction, coverage, quality, and intensity of the light. Reflecting umbrellas will help soften the light a bit as they become (as far as the subject is concerned) a light source larger than the strobe/flash (larger light sources make for less contrasty light). Shoot-through umbrellas, softboxes, and the like go even further in helping to soften the light/shadow lines on your subject.
All that having been said, you can do a good job with headshot type portraits with a corner of a room (assuming decently light colored paint), one manual flash, and a shoot-through umbrella - take a look at this article by the stobist for more on that.
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What you see through the viewfinder is what you will get in the shot. This will help you out
if you don't have the latest and greatest camera or really fast lenses.
I have 2, 250W lights on 8 foot stands, with white umbrellas. I just bought a 500w light with a
defuser to go along with them. I also have a 5 in 1 reflector. Total price, about $450.
If your going to have people sitting there for hours, Hot Lights are not the way to go.
If they're going to be there for 15 minutes, it shouldn't be a problem.
I should add that the studio that we have, has 15 foot ceilings. Heat rises so that probably helps me out.
The down side to these smaller lights (250W) I had to shoot at ISO 400 or 800 most of the time with them.
Or you have to shoot at a much lower shutter speed.
The dog shots needed a little more speed because they wouldn't stop moving.
If you can afford Alien Bees, get them, if your budget is low, you can make hot lights work.
A few shots with these lights.
3 lights. 500W to her left, 250W to her right with umbrella, one behind her on the background, no umbrella.
Just 2 lights with umbrellas pointed so the shadow doesn't show on the background.
Just 2 lights with umbrellas. Some sunlight indirectly lighting the studio.
Although the background is grey, because of the mixed lighting, it has some brown tint to it.
At first I didn't like it, but now I think it really broke up the background and made the shot better.
If you don't like the color version.
Basking in the shadows of yesterday's triumphs'.
Scott -
A beginning studio with no budget can learn a lot about lighting with any kind of lights. Even house lamps. But if there is no budget and no hotshoe, Home Depot lights are a great way to learn about light direction and temerature for under $25.00. Not every one can afford even some used strobes or flashes. And if the OP is using a compact camera, the recommendation would be different than for a Mark
3ds....
Flash Frozen Photography, Inc.
http://flashfrozenphotography.com
Taking a look at budget first ... The OP said ... I inferred from this that he had something of a budget. Alien Bee strobes are good, they are not the best. They are, actually about middle of the road. The AB800 goes for about $280.00 - not cheap, but not terribly expensive either.
Lights:
Yup - one can learn with 60w house lamps, bare bulb even and to good effect. No question.
HQ hot lights have a couple of advantages, but only in the short term. One can see where the light is going and what the camera will see (more or less). And, they are less expensive which is good if you aren't sure you are going to be doing a lot of this sort of work. And, as davev showed so very well, one can get very good results with them.
Down sides include
- requirement for either high ISO, slow shutter speed, or lots of power
- They are hot. davev has a higher ceiling so he can run his lights longer before the heat becomes an issue.
- Power adjustment. With the hot lights, all they have is a binary switch it's either all or nothing. Power adjustments are done by moving the lights either closer to the subject or further away.
- The temperature of the light (the color of the light) from a hot light source is a function of the power rating. It may not vary much, but they will vary. Who needs the headache.
- Most significantly, with more than just a couple of people in the room, they become a fire/safety hazard. One burned parishener and it's all over for the OP.
- Longer term - being able to visualize where the light will be and what it will look like is a facility that is developed. In the same fashion that crutches don't help you build legs strength, using hot lights doesn't help one develop the ability to visualize this because it's right there in front of you - you don't have to work for it.
Yup - if the OP were shooting with a compact camera without a hot shoe, recommendations would be different than if he were shooting with a Ds III. But, he's shooting with an XTi, so the recommendations need to be slanted towards a hotshoe trigger (the XTi doesn't have a PC terminal).My Photos
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My first observation is that you posted in the Camera forum, but as you can see from the responses, the camera make and model are the last thing most people will think of in recommending the components for a good studio setup.
Since this is the camera forum, let's dwell on that for a while.
The camera used in a studio environment needs a few qualities:
* 6-8MPix resolution is fine for up to 8" x 10" IMO. Sometimes good to 16" x 20".
* The ability to use interchangeable lenses is a definite benefit, but even a digicam with a large aperture can produce splendid results.
* The ability to control aperture and shutter speeds manually. This is an absolute must in my view.
* An external flash capability. If you want to use electronic flash, and there are reasons to want to do this, then a PC connection or hot-shoe is awfully nice, but you can also use "digital" slaves if the camera has a built-in flash to use as trigger. The hot-shoe/PC connection makes it easier.
* Autofocus accuracy. Most modern digital cameras are really hard to manually focus. It is nice to depend upon autofocus and most modern dSLRs are reasonably good in moderate lighting. Most professional dSLRs are even good in subdued lighting.
Those are the highlights in requirements, but I think you can see that a terribly expensive camera isn't needed. Your XT/350D will do pretty well.
In the Camera forum we also talk about lenses. This is one area where the choice of camera may impact the choice of lens as well.
A full-frame dSLR can provide a better range of depth-of-field (DOF) than a "crop" sensor camera. Even so, a crop camera does fine with lenses that have apertures of f1.4 to f2, or so. This is one area where prime lenses still have a considerable advantage. The difference in bokeh between a lens with f4 and a lens with f1.4 can be rather spectacular, and the DOF control is really important in placing restricted emphasis on parts of the subject as well.
I highly recommend the Canon EF 50mm, f1.4 USM over the EF 50mm, f1.8 just because the focus accuracy on the f1.4 is much improved over the f1.8 version. The Canon EF 85mm, f1.8 USM is very nice for head and head-and-shoulders portraits. As Scott said, an even wider lens may be needed in smaller rooms but I don't think the results are as flattering.
On to lighting.
You can use "hot lights", tungston-halogen work pretty well and even regular tungsyon will do in a pinch. They do get hot, dangerously hot sometimes, and that nakes them less than desirable for studio use. They also tend to make the pupils small in the subjects. That may be fine for subjects with a dark colored iris, but a light colored iris can look "odd" in a portrait.
Another potential problem with tungston based bulbs is color temperature. while it's easy to correct for the color temperature using an appropriate white balance (WB), it does tend to reduce the dynamic range (DR) of the imager. The reason for this is because most imagers are balanced for daylight. That means a tungsten WB will have less Red headroom and less Blue shadow detail than a daylight balanced image of the same intensities and hues. All this means is that your control of lighting has to be more precise and you tend to use less contrasty lighting using tungsten based lamps. This might rule out some lighting techmiques which use contrasty lighting or work close to the extremes in hues.
There are some folks who use Daylight Fluorescent technology for a home studio, but i don't think it provides enough continuous spectrum to be an authentic replacement for daylight or daylight balanced flash. It is a great way to learn in that it is always "on" (although "flicker" can pose a problem with some of the cheaper bulbs) and it's cool enough that most modifiers can be used with little heat build-up. It can also be pretty inexpensive to purchase, although professional fluorescent lighting is terribly expensive. I tend to use it for some copy stand work myself (when absolute tonal accuracy isn't required).
I do think that modern electronic flash has the best of all features, especially studio lights that incorporate modeling lights. You can achieve large pupils and most modifiers, like lightboxes etc., work without a problem. Studio flash tends to be expensive, but to a studio photographer the lights are a major component of the studio and the costs are generally justified by the results.
To summarise, get some good glass at least. The fast prime lenses are justified for a studio and portraiture. They will also enhance your outdoor work. Then work on lighting. The compact Daylight Fluorescent bulbs might be your best way to start, considering costs and use with modifiers. Then, when you come to understand about the different lighting configurations, graduate to flash lighting for the best results and maximum versatility. Look around for used monolights if possible.
BTW, 4 lights is fairly standard for the most typical lighting setups:
Key light (main)
Fill light
Background light
Rim/Hair light
Studio configuration is another aspect. You might be able to use 8 foot ceilings for shorter standing subjects and certainly for seated subjects and small children and pets. For taller subjects and groups you need pretty high ceilings to maintain the correct lighting angles. You can try bouncing light off a white ceiling, but you'll need some extra experience to make that work consistently.
Some studio lighting threads and links:
http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=742194&postcount=10
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=5772
http://www.geocities.com/glowluzid/portrait/portrait.html
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The reason my pictures might be beige colored, is I live in a Apartment and well my walls are ALL beige/cream colored. Could this be the reason?
A few of the links you guys posted aren't working - saying the site is temporarily offline. so I'll check again in a little bit to see if they are back up.
"Unexpected actions speak louder than words."
I'll try to keep to the OP comments here and I do want to ditto those that mentioned Alien Bees and (especially) the Strobist.
If you are going to be serious about lights then take a course or even a day class in studio lighting. It will save you weeks of frustration and should help you decide what you need to buy too.
Remember photography is about light. Light is very important.
Hot lights from the big box DIY store can work but they are hot and harsh and need some diffusion. I've used 500w halogen work lights bounced off of walls, once upon a time, to get an acceptable shot. I really like portable strobes and compact umbrellas and Pocket Wizards. Again, go take a class and then become more confused and focused.
Cheers,
David
Unfortunately, I won't be able to go to a Class for lighting.. I live ina VERY small town and well, things like that just doesn't happen here. we also don't have any photography stores here. and the closest are 2 hours away (going ONE way) so everything I want, I have to order online unfortunately which really really stinks.
quote=davidweaver]I'll try to keep to the OP comments here and I do want to ditto those that mentioned Alien Bees and (especially) the Strobist.
If you are going to be serious about lights then take a course or even a day class in studio lighting. It will save you weeks of frustration and should help you decide what you need to buy too.
Remember photography is about light. Light is very important.
Hot lights from the big box DIY store can work but they are hot and harsh and need some diffusion. I've used 500w halogen work lights bounced off of walls, once upon a time, to get an acceptable shot. I really like portable strobes and compact umbrellas and Pocket Wizards. Again, go take a class and then become more confused and focused.
Cheers,
David[/quote]
"Unexpected actions speak louder than words."
http://cgi.ebay.com/Studio-Lighting-Studio-Light-Photo-Studio-Lights-New_W0QQitemZ120303313117QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item120303313117&_trkparms=72:1205|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ebayphotohosting
I did read off one of the site already, you can use about any type of Light Stand ...?
"Unexpected actions speak louder than words."
Anyway, I looked at that offering and I think these are hot lights. I am nobody's lighting expert (but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express a couple of times
- I don't see anything in these photos that looks like it could pass as a flash power source.
- I also don't see anything that would allow one to vary the light levels produced by these lights.
- I do see what looks like a simple on/off switch on one close-up photo of a light head.
Based on that, I think I would tend to move along to another product. I could be wrong, but I don't think this offering is even close to being worth what they are asking.As for the light stand question - anything that will support your light(s) where you need them is a light stand. I've used a ball-bungie to attach a Sunpak 622 to a tent pole. Worked for the better part of 4 hours! But, in studio, a lightstand typically will have a vertical pole and three legs and a way to attach your light to the vertical. The attaching mechanism is, in my limited experience, fairly well standardized.
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