Creating a Home Studio : Where? How? And How Much?

Tips From the Studio Coach, by Jean-François O’Kane

This article was originally published in October/November 2010 edition of Photolife magazine.

Setting up a first studio can certainly be a great challenge. And you’ll have plenty of questions. Where? How? How much will it cost? These questions can be answered easily.

Where? The first thing to consider in a studio is the background. Do you want to use an existing background such as “the dining room walls” or will you be using rolls of seamless paper or a studio background fabric? The size of backdrop will vary depending on whether you are planning to shoot photos of entire families, close-up portraits or flowers.

How? This question refers to the equipment you will be using. You may already have everything you need: a camera and a window, a portable flash or a floodlight, a stand and an umbrella.

I started my career 40 years ago with a blue bulb floodlight diffused through a sheer curtain. At that time the portraits of members of my family were very basic. They were done with black-and-white film; the light was a bit harsh and the installation was not that fireproof; however I still have images of my mother when she was 35! With low light and a wide-aperture lens, the background could be blurred easily, so it wasn’t distracting.

It is possible to create very pleasing portraits even when working in limited space with a basic studio set-up.

How much will it cost? Setting up your first studio doesn’t have to be expensive. Let’s take a look at three studio setups.

The basic studio

One floodlight equipped with a 500-Watt blue bulb or a 250-Watt Xenon curly bulb, an umbrella, a light shade and a reflector panel. For starters, I suggest the following equipment: a tripod to compensate for the slow speed needed to achieve sharp images or long exposures. For an even less expensive studio, replace the floodlight by a window (see the April/May 2010 column). This set-up would work well for flowers, objects and individual portraits. Price range: from $125 to $300.

The intermediate studio

Two quartz variable-power lights, two light stands, an umbrella and a reflector on a stand. A tripod is still recommended. The first light should be aimed at the umbrella, which will reflect diffused light on the subject, the reflector fills in the shadow side and the second light illuminates the background or is directed at the subject’s hair.

To upgrade this studio use two portable flashes instead of the two quartz lights. However, do note that using expensive TTL flashes will require more technical knowledge than using two manual remote controlled flashes with a radio slave. This set-up would work well for flowers, objects and individual or group portraits of up to three people. An upgraded studio could also be used on location as a full studio or as fill-in flash. Price range: from $400 to $800 (up to $1200 with the upgrade).

The high-end studio

Two electronic flashes powered by electricity, ideally 200 to 400 Watts per second with the ability to be dialled down to 5 or 10 W/s when shooting close-ups. Of course, two light stands with an umbrella or a softbox and a reflector panel; the flashes will be triggered by the supplied cable or by a wireless trigger and the background fabric will be held in place by a background stand. This set-up would work for situations when great depth of field is needed and for moving subjects like kids, families or pets. Price range: from $800 to $2000.