lighting for home studio for kids and portraits, no weddings... i need help!!!
cdesign
for what to look for. my studio is going to be in my
basement which is open. what i mean is that it has double
doors with half glass so there is some natural light but it
is also on the north side of the house, so never any direct
sun light. the room i will be using is approx. 15x20. the
walls are sheet rock and the ceiling is drop ceiling at
alittle above 8'. i need lighting to take family, but
mostly children portraits, i figure i will take most family
portraits outside or at their home. i have read many ways
but am still unsure. some say halogen (cheap) wal-mart
halogens with a filter. others say no. i am so lost. i
don't have alot of money to spend since we are also
finishing the basement for me to use. i do want the best
for my buck, doesn't everybody. some say you don't need the
big watts and power for studio portraits, so what watts do
i need? how many lights do i need? what are barndoors? i am
constantly checking ebay, but i don't know what i need. do
i need softboxes? hairlights? i am trying to not have to
get into savings if i don't have to. can anybody help? i
have painted me a backdrop(muslin) and it looks good and i
have a solid white backdrop. i need all the information
someone can throw at me about lighting. oh i just order the
book by i think his name is john upton and some lady but i
haven't picked it up yet. will this book help? or do you
have any suggestions on book? thank you for taking the time
to read my long helpless line of questions!!!
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zeitgeist
teddy bears and/or basketballs in the path of the light from
your doors. Take a meter reading with an incident meter of
the light coming in, or shoot a short roll with your
favorite film.
well, first see if you can shoot the subject area from an
angle that will give you light arriving at an appropriate
direction, 45' is ideal, most folks assume you should shoot
at the 90' right angle the way buildings are designed.
However, if you "place" your window light at the appropriate
direction you will more likely get a more pleasing light on
the faces than the split light which is more contrasty and
half and half looking and is more suitable for rugged men.
This usually means the camera position is squished against
the wall, but hey, that's ok for a while. You don't have
to be right there in the full flush of the light streaming
in, just as the light starts to fall is wonderful though
limiting to one or two subjects. Ideally the windows are
on the left side of the camera position. This is the light
of portrait artists that hang in museums.
If you can get a decent f/stop shutter combo from the
windows then you are half way to artistic and creative
sucess without blowing your whole wad yet, you can spend it
on things that really count. Not only can you put off
putting a grand or so in a flash and softbox but don't need
a $250 meter yet either.
the next step is what is behind the subject in the best
light you can find from the camera position? hope you can
hang your background there. here is the first place to
spend your money, get two good canvas rolls, wide as you can
shoot from your camera position with a normal lens for
groups. get a light gray or pastel for a sorta hi key
effect, and a dark blue with green midtones and gold
highlights, or a dark brown with gold, spend some more on a
few classy props, good wicker kids chair, bassette, a
carousel horse, a tricycle from the 30's, nostalgia stuff,
you'll need some for both the hi key set and low key.
make a decision now what kind of photographer you want to
be. Is your idea of portraits as many faces as you can run
through your studio? I did that for years and you can make
a living, but it is work, and you are competing against the
sears and kmart studios that can run specials at lower
prices than you can get the prints done at from a good lab.
OR do you want to be an artist.
artists get paid better, their clients show up for their
appointments, and don't show up during sunday dinner cause
they knew you were home, they wear proper clothes for the
portrait just like you discussed, not bozo the clowns
castoffs, their checks rarely bounce, and instead of saying
that they will mail you a check next payday three weeks from
now before leaving never to be heard from again, they hand
you a credit card. Instead of complaining that your price
is a buck higher than X, they are proud that you are the
most expensive around, (yeah, that's the weird part.)
It all depends on what your model or concept of what
photography is.
don't think of yourself as a photographer, think of your
self as a portrait artist, look at sucessful ones, start
with painters. look around for someone in your area that
paints portraits, go for a consultation (hey there's a
concept, consultations with your clients about their
portrait, plan their clothes, color sceme, where is it going
to hang, what kind of theme, what kind of story should the
image tell about the subjects)
POrtrait painters get thousands, even the ones that take a
snapshot and give something that looks like a paint by
numbers kit get hundreds. They don't show proofs, folks
sure don't take their 24x30 portrait down to kinko's to make
copies for the whole family.
If you want to cater to cheap clients, you will have to buy
one of those four head kits with the crosslight umbrellas
and harsh hair light cause your clients will expect it and
think there is something wrong if their pictures don't look
bad like the fast buck guys who come to their church. I am
serious. I could tell you stories.
cdesign
light will be on the right side of the camera since there
is a door into the rest of the basement. do you think i
need any lighting or not? you are correct in assuming that
i want to be different and not like the same old joe down
the road. I want to have classy portraits. something
different. i have a nikon n90s with a 28-105 lens with a
promaster ftd 7000m flash. i know my camera has a metering
system built in it. is that the same as a light meter? i am
about ashamed to ask that but hey if i don't ask i won't
know. again thank you!!!
zeitgeist
cdesign wrote:
>
> thanks for all the info. i am sure it will help alot. the
> light will be on the right side of the camera since there
> is a door into the rest of the basement. do you think i
> need any lighting or not? you are correct in assuming that
> i want to be different and not like the same old joe down
> the road. I want to have classy portraits. something
> different. i have a nikon n90s with a 28-105 lens with a
> promaster ftd 7000m flash. i know my camera has a metering
> system built in it. is that the same as a light meter? i am
> about ashamed to ask that but hey if i don't ask i won't
> know. again thank you!!!
>
yes, that's a meter, it is known as a reflective meter as it
measures the light that reflects off the subject, or
whatever is in the view of it (which may not be the suject
you were thinking off) and you need to read your manual to
find out what the metering pattern is, center spot, center
weighted, various matrix or overal average.
once you figure out if you have enough light available, set
up your reflector, hang your background and run a roll of
film through bracketing your exposure from one extreme to
the other using the film you intend to shoot with, and/or a
roll of transparency film of the same speed and have them
developed by a pro lab, a real pro lab will work with you on
expo tests, some don' even charge, and they will identify
what they think is the best neg.
a hand held meter would give you an independent point of
reference, you in camera can change one frame to the next
depending on it's memory, tolerances (your n90 should be
fairly tight) and the color/brightness of the subject. So if
your subject shifts, you move in for a close up etc, the
values the meters sees can be different and the camera may
adjust. however, it is better to shoot the session at one
fixed exposure