Studio lighting portraiture
easy steps to set up a home photography based studio
Check the lights used in our studio :
Today I would like to talk about how easy and inexpensive is for any aspiring photographer to set up a small studio either in your home, garage or apartment, or wherever you can find a reasonable room where someone could do it. Having a studio is taking the photography business to the next level as you will be able to control the light completely, having a professional environment to welcome your clients and a designated space to do your work.
Just few advantages having a home based photography studio
– better results
There is no comparison in the quality of a studio session or a location. In the studio you have as much light as you want and you do not depend of light changes of the day. Your studio session will have more light than outside, and the images will be sharper with short time exposure with very small apertures close to 22.
– better planning and faster sessions.
You can take your time to plan the session and you will never waste any seconds with changing the camera settings. I use only one set of settings, manual, iso 100 and aperture F16 or F19. Once the setting is done, that is it, you shoot the whole without changing anything
– look professional
Having a studio address is more impressive than not having, and that is a big plus.
– have clients come to you, so you do not have to spend time traveling so yo will have more time focusing on the important photography tasks
Studio set up
– background
Just select one empty wall, and install either a mobile background system with 2 stands, or install one on the wall. You can buy cheap brackets from ebay and use your your handyman skills to drill some holes and mount these. It is an easy job. Use an alumnium pipe as a background support for your cloth as the PVC one bends and you will have issues rolling up or down
You can have some fabrics as backgrounds, or paper, depedning on yor desire. I use fabrics, as they can be washed once in a while. Make sure there are syntetic rather than cotton as you do not want to spend many hours ironing. Pretty straight forwards and it will cost you just a couple of hundred of whatever money you have. I use one white, one black background most of the time but i do have a green and a red backgrounds which I never use.
I have also a green background for film as you can see this is uselfull for my youtube presence
– lighting
You can use flash guns or designated studio lights. Flashguns are more expensive overall and use batteries. Studio lights could be cheaper, have more control, recharge faster, and you lookk more professional. There are pros and cons both ways but for an indoor studio, proper lights are a much better option.
I would suggest to have a minium 3 lights, I have started with 2 and I have felt the need to have another 2. You will need one main light, as a direct light with a soft box, or umbrella, one fill in light on the other side, with a soft box or umbrella. That would be enough to get you going. The third light is for the background to make it stronger when white, so you do not have to do a lot of post production. The background light is for the background and it cold project either a spot light or be larger for the whole background, it is up to yo how you want to use it. The fourth light would be designed as a back hair light, to outline the contour.
if the background is black , you will not be able to see where a portrait ends on a black background. Having 4 lights give you complete freedom to use them in any combination and once you have them in your studio, it will take you a very short period of time to learn how to use them and how to control the results completely.
I have paid for my flash gun $600 and today one of these lights is between $200 and $300 on ebay. I am using cheap lights and I have never had any issues with them, so you do not need to spend thousands of dollars on professional high quality equipment (which wold be a nice to have), but this would do the job just fine. Also it is useless to say, that if you do decide to invest in a studio set up, you will not only recover your cost in 2-3 studio sessions, you will always have the freedom to choose studio photography offer when necessary.
Each one of my lights have the manual control of power, have a dimmer option, also act as a continous light but not strong enough, and also few options for beep, after recharge time, and testing. Studio lights are wireless, as the have a light sensors which triggers in about one thousandth of a second when they pick up change in light level. You have also the option to wire them but is usefull only outside in full sun light when the sensors will not work, but as a studio equipment, you probably won’t have many oportunities to take this out.
In terms of how the lights will work with the camera , the only thing you will need is a device to trigger one light, which can be done either by connecting the camera to one of the lights with a cable, ot the easiest option is to have a wireless trigger. These triggers can be also purchased very cheap, and they will do the job, but i must warn you, that sometimes they do not trigger properly. I use ebay cheappies and they do the work just fine. One in 20 images will not trigger but that does not bother me. If this becomes an issue i will definitely purchase a proper pocket wizard preofessional trigger.
The good thing about studio lights is that you can attach inexpensive shoot through white umbrellas, reflective umbrellas, soft boxes in many shapes and sizes as you want. All these items are again, very cheap and you can play with whatever you want to buy.
I use one 90×110 cm soft box on my main light, one 60×90 soft box on my second light and i have 4 umbrellas to play with.
You can also use the studio lights with nothing one them, attach a honeycomb system to direct the light one one spot, various reflectors, beauty dishes and so on, the sky is the limit in terms of possibilities. Once you play with one light and you understand how that works in conjunction with whatever you want to attach, it won’t take long untill you have full control and you will get anything you want.
I will make a separate video on studio lighting set up alone, and I will test one light with soft box, umbrella, 2 lights, 3-4 lights to show the basics studio portraiture options and differences between all these accessories and quality of light they can give.
That is it for today. I will recommend anyone intersted in photography to make the effort to play with a studio light at least once to discover the world of options. Also for the emerging photographer out there, having a studio is the teh way to get your business on a serious level.
Please watch the studio lighting tutorial for a preview of what you can do , and how easy it is.
Untill i see you next time i wish yo happy shooting.
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Hello Christian,
thanks for the great tuturial!
I’m wondering what kind of lights is it better to use 100watts, 300watts, etc.? Any good brands you could advice on? And what size of background are u using?
Many thanks!
Veronica
thank you for your message
300 Watts lights and above. The more light you have the better. Not sure about brands, I use cheap ones called METTLE. you can go with what you can afford and you will be alright. Lights are not complicated and they last well.
I use a 6meters x 3 meters background rolled up on the wall and pull it as long as I need it
Christian,
thanks a lot for the quick and helpful reply!
do they use regular bulbs or are there specific photolight bulbs?
p.s. could you advice on a tripod, the height, the capacity, the basics?
Regards, V.
Veronica
i will talk about tripods in a future tutorial. any tripod will do, just make sure it holds the weight of your camera. I like the ones will ball heads for full flexibility, but there are tripods also designed for different situations
Thank you, Christian!
Christian,
what do you use to eliminate daylight coming from the windows?
thanks, V.
Veronica
I would cover them with a opaque curtain. If you are using strobes, they will overpower the accidental light, so I would not be too worried about that, unless it significantly impacts the result…i guess you need to try and see
Thank you!
Hello, I just wanted to say I really enjoy your video’s I within the last year started shooting using digital backgrounds, but I wanted my pictures to come out better so I have been looking into light ect…. and they is so much out there, you video on light are right on time, so thank you
Catina
thanks for the feedback. Good luck!
Christian
I do have a question I am getting ready to buy soft box lights and it says that there are 2 of them and they come with 280 but can go up to 580 is that enough then get the other 2 lights for the back as you had in you video
Catine
not sure I understand your message. 280 what? 580 what? Watts?
the back lights have their role and no matter how powerful is the front light you will still need 2 back lights eventually. but you can start your studio with 2 and you will feel in time the need to go for 4.
I am sorry to be a pain but I am having issues with my lighting, so your main soft box what is the wattage is it putting out 280 and then the fill light on the right, so basically what is the wattage each soft box is putting out, I know I won’t be able to get what you have because I am just starting but I can try to make sure I have something similar
Catina
main light is 300W. back lights are 300W if the background is white and 150w if the background is black but I turn them towards the subject. fill in light is 250-280W hope this helps
Fluorescent Daylight Balanced Light Bulb are these the bulbs you are using inside the soft boxes
Not in my lights. I have normal tungsten light bulbs for modelling light, and the strobes lights are flash type
Hello Christian,
Thanks for your quick response.Actually,I am writing from Ghana -west Africa.
Christian,I am setting up a studio and after watching your video,I got so inspired because I am NOT certain the kind of lights and the basic elements I need for the studio.I intend to do portraits ,product shots etc.
I have searched on eBay and Amazon for the right lights but as I said, I need an experienced mind to help me make an informed decision.However,i wouldn’t mind to buy from you if you have some available etc….
Grateful for your feedback.
Kwasi Isaac
Kwasi
I do not have lights for sale. Have a look arround and let me know what you can afford and I can have a look as well
check this one out for example
Cowboystudio 400 Watt Photography Studio Monolight, Studio Strobe Light with 75 W Model Lamp
Yes he is very inspiring I find myself watching his video over and over
hello, and merry Christmas to you and your family, I thank you in advance for trying to answer my question, what is the best len for a studio photographer I am a newbie and so I have a Nikon d3100 using a 18mm to 55mm lens not sure what the lowest f stop is but I think 4. something, I am no more than 4 to 6 ft away from the person I have a very small area, but I was wondering what is a good lens that mm I should use that you think can you be versatile, as I understand it using a single lens focus faster and sharper image but you have to move up close or futher back because it has no zoom is that correct.. anyway u was just trying to do some research on it and was just confusing myself I think so I would like to know what you think a small studio, newbie should use
thank you!
Catina
my absolute favourite 24-70 mm F2.8
Hi Christian,
I have a trouble shooting related question. So I have two mono lights with trigger-receiver set up. Strangely only one strobe can act as a master light. When the receiver is on the other one it won’t fire but acts perfectly as a slave light. And this has happened with the other same exact light which they exchanged. What’s the trick here?
Many thanks,
Veronica
Veronica…not sur eI understand the problem. do you have strobes or flashlights?
My strobes do not have master/slave function. I trigger one light with the wireless trigger and the rest will trigger by themselves. Isn;t that your set up?
how many receivers have you? if one light does not talk to the other maybe you need a second receiver…
what brand are your lights?
I have strobes.
I trigger one light with the wireless trigger and the rest will trigger by themselves. Isn;t that your set up? — Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing.
I have 1 receiver, 1 trigger and 2 lights. The 2 lights talk to each other when light #1 is with the receiver, but when I put the same receiver to light #2 nothing happens, it will not even fire on its own. The brand is Impact 400W.
thanks, Christian
Veronica….it sounds like your second light is defective. maybe you check with the manufacturer for warranty?
not sure but I have checked the light online and it should be able to work independently….
all my lights will work independently or together, and I can attach the receiver to any of them and the rest will trigger.
Thank you for checking Christian,
the irony is that they’ve already exchanged one light for me which wasn’t responding at all…
Anyway, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask you. In terms of strobe’s settings like power and flash, what works best for black and for white background? What settings you mostly use?
Veronica. I use most of the lights on full power and modify the position. Just the fill in light might be less just for some depth.
just give it a try and combine all settings until you get a good grasp.
Hello Christian,
I watched this excellent video with great interest. You are helping me take the decision to purchase some studio lights for setting up a small home studio. I thank you.
Best regards,
Robert.
THIS QUESTION WILL SOUND REALLY STUPID BUT I AM GOING TO ASK ANYWAY, THE ROOM THAT YOU HAVE YOUR LIGHTS SET UP IN IS THAT ROOM COMPLETELY DARK IF YOU TURN OFF YOUR STUDIO LIGHTS, HOW DARK SHOULD THAT ROOM BE WITHOUT YOUR WORK LIGHTS ON, IS IT OK TO HAVE A LITTLE LIGHT
Bean
this is a valid question.There is some very low light but and you need some so you see what you are doing. The studio lights will overpower any normal light so even if you have a normal 150W normal light bulb in your lighting fixture on your ceiling, it will not influence the result.
I want to say thank you so much for answering our question, there are many forms such as this one and half the time you never get a answer so I really want to say thank you, because I feel like you care and that makes all the difference so please keep talking to us sharing with us………..most people who go into photography usually have worked with someone years before they attempt to go into it on there own, but for me I have no one, I even know anyone that does this work so I am flying solo and its scary feeling because there is so much to learn but I feel like I have a teacher in you so thank you thank you thank you.
Bean
thank you for your kind words. happy to help
you can help us as well either by sharing our work with others, or even share your thoughts here as articles. you will be rewarded with membership and that in itself will help you in your marketing for the future.
check the membership section and see if you can invest 3 hours of your life to become a member
good luck with your set up…
Christian
Hey i love your videos and website i had a quick question . If i were to purchase 2 Mettle 400W Monolight Strobe Flash lights for fill and key lights would i also purchase the same lights for background lights? Also do all 4 lights have the same watts? Sorry im really new to all of this. Thank you
Romaana
4 lights is ideal. lights can be different in brands as they have a light sensor to trigger, but it will be safer to be the same brand…not compulsory.
depending on your space size, 3-400 W/sec will do the job. no issues whit how many watts have each light as you can set them up as you want
Thank you! 🙂
Sorry i had one more question whats the difference between a 4 channel wireless remote trigger and a 16 channel wireless remote trigger? Thank you
it is like the TV…your wireless communicates with to receiver on one channel
if you have 4 channels, than you have 4 choices
I have not figured out why? but I use only one channel at one time. 16 channels are useless
do you think these lights will do for the back lights
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/537464-REG/Impact_VA902_2KI_VA902_Fluorescent_Cool_Light.html
or
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/638598-REG/Impact_VA903_2KII_5_Lamp_Cool_LT_2_LT.html
Bean
no they are not good for what I am saying here. the continuous lights cannot compete with strobes
Hey looking aback at my previous message I forgot to mention at the moment I am not using strobe my friend I am actually just using continues with no strobe………..I am using the back lights to light my chroma key back drop so for that purpose will they do the trick
Hi, Thanks for the video with great explanation about studio lights.
I am also going to setup 3-4 lights studio.
For my 2 front lights I am thinking about getting Bowens with Fotodiox Softboxes.
But I am not sure what brands should I get for the background/hairlight ?
What lights are you using for this?
Thanks in advance
Kirill
I am using mettle lights, chinese brand. happy with them so far for my purposes. any lights will do. just make sure they can be triggered in teh same time and they have the light sensor.
try before you buy….
Christian
I would like to thank you for the great video. I bought Nikon D7500 with 2 lenses AF-P DX 18-55/3.5-5.6G VR
AF-P DX 70-300/4.5-6.3G ED VR
My question those lenses are good enough to do photo session for clothing business. I am planing to buy the light you recommend to set a studio at my house. Forgot to mention i am not a newbie. Your help is well appreciated!
Thank you .
Samia
Hi Samia
Yes, lens is good enough