Comments on: How to Build a Studio Setting in Your own Home

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:06:18 +0000

Thanks so much. I’ve been looking for building my Studio, I’ll make it this weekend. Can’t wait for it.

By: Jennifer Moore

Jennifer Moore — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:48:16 +0000

This was a good, basic article, but I found the comments very helpful.

Paul Duncanson, thanks for sharing your lighting setup. It was very helpful. (I’ll be looking forward to YOUR tutorials!

Jen M.
JenniferLynn Productions, LLC

By: Nicky Hurt

Nicky Hurt — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:07:13 +0000

Thanks, AnneWynne, I’ll see what I can find!

By: Lee Davis

Lee Davis — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:24:56 +0000

Does anybody know how to make a DIY home set up, so I can shoot low-key portrait pictures?????? I love this effect and would appreciate any help!

By: liz

liz — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:11:04 +0000

I enjoyed this article- nothing I couldn’t have thought of myself, but a motivation to get creative with limited resources. Thanks!

By: Stephen Hurlbut

Stephen Hurlbut — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:38:44 +0000

@WIlliam Rackley thank you so much for your idea! I had put into consideration an idea of doing what they suggested, (way before this article came out) but I was having trouble figuring it out in a bigger scale, but your idea certainly would be great for the large scale I would like to work in. Right now my big problem is getting good background stands, for a price I can afford, which at this point isn’t much. So until I can get those, I was looking for a better solution, and yours certainly is just that!

By: Stephen Hurlbut

Stephen Hurlbut — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:32:32 +0000

@nicu I’m not experienced in setting up a studio in low ceiling rooms, but the portable studios I used for work, the hair light was about 7 to 8 feet above the ground I would guess. Generally all the rooms (school rooms) could fit the hair light, sometimes we pressed into the ceiling tiles a bit, but we made it work. And my boss hates hair lights, so I just wanted to say, that if you aren’t able to get a proper hair light up, it shouldn’t really hurt the image that much.

In fact our most recent studio set up outright didn’t have hair lights.

I was looking at a book which gave a great comparison of images with a hair light and without. The best thing about the hairlight that I could see was that it gave more of a contrast against the background.

Possibly a reflector mounted to the ceiling would create a decent hair light though?

I used to only have my one speed light, and I always pointed it at the ceiling rather than at the person, because I find the light a whole lot more flattering.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Those 3M Commander hooks are great for a temporary studio backdrop. They’re strong, and they are removable.

By: V

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:35:02 +0000

The hook idea is great, I never would have thought of it on my own!

For my in home studio setup I built a PVC frame (about 4 ft wide and 6 ft tall). I can drape my fabrics over it & onto the floor. It’s great for shooting 1 person or objects but just isn’t wide enough to do more than 1 person at a time (unless they are squished very close together) but I just don’t have the space to have it much bigger than it currently is. For lighting I use all natural light from a south facing sliding door. If I’m desperate for more light I purchased some halogen worklights from the local hardware store and swapped out the bulbs for a more natural color (I think all 3 cost me less than $50/US) – they’re perfect for stormy days but I hardly use them as I really prefer to use natural light.

One thing I love about my setup is I can take it to a client’s home and setup just about anywhere without leaving any damage to their home – it’s perfect for me!

By: Jim Smith

Jim Smith — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:40:30 +0000

@rosa

Check out the following regarding shoting against a white background. Hope you find it helpful…I did.

http://www.photoanswers.co.uk/Video-Tutorials/Search-Results/Camera-Techniques/How-to-get-pure-white-backgrounds/