Studio Basics

[eyeye]

I have been shooting in digital about a year. Recently I was able to use a friends home studio set up. She had two b400 alienbees, one with an umbrella and one with a soft box. I am hooked! I would like to get a home studio set up, something I can put up and take down as needed. It would also be nice to be able to move it around. I am at a total loss of where to start and was hoping that I could get a bit of guidance here. Is there a website? Or a must-have book? Could anyone speak to preferred brands or their experiences in setting up their own mobile studio? I am even somewhat at a loss about backdrop material? Canvas? Muslin? Seamless paper? What is most versatile, soft boxes or umbrellas? How do you use back lighting when you have people sitting on the floor, especially children?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide me. I have about $1000 to start this endeavor.

 

[Phranquey]

Well, if you liked the Alien Bees, and you have $1000, they have some nice packages which can be adjusted / customized to what you want.


http://www.alienbees.com/packages.html


There are a few people on here who have them, and I haven't heard any complaints. They are considered a pretty good entry level studio set-up.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

I use Alienbee lights as well. There are, of course, other brands to consider so look around.

There aren't a lot of absolute rights or wrongs in studio photography, different photographers use different tools and methods to achieve their goals. It can be hard to know where to start, so maybe start slowly, with one or two lights and build your kit from there.

I personally like softboxes better than umbrellas because they control the spill of the light, but umbrellas are much easier to set up and pack away.