What do you need for a basic studio???

[byers]

I am wanting to start a baisic studio in my home...What do you all suggest? What are your favorite toys so to speak? What is most cost efficent for starters? Right now I am working on outdoor shoots but living North Dakota so once Winter comes if I don't have something set up then I am no longer going to be able to continue my business until the following summer. Thank you for any advice.

[dougsmit]

You could get 1000 different opinions on this one. My personal answer was 'Strobist' type lights rather than studio flashes and Wal-Mart fabric backgrounds. A lot depends on whether your home studio is a start of a business or a way to play and learn.

See: Strobist: Lighting 101

[DAVE PROUTY]

Yeah, Doug is right about the # of opinions!

I guess it depends on what you call cost efficient. Is it cost efficient to buy something to get by with til you can get what you will eventually need, or just get the end product in the first place and skip the expense of the additional stuff. Up to you, but I did that once, never again.

With that, perhaps start with a 2 light setup and some sort of softbox for each one. One small one for hairlight and one larger one for main. Or skip the larger one for a good umbrella. Maybe like Frank's brolly as a main. Agree about the fabric backgrounds. Cheap is always good when it comes to backgrounds. They are flexible, replaceable, and expandable when what you have is not enough for the next larger shoot. Any fabric will do and get as much as you can for your needs. Of course, stands will be needed for holding all the lights and backgrounds. Whether you need posing tables and stools depends on what your style of photography is and what your subject matter is. And a fairly good sized refelctor for fill.

Uuuhhh... let's see. How much more of your money can I spend?

[byers]

OKay I guess what I mean by 'cost efficient is something decent that will last awhile until I get better at what I am doing in studio and am able to 'upgrade'. I don't want the lowest you can go...but I can't afford top of the line either. I want to be able to use what I buy too. Unfortunately I am also in the middle of no where so learning to use alot of 'fancy' stuff is on a teach yourself basis. So I've gotta be able to do it myself. So when giving advice PLEASE keep that in mind too!!! Thank you so far for all the great input! Keep it coming please!!!

[Lee4145]

Look around at Alien Bees selection. As an example, AlienBees: The DigiBee, the perfect studio lighting setup for digital photography It gets high marks in most areas and is reasonably priced. I have two AB 400's, large umbrellas, one honeycomb and the off camera / shoe mount flash from my camera. With some foam core reflectors and pvc frames to hang fabric from for backgrounds I haven't found that I need much else yet. All for well under $1000

[harryd]

I am with Lee. I just started in Jan. this year with an AlienBee and I love playing with it. So far I have 1 AB800, a large soft box and a 42" reflector for fill and a roll of black seamless paper to play with. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to look at the light from the modeling lamp and figure out where to put it to get the look I want. Have a look if you want, the bottom 5 rows of this gallery was my first attempt: Learning Studio Lighting Photo Gallery by Harry David Horning at pbase.com

Here is a few shots from my last 4 shoots using the light after a few months of learning: Warning do not go here if you do not want to see maternity shots. Maternity & Newborn Photo Gallery by Harry David Horning at pbase.com

AlienBee has a great reputation and their customer service is second to none. I like the fact that you can add to what you start with as you gain more understanding and knowledge.

[spuckett]

Start with your camera and lens. Make sure it's the best you can afford. A 70mm lense is the shortest you can go for portraiture. Next item to get is a reflector and tripod.

For studio lights, I agree on the Alien Bees. I started off with a set of Britek lights and had a world of problems with them. (Sorry any Britek fans!) I bought 4 alien bee lights and they have been great. I did have one burn up, I called alien bees, it was still under warranty and within 5 days I had it back, fixed. Customer Service with AB is wonderful. The lights perform great and the modeling lights are household bulbs (easy to replace). I have heard some complaints about the modeling light being too weak, but I'm happy and they work for me.

I would start out with background paper. It pretty inexpensive and looks more professional than material. One roll black, one roll white. You can even buy gels and put them on your background light and it adds color to the paper.

[drkranger]

Everyone seems to be very hip on the AlienBees. For my "basic," beginner setup, I went with a 300w/s light kit from Amvona (Amvona 720 imagine, discover, connect.). The kit I bought came with a good quality light, light stand, and a 42" umbrella (I think, might be a 36"). I can't remember exactly how much it was, but it was less than the AlienBees basic setup. I haven't had any problems with it. I've used it for indoor portraits and product shots. I did pick up 2 chroma key backgrounds for cheap: ebay on 1 and personal seller for the other. I have wanted to get other colors in paper rolls, but haven't done it yet. There are other toys I've wanted.

For a basic, beginner setup, it has worked well and been cost efficient.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot. I also have a $30 1000w work light from Sears as a fill light positioned directly behind and a bit above the camera as far back as it'll go in the space I use. The work light is a double sided, double intensity light so it'll go from 250w to 1000w depending upon what effect I'm looking for.

[felix.reichardt]

I would honestly suggest to join a studio ligting workshop. That way you learn 10 times faster than by books or DIY. And you don't have to buy the lighting stuff first. I was for
such a workshop and learned so much form just 1 day. Buy lights from a company that has support in your area and gives you enough room to grow with additional equipment.

[byers]

Llama,

Oh if only I could. I live in the middle of no where and they don't offer any such things for miles and mile away. The cities are so far and few between here in ND.

[arcmaster]

Don't overlook stuff you already own. Everytime I go shopping, I'm always looking for different colors and textures in blankets. I've gotten a lot of use from blankets as backgrounds.
Consider running a piece of 1 1/4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe across your ceiling in front of your back wall, then get those nice spring clips (like BIG clothes pins) to use to hang backgrounds from.
And did I mention that Alien Bees has extremely excellent customer service? Ran into another photographer this weekend who travels a lot, and he carrys five Alien Bee B1600's with him. Quickly discovered that one flashtube was bad when he received his lights new. He forgot to call AB until 18 months later. The warranty had expired 15 months ago, but they still sent him a new flashtube, no charge.
Did anyone mention that they don't have one of those fancy computers to answer the phone? They actually use real people to answer the phone. Anyone here old enough to remember that?

[drkranger]

Hey, just found out that I didn't get my light kit from Amvona. I got it from Adorama. Sorry for the confusion if there was any.
Digital cameras, all other cameras and everything photographic from Adorama Camera - Flashpoint light kit.

Originally Posted by drkranger

Everyone seems to be very hip on the AlienBees. For my "basic," beginner setup, I went with a 300w/s light kit from Amvona (Amvona 720 imagine, discover, connect.). The kit I bought came with a good quality light, light stand, and a 42" umbrella (I think, might be a 36"). I can't remember exactly how much it was, but it was less than the AlienBees basic setup. I haven't had any problems with it. I've used it for indoor portraits and product shots. I did pick up 2 chroma key backgrounds for cheap: ebay on 1 and personal seller for the other. I have wanted to get other colors in paper rolls, but haven't done it yet. There are other toys I've wanted.

For a basic, beginner setup, it has worked well and been cost efficient.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot. I also have a $30 1000w work light from Sears as a fill light positioned directly behind and a bit above the camera as far back as it'll go in the space I use. The work light is a double sided, double intensity light so it'll go from 250w to 1000w depending upon what effect I'm looking for.

[k9ofkaos]

There are ways to do things on the cheap with the things you may already have. If you have a shoe flash that you can fire off camera, you can fire it from behind a translucent light disc (or a piece of shower curtain if you want to go even cheaper) and get a pretty darn good approximation of studio type lighting.

For a basic studio I would look at these things:

• Good reliable camera
• Best lens you can afford.
• One studio strobe with lightstand and umbrella
• One large (42" or larger) reflector.
• One flash meter.

I want to also give my highest recommendation to Alien Bees. They are cost friendly, and very customer friendly. I'm not hating on the camera stores in New York, but when I order things from them I usually place my order over the web just so I don't have to talk to them. But I place my Alien Bees orders over the phone. The customer service is just that good. There may be someone, but I don't know anybody who has ever regretted buying a bee or two.

[Benji]

Gotta agree with Harry on the studio type lights (flash) rather than D/C powered (on camera) type strobes. While there is nothing "wrong" with these strobes you must adapt them to fit the light stand and then the umbrella or softbox, then adapt some sort of light to fit onto it so you can see what you are going to get when the unit fires. Actually you could use a strobe of the fill light and a studio type light for the main. I would not use "garage" type halogen lights for anything indoors. These suckers get REAL HOT REAL QUICK, and will burn skin on contact. They are labeled "For Outdoor Use Only" for a good reason because they will set afire anything combustable placed closer than 18 inches or so in front of them. A flaming or melting softbox won't impress customers, but it might impress their attorney if there is any sort of injury. You may be able to get by with a reflector (aluminum foil glued onto cardboard) for a hair light for awhile.

Black backgrounds are very very boring, not to mention dark clothing and dark hair blends in easily with it. A 12 x 20 muslin in blues/greys/maroons etc., will look good in a head shot, or waist up, or 3/4 length, as well as a full length shot in either vertical or horizontal camera orientation. You can use it with families, children, babies, even executive head shots. Depending on how much light you place on it, it can be light blue, medium blue, or dark blue.

Benji