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Setting up a basic home studio
Techniques
24 October 2007 14:44
You don’t have to spend thousands of pounds on fancy lighting and complicated accessories to take some great studio pictures. A little ingenuity, some space to work in and a few simple items – most of which you will probably already have – are all you need to produce great portraits in your own home.
For simple head and shoulders portraits you don’t need large or fancy backgrounds. A simple white or black piece of material is fine, or even a clean, blank wall if there’s one available, will be fine to start off with. Steer clear of patterns and strong colours at this stage, as these will only detract from the main subject.
Before you jump in and buy loads of studio lights it’s worth experimenting with much simpler lighting. Halogen desk or floor lamps are a great way of getting to grips with the basics of how to position and use lights for the best effect.
For portrait photography the low light levels and heat given off by these lamps limit their versatility. They’re fine if you’re happy using a high ISO setting, but at ISO 100 or 200 you can end up with very slow shutter speeds, meaning both camera shake and subject movement can become a problem.
To get around this you could use a simple and inexpensive flash unit with a sync lead to hone your studio lighting skills. These lack the versatility and power of the sophisticated and expensive studio flash, but for a single light set-up for head and shoulder portraits they’re a good option.
Keep props to a minimum, as you don’t want to end up filling your images with unnecessary clutter. Provide a chair for your model to use as this will make them more comfortable. If you go for a simple, stylish design you can use the back of the chair as a prop for your model to lean against too.
There’s a lot to be said for keeping the lighting as simple as possible when you first start shooting your portraits. Position your main light at 45 degrees from the camera position and slightly above the model’s eye line. Pay close attention to the shadows around the model’s eyes, and those under the chin and nose. You can use a white reflector positioned on the opposite side of the model to the main light to bounce some light back in and soften the shadows. Always get your model to face the main light, even when you start adding extra lights, for flattering results.
A main light to give modelling to the face and another to fill-in the shadows gives you complete control over the lighting. Position your first light as you would using a single light set-up and use the second light to
fill-in any shadows. This needs to be a much lower intensity than the main light to avoid ugly double shadows. With two identical lights, adjust the intensity by changing the distance between the second light and the model. Positioning this light twice as far away from the model as the main light will give approximately a quarter of the power – an ideal starting point for head and shoulder portraits.
If your room has a large window don’t ignore the possibilities offered by natural lighting. You can change the quality of the light quite easily too, covering the window with thin white cloth to diffuse the light, or even using direct sunlight for more intensity. With this set-up you’ll get natural-looking results without the expense and complexity of studio lighting. The main disadvantage to this method is that you’ll be at the mercy of the weather to get the results you’re after, but treat this as part of the challenge and go for it. You could also use a reflector to help balance the light.