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Start with What You Have "What kit do I need?" It's our eternal question, isn't it? Most of the time, I tell people to just pick up their camera and get on with it. However: this is one of the few times when, realistically, you do need a couple of bits of kit. In a studio, the most important additional thing is a background. This can be a plain ...

I have been taking images of children recently and found that those closer to 2 have not wanted to pose in anyway shape or form! My most successful have included setting up a studio area and defining where the children need to be, then letting them play with toys, dance to music and chat away to each other. In doing this I got some nice relaxed poses. I ...

As with most "big boy" hobbies, the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor; similar XAFs exist for other types of relationships) is an elusive thing. At least in the photography realm (unlike, say, the world of the audiophile), the impact on the decor is transient and forgivable. Well, unless you start attaching curtain rods all over the living room, that is. (I have ...

Any of them are going to work fine for a home studio, presuming you have the space to set things up. Some things to consider, however, are: Stands to hold the backdrop. It may seem a little obvious, but if you want to have flexibility in your use of backdrops, at least a basic stand is going to be something to get. Reuse of the backdrop(s). Fancier ones, ...

The book Light Science and Magic is just about the best resource on product photography for beginners. It's about lighting in general but it's written by a product photographer and most of the material and importantly the examples relates to indoor small product photography (there's a bit on portraits later on). It's very easy to read yet in covers the vast ...

Yes, you can use wireless triggers, sync cords, optical triggers, etc. to trigger both portable strobes and studio lights. If you are using (preflash) TTL instead of all manual, it will be slightly more difficult. You will have to attach the wireless triggers/sync cords to the controller. Or find optical triggers that ignore preflash. There may be a ...

Find a stock background image that has the look you're after. Shoot your model on a plain background. Make sure the direction and color of the light matches as closely as possible extract the model from the background. Using a dark green background might make the masking easier. -or- shoot in a park or backyard with lots of greenery, using a shallow ...

Your main issue is that you are using different temperature lighting between the three lights. Don't do that. Go buy 3 bare bulbed workshop lights from the hardware store. Soften them with sheets or fabric from the fabric store(yes, it's that easy). You should come in way under $40. You could even get some nice daylight temperature bulbs and still hit your ...

With a 50mm lens on a DX (1.5x crop factor) body, at 20 feet/6 meters you can just barely get away with a standard 53" roll with the camera oriented vertically. There's not a lot of room to manoeuver at that distance; the paper edges are just barely outside of the frame. It is just adequate for a single full-length subject or a close couple, but with a 50mm ...

I think generally these type of shots are referred to as "setup shots" or "behind the scenes" rather than backstage. Why exactly are you looking for them? If you're looking for inspiration for DIY and amateur set ups I would add the following group to chills' list: S.U.M. (Setups Mandatory) Which contains both the set up and the final shot which is ...

I remember seeing, on some site, a studio set up in a room filled with furniture that is not a good background for a picture. This mostly involved using clamps to hang fabric backdrops over closets and bookshelves (and pushing chairs and tables out of the way). You can solve color problems due to reflections off the walls by covering them with fabric (clamp ...

The minimum equipment needed to take a decent picture is two light sources and a background, so either two lamps/flashes or one lamp/flash and a reflection screen. The reason that you need a minimum of two light sources is that the images will look very flat if you have a single light source. That is the bare minimum, everything after that is just to make ...

A light tent is a good way to do it. There are a few different designs, each of which have their own pros and cons. How to Make An Inexpensive Light Tent – DIY Homemade Light Box for Product Photography I like these two in particular, because they are easy to make, inexpensive, and fairly small, which allows for easy setup/storage. Edit: One good ...

I'm afraid "zero space" and "studio" don't go together particularly well. Without space the lights you set up will reflect back off everything, filling in the shadows you try to create to define your subject. Also it's very hard to light your background and subject separately when close together. This isn't to say you can't use your home, or get good ...

If the purpose is to decode barcodes, I would suggest looking into webcams. The HD cams are pretty good these days and cost next to nothing. Some come with stands, and that should solve your "tripod" issue as well. You could even use Blue Tack as additional stabilizer. The webcams come with capture software too. I don't know anything about the decoding ...

Simple You will probably want to think about 3 things (assuming you have a camera already!) I'm concentrating on low-cost options. Background A white-painted wall is a great start Lights A single strobe with a stand and a shoot-through umbrella is a good start here. You will need a way to trigger it - a cable is functional and cheap. Props ...

If you just need to power a light that's normally intended for a permanent installation, there's not much too it. For ease of use, I'd just recommend some wire-nuts: And a cut-up three-prong extension cord. The actual wiring depends a lot on where you are located. I can tell you the color-coding for USA wiring off the top of my head, but I don't know UK ...

Concentrate on the Foreground Good foreground objects will sell the effect. For example: if your background (be it canvas or a stock image) contains palm trees, then some palm trunks or even real palms in the foreground will build an connection between the fake and the real. The larger / brighter / more in focus the foreground elements are, the more they ...

If you expect from the start you need more than two outlets at a given location (and therefore need the power strip), have the electrician put in a larger 2-gang, 3-gang or even 4-gang box, which would give you eight outlets. One day you're sure to have extension cords running around, too. One time, you'll likely have an extension cord running all the way ...

The best place to look may very well be flickr. You might be best off looking in group pools, for example: Studio Lighting Lighting and Posing Styles Studios, locations, backstages and sets

I'd use a black, a white and a mid-gray (18% reflection). Theoretically, with the right lighting, you'll be able to make the white background look black, and vice versa, but it limits the lighting options for your subject. I'm using a Manfrotto tripod and a head with separate controls for the three directions, though many people prefer a ballhead, as it ...

The basic minimum for flexibility and creativity are two 500 Ws monoheads 7' reflector (for hard light) beauty dish (for semi-hard) 4x6 softbox (for flat light) incident meter pocket wizards for triggering lights remotely cooling/warming gels to adjust light balance white, black and thunder grey seamless (I hate muslin, personally - it's impossible to ...

The width will be a much bigger problem than the height. You can always shoot your subjects seated, and lights don't need to be particularly high for most purposes (unless you're really getting dramatic). Anything centred above eye level will usually work out okay. You can even knock down the ceiling reflections pretty satisfactorily using black paint (or ...

The light tent/cube isn't really a product that will help you extend your photographic skill. It's designed to make the process easy and make anything look pretty good: just put the object inside the tent, position the lights around so that the whole tent is lit, and take a photo. The tent won't allow you to add a hard light for an accent, for example, ...

I'd recommend to instead look for some light-weight portable lighting gear (Strobist kits being a good starting point) and scouting for visually interesting locations nearby. In a crammed space, you won't be able to get enough variability, separation and attractive perspective. And the goat will eat your cables :) If you (or your loved ones) insist on ...

When I read your question I think you're asking strobe/flash vs constant studio lights. If that's not what you mean, please clarify. It's possible to mix them, but honestly to do so you need pretty powerful studio lights, and pretty weak strobes. Otherwise the amount of light put out by the strobes in the fraction of a second they fire is going to pretty ...

Electricity-wise, it'll come out to almost the same thing. Assuming you're running the wiring from a single circuit, then it'll be either wires in the wall (probably 12-gauge), or wires in your power strip. But: Is your power strip's cable of the same gauge, and rated for the amount of power you're going to use? You may do better to have at least a ...

I like the points made in the previous questions about having points in each of the walls to prevent the need for trailing wires. While you can suspend AC-powered strobes from the ceiling and so need power outlets on the ceiling, I think you'd have mentioned this if you planned that. In terms of number of sockets and power draw, I've never worked or ...

Positioning the camera I would start by just hand-holding the camera, unless there's a reason why this is not possible. Another option is a tripod. Pretty much any tripod will allow you to point the camera straight up. You will need to find one which is small enough to fit under the tray. A joby gorillapod with a ball head might fit the bill nicely, and ...

The term is usually "DIY" not "DYI" although this may be different in the country where you are from. If you are going to "DIY"(Do It Yourself) that usually consists of buying products from non-traditional vendors. So the equipment would likely come from home improvement or hardware stores to begin with, and may also include some online retailers(although ...