Home Studio Set Up

[wrdm]

Looking for some input guys.

I would like to turn my spare room into a small make shift studio, a ghetto studio if you like, where I can offer free shots to my family and friends in hope of building up a portfolio. This is leading me to put this together as cheap as I possibly can.

The basic, basic things I think I need are a Background (muslin and posterboard) and a 5 in 1 reflector.

I plan to make (or at least attempt) a softbox from DIY Photography.

As of yet I do not own a speedlight, dependant on how cheaply I can get a light source set up I'm either going to buy a SB-400 or an SB-600.

Now, as for my source of light, I can't afford big fancy strobes so would like to use something "household", but what is suitable? I've toyed with the idea of trying to make a spiderlite, if I did would I need any other source of light? I've also seen articles discussing the use of builders lamps however I'm very undecided about this. Or is the use of a basic table lamp even an option??

Thanks in advance.

[Benji]

I did the "ghetto" thing about 25 years ago. What a disaster. If I was starting out today knowing what I know now I would get a couple of these CowboyStudio Photography Lighting Equipment | Studio Accessories for $72.10 each and be done with it. If you want bigger and better flash units later on you can still use these as kickers, background lights or a hairlight. If you start out with garage lights or flourescent lights you can't use them with flash but you can use them to work on your car.

Benji

[Alexxx]

Like Benji, I also tried to go as cheap as possible many years ago only to find that going a little extra with the funds would have saved me heaps more.

Even though you could go buy hardware store hot-lights and some shower curtain material to diffuse it, I reckon just from a comfort and safety point of view - go and see if you can score a cheap studio strobe, or even an old SB28 flash off ebay. I still have mine and occasionally use it. They are perfectly great to shoot portraiture with, especially coupled with an umbrella.

Initially it'll look more expensive than worklights and showercurtains, but trust me when I say in the long run it'll help you. Even if you have to go mow some lawns or sell some old stuff on ebay to find the funds It's still better than the somewhat awkward moment where you burn down your house infront of a family member you're trying to take pictures of

[Benji]

Amen to Alex's posting. I will never forget the time back in my ghetto days when I needed to snoot my hair light so it would just illuminate the girls' hair and not her shoulders or the background so I took some black construction paper and rolled it into a cone and used wooden clothes pins to attach it to the hot light. I got her posed and as usual I shut off all lights so I could see what each light was doing when I turned it on. I first turned on my "new" hair light and positioned it then I went to the background light and positioned it then I turned around to position the main light. It was then that I noticed the cone was smoking! I quickly unplugged the hair light, but it was too late. The client had already smelled the smoke and turned around and looked up to see the the cone still smoldering. She quickly got off the posing stool. I calmly explained to her that I tried something different and it didn't work and asked her to sit back down. We shot a number of images but she didn't like any of them.

Benji

[sk66]

For most things, strobes are the only way to go.
Hot lights are called that becasue...they get HOT. They are uncomfortable to be posed in front of for very long, and they can burn stuff up. Halogen lamps also get very hot (but are usually cooler to be in front of and can be placed further away).