Whats the equipment that "Picture People" use?

[from_iowa]

Probably been asked before, but I searched and couldn't find it so I'm asking it.

I want to start my own photography studio where I just do family pictures at my studio, just like Picture People does. So I called Picture People and they told me they use 40D Canon camera. Now what I want to know is what are all the equipment that they used. For example light, camera lens and so on. I am asking because I don't dislike their pictures and wouldn't mind doing the same quality and it seems like they always only have 1 settings that works for everything. Basically I want to see how much would it cost to buy all the things to start a studio doing the same thing Picture People does, minus the printing. I'm asking this way because I am very new to photography and just imitating them would be easier.

 

[KmH]

The local Picture People store closed about 2 years ago.

Copying their set up and business model may not be a sound business decision.

 

[Designer]

Dear from; just as Keith has written, it might not be the best idea to copy a business model that has failed.

The cost of getting into a professional studio can be anywhere from (realistically) $10,000 to $50,000, not including the studio space.

Some professionals could possibly get by on a shoestring budget of less than $5,000, but they would be working within constraints.

Mods, please note; I am not flaming this noob.

 

[Derrel]

Before ours closed down, they had what looked to me to be about a 45-inch, white shoot-through umbrella mounted fairly high up, on a ceiling-mounted track system; a 32-inch umbrella fill light right near the camera (very close to the camera for the classical "on-axis fill light", and the camera was on a camera stand, which is a VERY heavy, I-beam-like stand that has basically an exceptionally heavy three-footed metal base with lockable caster-style wheels, and a short arm that the camera is mounted to. This rig is sooooo heavy there's no way a casual thief would be able to pick it up and sprint away with it...I would guess the camera stand weighed in the neighborhood of 225 pounds and stand stood six feet tall.

THis is the kind of basic studio lighting stuff that OTHER "kid pics" places use.

 

[e.rose]

PLEASE... please... tell me this is a freakin' joke.

Mods, please note; I am not flaming this noob.

[Mods, please note; I am.]

 

[from_iowa]

Thanks for the reply Derrel. the Picture People in our town use a 40D camera and it has a antenna connected to it. I think its to activator the big umbrella flash. Would you know what that is called? Also do you think a 40D is enough to open a normal studio for family pictures? Or would you have some suggestion that would be better?

 

[Overread]

Erose step away from the keyboard or I'll do something drastic (like er dig up your early posts or bombard your with bunnies and bacon).





As for the setup Derrel has given some idea of the equipment. However its important to realise that this kind of approach your taking to copy a single lighting setup will give you a single product to work with. Firstly even with a general idea of the equipment you'll have to have some idea how to set them up - angle them and set the relative powers. The setup itself might be standard but you can bet it was designed by someone who knew what they were doing in the first place.

Secondly it leaves you very vulnerable because you'll end up just a cookie-cutter - you won't have the skills to adapt the lighting to suit different subjects; nor even different situations. The net result is that you'd not be able to offer a breadth of skills/products/styles to attract a bigger customer base. Also remember many of these kind of setup often work only because the people operating the camera gear do so for very low pay. It's not a skilled job with much growth and more just a fill-in job or side job (not main income - in an ideal world of course). The company makes profit because its got booths everywhere sending money in - but the ground forces doing the work are minimal pay.


I'd instead strongly encourage you to first invest in learning the core skills. IT might take some time and it might sound boring - but it will leave you all the better equipped and able to offer a much better product.

I've no idea of your overall level of skill/understanding - but at a gues from your comment I'd strongly advise reading:

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson
The Digital Photography Book 1 through to Book 4 by Scot Kelby
Light Science and Magic - edition 4

That will give you a good grounding in the basics. From there you can browse the bookshelves and pick up some of the specific lighting setup books that are out there for portraiture - safe in the fact that with the core concepts of exposure and lighting theory you'll be able to adapt the examples and understand how and why they work as well as better how and when to use them and modify them in a real world situation.

 

[e.rose]

Erose step away from the keyboard or I'll do something drastic (like er dig up your early posts or bombard your with bunnies and bacon).

You can't. A previous mod erased my former self by accident, remember? Besides... It's not the premise of this person being new and just starting out that I find hilarious. It's everything else.

I'd quote and elaborate, but I feel like you may send your hatted dog after me... and I'm about to go post some photos soooooooo... we can't have that.

I WILL, however, take the bunnies and bacon.

I love bunnies.

I also love bacon.

And if you throw some wine in there for good measure, you'll be my favorite forever. :heart: :hug::

 

[Overread]

Thanks for the reply Derrel. the Picture People in our town use a 40D camera and it has a antenna connected to it. I think its to activator the big umbrella flash. Would you know what that is called? Also do you think a 40D is enough to open a normal studio for family pictures? Or would you have some suggestion that would be better?

40D is an older camera in todays market; though its still a very capable camera. In a studio situation the lighting control is often where the majority of the quality is - then the lens - then the camera body. So you can certainly get away with a more budget body.

That said if I were moving into that market I'd try for a second hand 5D. It's fullframe and the larger sensor size generally benefits this kind of photography. Whilst the 5D is older, its still a very capable camera body and was more affordable pro choice in its day (which wasn't that long ago). The only limit is that you can't use EF-s (ie crop sensor) lenses on it; but that only blocks you from 9 or so Canon lenses and a similarly limited number in the 3rd party lines.
A second hand 50mm f1.4 (new if you can afford it) would be an ideal compliment (If getting new consider the Sigma 50mm f1.4 - its a newer design than the Canon and thus is capable of generally besting it in side by side tests). If you're much more budget limited a 50mm f1.8 will do decently well for a very low costs (its not that durable though and honestly I'd really go for the f1.4 if you're going to use it extensively - my sisters 50mm f1.8 simply fell apart on her (sadly the internal brackets are small, thin plastic to keep the costs down - and they will snap)

 

[Overread]

Erose step away from the keyboard or I'll do something drastic (like er dig up your early posts or bombard your with bunnies and bacon).

You can't. A previous mod erased my former self by accident, remember? Besides... It's not the premise of this person being new and just starting out that I find hilarious. It's everything else.

I'd quote and elaborate, but I feel like you may send your hatted dog after me... and I'm about to go post some photos soooooooo... we can't have that.

I WILL, however, take the bunnies and bacon.

I love bunnies.

I also love bacon.

And if you throw some wine in there for good measure, you'll be my favorite forever. :heart: :hug::

Darn it I can't blackmail you - but I can deny you wine - its the middle of the week - and you're not safe on that - heck I don't think you're safe on coffee either

 

[e.rose]

Erose step away from the keyboard or I'll do something drastic (like er dig up your early posts or bombard your with bunnies and bacon).

You can't. A previous mod erased my former self by accident, remember? Besides... It's not the premise of this person being new and just starting out that I find hilarious. It's everything else.

I'd quote and elaborate, but I feel like you may send your hatted dog after me... and I'm about to go post some photos soooooooo... we can't have that.

I WILL, however, take the bunnies and bacon.

I love bunnies.

I also love bacon.

And if you throw some wine in there for good measure, you'll be my favorite forever. :heart: :hug::

Darn it I can't blackmail you - but I can deny you wine - its the middle of the week - and you're not safe on that - heck I don't think you're safe on coffee either

You're not wrong...

 

[manicmike]

I just started cooking and would like to open a restaurant. Can someone show me how to copy and make the menu items from a top restaurant.




Same logic.

 

[from_iowa]

Thanks for the reply. i wanted to take up a photography class but our local community college doesn't offer any. I already have a store (rent free) available. I just wanted to do the same-old same-old department store quality shots. But what I was amazed about when at Picture People was that they never changed a single thing, and all their pictures come out good. I was thinking if I would keep it simple, i could also pull off something like that. Anyway, my budget for camera lens and lighting is $3,000 and id rather buy new. I kinda feel like I need buy a camera and start using it before I can actually learn, so first step is to buy some books and buy an actual camera. Any suggestions?

 

[e.rose]

I just started cooking and would like to open a restaurant. Can someone show me how to copy and make the menu items from a top restaurant.




Same logic.

Except we're not talking about a top restaurant here.

We're talking more about McDonald's "Special Sauce". :roll:

 

[Overread]

With a $3K budget I'd:

1) Get a 5D original second hand - its a well built body and there are still many good copies around with a good shutter life. I know you want new, but this really is an ideal tool that won't take a away too much of your budget. There are other options but they are going to cost you more and you need the rest of your budget for glass and lighting. Chances are you can pick one up with a few spare batteries and a battery grip for not a huge amount. If you can get one with a grip; the grips make portrait aspect shooting a LOT easier because you don't have to twist your right hand over or under the camera (that's fine for 5 seconds; but shoot a while day like that and your wrist will be very sore).

2) A Sigma 50mm f1.4 in Canon mount - there's even an instant rebate on it currently at Adorama so its very affordable
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM AF Lens for Canon DSLRs #310101 -USA warranty 310101

3) $1K - $1.5K into lighting gear and studio equipment. I've left this somewhat vague as a rough value because its a variable market of qualities equipment and prices. Plus its a market area where I can't best advise on a setup. But that's the rough amount of budget I'd associate with it

4) Adobes cloud subscription for Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom. Chances are you can get away with this kind of work with just Lightroom itself; but CS5 is a good backup to have if you find the need to do any more extensive editing (it might not even be that complex; Lightroom is great but it can't do everything).
Lightroom will help take care of managing the files and photos you get - batch processing them (in JPEG or RAW) as well as giving some basic selective and global editing options. CS5 is there for everything else.
This will be on monthly subscription but shouldn't be hard to afford for an earning business.
edit - this costs me something like £10 per month at present for both programs as part of an offer; but US side it shouldn't be much more even if there isn't an offer. You don't need their full package of software; just access to those two programs

5) Remaining budget left for other items; this could be anything from basic accessories such as spare batteries and memory cards through to company items or hard-disks for backup/data storage. It also accounts for tripods and any furniture* you might need for props




* tip - head down to local market auctions and auction houses. Chairs and other furniture sells for tiny amounts because most people don't want it and don't come with any means of transporting it home. You can also pick up a load of interesting props or items to furnish your studio area for very little in cost. You can get some good decent quality items and save yourself a huge cost at the same time.