# Want to start a home studio



## photogchick (Dec 13, 2011)

I live in Minnesota and the jobs in the winter are far and few between.  As much fun as it is to freeze your tush off in 5 degrees weather I'm thinking it's time to move indoors.  
With this being said I do not have the right equipment to do this.  I've been looking at National Camera for a few basics and I wanted some advice from all of you!

So far I've been looking at the Promaster 2 Light Advanced Studio Lighting kit which is on sale for $499.99
I was also looking for backgrounds that I can set up.  

I have the perfect space in my house to set this up it is just a matter of taking the plunge and spending the money.  

I know there is lots to get but what else do you think is a MUST HAVE?


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## 2WheelPhoto (Dec 13, 2011)

fairly tall ceiling


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## photogchick (Dec 13, 2011)

I do have that


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## MLeeK (Dec 13, 2011)

at least 20 feet from backdrop to wall. More if you can. Makes life so much easier!!!!
GOOD light stands and weights. 
Gaffer tape

The light kit looks decent. I don't know about the quality, personally so I can't really say there. . It's enough light to light up a portait and a small family will be fine using them. Combined with a speedlight and you have a fair amount of light. It's not a LOT of light and you won't be able to use it to light white to blow out AND a subject. BUT you will be able to get good basic portraits from it. 
I'd rather have softboxes than umbrellas, personally, but the umbrellas will work. 
You'll need a trigger setup for them or you will be shooting wired.


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## mwcfarms (Dec 13, 2011)

I have 8 foot ceilings and can get by, although men who are 6 feet tall definetly present a challenge. In the spring I will be redoing the garage we never use into a studio, it's not as long as the basement but the ceilings are twice as tall.


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## RebeccaAPhotography (Dec 13, 2011)

photogchick said:


> I live in Minnesota and the jobs in the winter are far and few between. As much fun as it is to freeze your tush off in 5 degrees weather I'm thinking it's time to move indoors.
> With this being said I do not have the right equipment to do this. I've been looking at National Camera for a few basics and I wanted some advice from all of you!
> 
> So far I've been looking at the Promaster 2 Light Advanced Studio Lighting kit which is on sale for $499.99
> ...



Where abouts in mn? I work in MN and live in WI


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## tirediron (Dec 13, 2011)

Is this a studio just for your own hobby use or a commercial enterprise?


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## KmH (Dec 13, 2011)

> ...the jobs in the winter are far and few between....


Sounds like it's a business.


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## tirediron (Dec 13, 2011)

KmH said:


> > ...the jobs in the winter are far and few between....
> 
> 
> Sounds like it's a business.


I wasn't sure if he meant as way to make money when other jobs are scarce, or as something to do to pass time when  jobs are scarce.


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## 2WheelPhoto (Dec 13, 2011)

mwcfarms said:


> I have 8 foot ceilings and can get by, *although men who are 6 feet tall definetly present a challenge*. In the spring I will be redoing the garage we never use into a studio, it's not as long as the basement but the ceilings are twice as tall.



Yeah tall ceilings will serve you better, not only because of the men's height but the lighting


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## thierry (Dec 14, 2011)

2WheelPhoto said:


> mwcfarms said:
> 
> 
> > I have 8 foot ceilings and can get by, *although men who are 6 feet tall definetly present a challenge*. In the spring I will be redoing the garage we never use into a studio, it's not as long as the basement but the ceilings are twice as tall.
> ...



Yes, definetly want tall ceilings. I offer a service where I will take my portable studio equipment on site to businesses and places for events and stuffs... Anyways, I sometimes get stuck dealing with 8ft ceilings and it is a pain in my arse... By the time I get a softbox on a photostand and try to raise, i get about a foot and then im screwed... DEF need high ceilings


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## mwcfarms (Dec 14, 2011)

Oh for sure but there are a lot of people who can do some great stuff out of their basement studios, its about being able to control your light right. Work with what you got is my point. Although I am very excited for April to come so we can get to work on converting the garage.


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## MLeeK (Dec 14, 2011)

As much as we all want tall ceilings, don't let it scare you if it's not possible!


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## c.cloudwalker (Dec 14, 2011)

MLeeK said:


> As much as we all want tall ceilings, don't let it scare you if it's not possible!



Depending on the type of photography, regular ceiling heights can be just fine but if you're going to be shooting full-body type portraits of 6 footers it can be a pain.

That said, I shot my first commercial portfolio in my basement studio with 8 ft ceilings. For those photos where I wanted the model to stand, I just picked shorter people 

Umbrellas are more of a problem, imo, in a small home studio. But if the room is dedicated to that purpose, the walls can be painted matte black or dark gray. Even in my present studio which is large, the walls and just about everything else is painted dark gray.


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## MLeeK (Dec 14, 2011)

c.cloudwalker said:


> MLeeK said:
> 
> 
> > As much as we all want tall ceilings, don't let it scare you if it's not possible!
> ...


c.cloudwalker-this is kind of opinion and more of a guess, so I am hoping you can point me straight here... 
In a small home studio with lights that aren't a LOT of power, wouldn't you want to go a very light to white neutral to give you the reflective power of the walls to magnify the lights?


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## mwcfarms (Dec 14, 2011)

I would think you wouldnt want a  pure white in such a small space even with low watt lights because of reflection and spilling back onto your subject. But I am interested to see what those who know the right answer say.


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## MLeeK (Dec 14, 2011)

I am rather unsure! I have windows on one side of me and an ivory wall on the other, but my backdrop rails pull backdrops across the wall, so in the shooting area it's always a backdrop to the left side... I have never given it much consideration!!!


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## c.cloudwalker (Dec 14, 2011)

MLeeK said:


> c.cloudwalker said:
> 
> 
> > MLeeK said:
> ...



Some musicians get very good at controlling feedback and use it very creatively... Personally I find it hard to control light reflections off of white walls, I'd rather have just the light from the strobes (or continuous lights) to deal with so I paint everything dark gray. But there are plenty of people, I think, who shoot in white walled studios.


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## mwcfarms (Dec 14, 2011)

I would just think that in such tight quarters unless your very good about flagging or controlling the spill you would have reflection from your lights rather than a grey wall. I could be totally wrong though. I have white walls and a low ceiling in my basement and I do have a lot of spill but I suck at flagging and am not going any further with studio lighting till i get a proper light meter.


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## c.cloudwalker (Dec 14, 2011)

MLeeK said:


> I am rather unsure! I have windows on one side of me and an ivory wall on the other, but my backdrop rails pull backdrops across the wall, so in the shooting area it's always a backdrop to the left side... I have never given it much consideration!!!



Does that mean you use a mix of natural light and strobes?  That would be another way of shooting. I have no windows at all.


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## MLeeK (Dec 14, 2011)

mwcfarms said:


> I would just think that in such tight quarters unless your very good about flagging or controlling the spill you would have reflection from your lights rather than a grey wall. I could be totally wrong though. I have white walls and a low ceiling in my basement and I do have a lot of spill but I suck at flagging and am not going any further with studio lighting till i get a proper light meter.



You do have a good point there with the controlling light. I like softboxes and strip boxes that I can control how it feathers on my subjects. I have gotten some bounce off my windows, but I think it's kind of natural to me to just deal with it and adjust-it's always been like that, KWIM? I also know better than to shoot with a background to my left that has strong colors on it or it's going to give me a headache, so that feeds right in to your point.


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## MLeeK (Dec 14, 2011)

c.cloudwalker said:


> MLeeK said:
> 
> 
> > I am rather unsure! I have windows on one side of me and an ivory wall on the other, but my backdrop rails pull backdrops across the wall, so in the shooting area it's always a backdrop to the left side... I have never given it much consideration!!!
> ...



I am using a mixture of the two in my "studio" (and I use that term INCREDIBLY loosely... it's too small by half to be a studio.) 
I am thinking more along the lines of the very light walls allowing you to make more use of the lower wattage lights because it's going to be bouncing back from them. However I also see that it can definitely be a problem in controlling the light overall at times-especially with umbrellas and the spill.


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## c.cloudwalker (Dec 14, 2011)

Btw, maybe I'm just anal about it considering the size of my studio but my very first one was small and gave me problems. So I painted it dark and did the same to the next two.


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## 2WheelPhoto (Dec 14, 2011)

mwcfarms said:


> I would just think that in such tight quarters unless your very good about flagging or controlling the spill you would have reflection from your lights rather than a grey wall. I could be totally wrong though. I have white walls and a low ceiling in my basement and I do have a lot of spill but I suck at flagging and am not going any further with studio lighting till i get a proper light meter.



Spill is why i mentioned tall ceilings, sure we can work around it when we have to but might not best for a "studio".

I bought an L-358 sekonic light meter from BHPHOTO, with the student discount it was $259 new.  It works so well its almost scary and I'm enjoying it.  I like the instantatinious ambient/flash ratio readings (without popping a few shots) when shooting outside too.


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## mwcfarms (Dec 14, 2011)

That's the same one I'm getting! Can not wait to play!


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## mwcfarms (Dec 14, 2011)

And I'm going from 8 foot ceilings to almost 20 ft in the spring which is very exciting!


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## gsgary (Dec 14, 2011)

MLeeK said:


> c.cloudwalker said:
> 
> 
> > MLeeK said:
> ...




No because it is very hard to control the light, i have noticed a big difference shooting in a dark studio and a white studio, in a white studio you get light bouncing all over the place


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## KmH (Dec 14, 2011)

Black is depressing, but minimizing uncontrolled reflections is definately key.

I paint the studio walls a flat (no sheen) medium gray, and the ceiling gets painted flat black.


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## mwcfarms (Dec 14, 2011)

How high are your ceilings that you have painted them black Keith? Just curious. I was already planning on doing a gray on the side and back walls. Would you recommend at all leaving the back wall white rather than using seamless all the time. I still havent decided about that.


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## Diddy2theJJ (Dec 14, 2011)

Hey Photogchick, I live in North Dakota where winter seems like it's here for 9 months out of the year lol. I had a home studio for almost 2 years doing photography part time and working full time, and now I've started to rent some studio space in town so I may be investing in some better lights as well.

What camera and lens setup are you using?

I'm not sure what your entire budget looks like, but I've heard good things about the newest Elinchrom lights. They have a really nice system for setting your strobe power right from the skyport transmitter, or if you have a WiFi network setup they have a new device that allows you to set it up via an iPad or iPhone with the right software. I haven't looked into that side of things but it sounds pretty nice.


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