At home Studio

[GFruge]

I've finally setup some of my at home studio equipment. I'm going to use this space as an all purpose space, but the studio will be in there.

Here goes:
I'll post photos soon, but here's what I'm working with.

My space is 16' x 24'. I have a roll-up door for the use of a garage, but right behind the roll-up door I've installed a bracked system that holds my paper. I've got 3 rolls of paper there already, all 9' wide. The colors I've chosen so far are white, black, and green(chroma color).

The ceiling in the shop is 8' high, therefore I've installed the chain pulley system to roll the paper up and down.

Towards the front of the shop is my workspace with cabinets and workbench.


Anyways, I've never really used a studio that was never mobile. I've always setup onsite and used props from the household that I was shooting or from whatever props I could find in the area. What do you guys suggest I have in this non-mobile studio. Suggestions could include other colored paper, muslins, special or common props.......????

The workspace is climate controlled with an air conditioning unit and 2 ceiling fans. It's quite a nice space for having it at home. I intend to do a wide variety of shooting, from models, senior portraits, wedding photography, animal photography, child photos, etc.


Help me out with any suggestions.


Thanks and I will post photos.

 

[Derrel]

I would add a roll of fairy dark Thunder Grey background paper to the mix. With that shade of gray, you can make it go very dark, or you can add light to it and turn it to a nice,white backdrop, or you can add gel coloration to it at low flash power, and create colored backdrops. It's a very easy gray color to work with. When lighting the gray up to bring it up to a white value, it reflects less light than white paper does, so you do not get what is called "wrap" or "blowback" on the neck and head areas of people, and also, when your main and fill lights shine onto it (spill onto the background), that is not really a problem, since you sort of want to have more light on the gray paper than on the subject. In a cramped or low-ceilinged studio, this can be a big deal. I really like to have at least one flash head fitted with a 10 to 20 degree honeycomb grid, barn doors, and a snap-on mylar diffuser, to use as a hair light or separation light. A large, rectangular white reflector panel, about 42x72 inches or so, is super-handy.

I painted my entire garage medium gray....walls and ceiling....developed a bad case of bursitis in my right shoulder while doing it too.

Common props...armchair, posing stool, tall barstool, chaise, posing cubes, cylinders,etc.

 

[GFruge]

I've been requested quite a bit lately to shoot infants. In the past, I've avoided them due to the lack of position, bad angle, or being able to see the frame of what's got the baby in place. What's some good tools for something like this. Obviously a good sturdy table would be first on the list, but how about some kind of special chair or pillow.

I guess the 1st section of this thread would be geared towards infant and child photography.

 

[Derrel]

Yes, for baby posing, you need a few fairly simple posing aids, which help the infant stay in one position....until a baby is 6 to 7 months old, he cannot hold his head up for more than a few seconds, so when placed on his tummy on the table, he will do a "face-plant". Immediately! So...you can photograph the infant in a crib, laundry basket, or car seat, using pillows or whatever, to position the infant up,near the rim of the posing device. A car seat or bouncy seat, covered with a furry drape or with a favorite blanket is a popular way to create a background. Long-haired, furry white synthetic throws are popular, and allow you to drape the car seat over the car seat, the top of the table, and then to pull down a white backdrop, for an all-white look. You can also use darker backdrops and fabrics, like all-black, and do a double-exposure type shot right in-camera (altho very easy to do today with PS). You can also use a gel on the back light,and turn the background white or pink or yellow...

A posing wedge, which is like a bed wedge, allows you to create a little "hill and ridge top", so a young infant can be posed with his feet on the table, and his belly on the wedge, and his hands and face at the top edge of the foam wedge. This is how you shoot a "tummy pose" on a young infant...it's a classic way to pose a baby all on his own, and make him look "active", and get the camera a little bit below his eye level. A LOT of babies are photographed at 3,4,5,6 months, and at that age, they literally can do hardly ANYTHING....they cannot hold their head up, they cannot sit on their butts without toppling right over,either sideways or backwards...so, you need stuff that helps hold them in position, so you can light them, compose, and then get their attention and get them looking good.

A good baby posing table is an industry special tool, but it has a throne, a table, and a wedge capacity, all in folding aluminum or steel, and it costs thousands of dollars. The "wedge" part can be bought, in foam, for $50 from a medical supply place. For the throne part, what you need is something that is sort of like the corner of a recliner or easy-chair...a padded, high-backed, sort of angled-back-at-the-butt seat, which you can cover with a fabric, and then plop a young infant into, and keep the baby SAFE, and also position an older child, like say an 18 month old to 3 year old.

Today, there are some very talented MWAC types of family shooters who use really cute little Etsy-bought hats and headbands, and are shooting with infants in wicker baskets, and all sorts of nicely painted baskets and tubs and washtubs and such. The thing a lot of people don't realize is how fall-prone and tippy infants are until they are 13-14 months old.

 

[Big Mike]

I built a baby posing stand. It's basically a heavy duty hinged 'sidewalk sign' with an adjustable shelf on one side. The parent can hold the baby from behind while I get an upper body shot of the baby. This is, of course, after they are able to hold their head up.

Another prop I've used is a 'Bumbo' chair. It's a foam seat that can hold a baby is a sitting position. We mainly used this as my son's first high-chair, but it works to hold them up for portraits as well.

 

[mammarazzi]

I just use a bean bag especially for newborns. It conforms to your needs and also gets them up a little higher for more comfortable shooting. Here is a link to an example. Also a space heater is a must for small infants.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4252051871_6639928b8e.jpg

 

[GFruge]

Great idea on the bean bag.

Sorry about the photos here, but this gets an idea of what I'm going to work with here. This is my all purpose workshop / Studio.

I work offshore and currently there right now, that's why the truck is in there. I'll get more photos of how it actually looks when the truck is out and the lights are setup. The ceiling is low (8'), but the boom works ok for subjects when they're sitting.

The studio stuff is coming along, but I'd much rather shoot outside.

Notice the ceiling (Corrugated Tin), do you think I'll have an issue with it?

Disclaimer, this is not my shooting, it was my wife (I swear).

 

[Nicholas James Photo]

Why is your garage so neat and tidy? Mine looks like a bomb has hit it.....

 

[GFruge]

Only because I'm a neat freak. Everything that I have is in order, with the exception for my office. My desk looks like a bomb.

I'll take more photos of the area when I return home. I'll show photos of how it looks when the lawn tractor and truck are not in there. Also, I'll show photos with the paper down and lights around.

The only issue I run into at the moment is my hairlight boom. I'd rather a rail system, but the rail systems recommends having more than 8' ceilings. My shop unfortunately only has 8' ceiling.

 

[KmH]

...Notice the ceiling (Corrugated Tin), do you think I'll have an issue with it?

Yes, I think you'll have issues with the reflectivity and curves of the corrugated ceiling, and with the brown walls too.

To quote Darrel: "I painted my entire garage medium gray....walls and ceiling."

I painted my in-home studio walls medium gray too, though I opted to paint the 8' ceiling flat white after covering it with a rough fiberboard material.

Does the window face North?

 

[GFruge]

Excellent idea on the medium gray. I'm going to bring my whitebalance card to the paint store and try to match it. I kinda figured I'd run into troubles with the ceiling being that material. I'm going to have to think of how I can correct that issue. I shouldn't need to cover all of my ceiling with some other material, maybe just the 1st 10'. What's your thoughts on this? I may have to go with a fiberboard of some sort as well.

What do you think of maybe putting a rail system up there or just using the current boom that I have?

 

[magkelly]

I second the bean bag chair. I've done that and it works very well.

 

[Derrel]

I think I see some weird light reflections on the wall in photo #1, by the extension cords: those streaks on the wall look like undiffused camera flash hitting the ceiling metal,and reflecting. I think you could paint the ceiling metal white,black,or gray and get rid of problems with reflections off of the metal sheeting. I do not think it would be necessary to cover the metal. You could, probably just as easily, tightly stretch a fabric at ceiling level, and get rid of any reflection potential with something as low-tech as even a bed sheet suspended on cord. But somehow, I'd want to cancel the reflection potential/problems that could come from having light hitting reflective metal. On the garage door I also see some streaks that look like they too might be reflections coming off of the ceiling metal.

 

[GFruge]

Very good eye, because that's exactly what that is. I have another photo of the workbench at the front of the shop and there's streaking all over the place. I'll definitely have to see about that problem.

Maybe like you said, just put paint over it to cancel the reflecting effect. You guys are genious. I've always shot in a studio that was already setup. Only bad thing is I didn't pay attention to what all was done to eliminate problems.

As I continue to progress with the project, I'll continue asking questions and posting photos. One thing I hate is to spend lots of money on something, then have to go over what I've done and spend lots more money to correct a problem that I created. You guys are giving great suggestions.

As mentioned, I'll post what I'm trying to do and send photos of the progress. Most of my progress will be during the 2 weeks while I'm home.

Thanks again,

 

[DanEitreim]

I don't know what sort of lighting you are using, but if you are shooting kids I'd recommend mounting your lights on the ceiling. There are track systems available. If you use stands, it's only a matter of time before someone knocks it over or trips on a cord.