Studio on a Shoestring

[AeisLugh]

Hey, I'm wondering if anyone could give me some advice here. I've recently begun (alright, to be honest I've done one session) to do photoshoots with models. The shoot I've done was scheduled to be an outdoor shoot, but the weather decided to turn prohibitively cold on us last minute. We managed to get some good shots in, but not only was the poor model freezing after shooting only a roll and a half of film, but my poor trigger finger was starting to feel frostbit.

I suggested we go back to the building I live in (which was only just around the corner from the park we'd been shooting in) and see if the building's community center was free. It was, and we finished the shoot there. I managed to get a few good shots out of the 3 rolls of film I used there, but overall, the lighting conditions of the room were pretty piss poor (pardon the language), as I've yet to free up enough money in my budget for a good lighting setup.

Money's a bit of an issue here, since I'm just starting out and my wife would kill me if I drained our meagre savings for something that is mostly on the hobby level right now.

My question is, does anyone have any suggestions for places to use for photo shoots when you have no access to a formal studio? I've tried looking around my area for anyplace that would rent access to their studio fascilities, but I've not been able to find anything. Are there other alternatives other than being confined to bad lighting conditions or reliant on good weather for outdoor/location shoots?

[Monophoto]

Often, the simplest lighting is the best lighting. Find a spot next to a window - it could be in your apartment, at the public library, in Starbucks - - -. The soft, directional light through a window can't be beat. If the shadows are a bit dense, throw in a reflector as fill. You can purchase a purpose-built round reflector, or you can use a sheet of foam-core or mat board.

After you master that kind of lighting, you can think about spending serious money on lights. But you may find that you like the results so much that you choose to stay with the simple stuff.

Here's an example - our dining room, window light, a reflector to camera-left.
http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=2527

[AeisLugh]

Often, the simplest lighting is the best lighting. Find a spot next to a window - it could be in your apartment, at the public library, in Starbucks - - -. The soft, directional light through a window can't be beat. If the shadows are a bit dense, throw in a reflector as fill. You can purchase a purpose-built round reflector, or you can use a sheet of foam-core or mat board.

After you master that kind of lighting, you can think about spending serious money on lights. But you may find that you like the results so much that you choose to stay with the simple stuff.

Here's an example - our dining room, window light, a reflector to camera-left.
http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=2527

It wouldn't let me see the image since I'm not a subscriber. I do agree with you that natural light is some of the best lighting you can get. When I learned photography back in highschool, that's all we were allowed to use. Like I said, I did manage to get some really good shots from that one shoot.

Here, take a look http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e1...a/44bd8054.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e1...a/e22d12c5.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e1...a/4928a40d.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e1...a/ab4ad5af.jpg

Or hell, just browse the whole album http://photobucket.com/albums/e16/Aeislugh/Jehmela/

My biggest problems in the shoot was forgetting to compensate for direct backlight, and the gods aweful colour of paint on the walls. I ended up having to *gasp* photoshop some of them to take out the ugly pink colour.

[TheFlyingCamera]

While I do have lighting equipment, and pretty good lights at that, I am very space-constrained as real estate prices in the Washington DC area are prohibitive. I set up in my dining room - just take out the tables and chairs, put them in the hall and the kitchen, and voila- working studio. Of course I'd love it if my space had ceilings about three feet higher, and was about six feet wider and six feet longer, but that's only another $100K on the mortgage

It doesn't require a formal studio to set up and work - just a bit of creativity. If you're shooting color, you will need to work with either natural daylight or with strobe. If you're doing a lot of black-and-white, you can get some inexpensive photofloods that will do nicely for studio lights. Look at Smith-Victors for quality lights that will last, but won't set you back too much. If you want to keep it really cheap, you can get reflectors and clip-on sockets that will handle up to 250 w bulbs for about $30 apiece. Just remember to get a set of oven mitts to keep around with any hotlights, as they deserve their name. I once temporarily removed my thumbprint when adjusting built-in barndoors on a set of quartz hotlights that had been on for just five minutes.

[AeisLugh]

While I do have lighting equipment, and pretty good lights at that, I am very space-constrained as real estate prices in the Washington DC area are prohibitive. I set up in my dining room - just take out the tables and chairs, put them in the hall and the kitchen, and voila- working studio. Of course I'd love it if my space had ceilings about three feet higher, and was about six feet wider and six feet longer, but that's only another $100K on the mortgage

It doesn't require a formal studio to set up and work - just a bit of creativity. If you're shooting color, you will need to work with either natural daylight or with strobe. If you're doing a lot of black-and-white, you can get some inexpensive photofloods that will do nicely for studio lights. Look at Smith-Victors for quality lights that will last, but won't set you back too much. If you want to keep it really cheap, you can get reflectors and clip-on sockets that will handle up to 250 w bulbs for about $30 apiece. Just remember to get a set of oven mitts to keep around with any hotlights, as they deserve their name. I once temporarily removed my thumbprint when adjusting built-in barndoors on a set of quartz hotlights that had been on for just five minutes.

My old apartment would have been pretty good for use as a studio. If I just moved a couple of chairs and set up a backdrop against the one wall in the living room, I'd have been set. The room at 12 foot ceilings (a bugger to heat when you pay the electric bill and its baseboard heaters) and was a good 40x20 feet. We moved because of it being a slum and because the electric bill was just NUTS.

I shouldn't have too much of a problem using the community room as a studio (as long as I book it ahead). it's just partially below ground level so the lighting is pretty weird to work with at times. Have you, or anyone else for that matter, had any luck with a jury rigged lighting setup using a simple incancescant lightbulb fixture, a 120 watt bulb and something to clamp it onto? I know 200 or better watts is ideal, but would it do in a pinch?

[TheFlyingCamera]

Have you, or anyone else for that matter, had any luck with a jury rigged lighting setup using a simple incancescant lightbulb fixture, a 120 watt bulb and something to clamp it onto? I know 200 or better watts is ideal, but would it do in a pinch?

You can work with a 120 watt bulb, but the downside is VERY slow exposure times with anything other than high-speed films. A 120 watt bulb will get you something in the order of f4 @1/15th at 6 feet @ ISO 100, which is a devil to hand-hold, and pretty hard on the model to get them to stand still for it too. As long as you don't have to pay the community room electric bill, you could probably get away with a 500 w flood without tripping the circuit breakers. The other, related problem with the 120 w bulb is that in order to illuminate a model full-length, you're going to have to get your light source MORE than 6 feet away, and you're probably going to want to use some kind of diffusion on that light source so you don't create strong chiaroscuro effects. The diffusion will cut at least another stop from your light, maybe 2. So, between the increase in distance and the loss from the diffusion, you're down to around F2-2.8@ 1/8th with that 120 w bulb at ISO 100.
If that's all you have, then you CAN work with it if you shoot 400 speed film.
What format are you shooting?

[AeisLugh]

You can work with a 120 watt bulb, but the downside is VERY slow exposure times with anything other than high-speed films. A 120 watt bulb will get you something in the order of f4 @1/15th at 6 feet @ ISO 100, which is a devil to hand-hold, and pretty hard on the model to get them to stand still for it too. As long as you don't have to pay the community room electric bill, you could probably get away with a 500 w flood without tripping the circuit breakers. The other, related problem with the 120 w bulb is that in order to illuminate a model full-length, you're going to have to get your light source MORE than 6 feet away, and you're probably going to want to use some kind of diffusion on that light source so you don't create strong chiaroscuro effects. The diffusion will cut at least another stop from your light, maybe 2. So, between the increase in distance and the loss from the diffusion, you're down to around F2-2.8@ 1/8th with that 120 w bulb at ISO 100.
If that's all you have, then you CAN work with it if you shoot 400 speed film.
What format are you shooting?

I'm using a 35mm camera. no, I won't have to pay the lighting bill on the community room as long as it doesn't become excessive. I imagine 3 hour shoot every couple of weeks or so isn't going to jack the bill so much that they'd notice.

[TheFlyingCamera]

I'm using a 35mm camera. no, I won't have to pay the lighting bill on the community room as long as it doesn't become excessive. I imagine 3 hour shoot every couple of weeks or so isn't going to jack the bill so much that they'd notice.

Then get a decent 250-500w flood. I'd use a tripod, and test your results out in that environment with a dummy subject- burn a roll or two on your wife or any other willing victim to see what your actual parameters will be. When you have some results, post a few here so we can see what you're coming up with.

[wfe]

I don't do much studio work as I prefer natural light however I have a set of hot lights and have made some very nice photographs with them and they don't cost a lot.

[AeisLugh]

Then get a decent 250-500w flood. I'd use a tripod, and test your results out in that environment with a dummy subject- burn a roll or two on your wife or any other willing victim to see what your actual parameters will be. When you have some results, post a few here so we can see what you're coming up with.

tripod for the camera or for the lights?