Friday, November 8, 2013

The Poor Man's Studio Set Up

I’m a hobbyist photographer and as such can’t afford to dole out hundreds of dollars on studio equipment that I will only use occasionally.  This is when photography becomes an adventure in your own home. I hope to show you how to create studio stock photography with minimal photographic equipment and items that you either have or can get reasonably. The scope of this post will cover the set up, as well as touch on the camera settings necessary to get a good shot.

What you will need
·         A frame that uses two panes of glass instead of a cardboard backing
·         A lone pane of glass at least an 8”x10”
·         Parchment paper
·         Bookends
·         Anti-slip material
·         Laptop
·         Large hardbound book, no more than 1.5” thick
·         Card stock, color of your choice, though I prefer white
o   You can use multiple sheets of plain white paper, it just needs to be opaque
·         A small object to photograph
·         Camera
·         Tripod
·         A flash that can be fired remotely
·         Automatic shutter release. This is optional, though it makes life easier.




The Set Up
The Diffuser
·         Begin by cutting two pieces of parchment paper that will fit in the frame between two panes of glass (pretend you’re framing the parchment paper). This will be your light diffuser.
·         Lay down the anti-slip material and place the bookends on either side with the framed parchment paper. See photo below.
·         Place Flash behind the diffusion and set it as “remote” or “slave”.
o   Due to the numerous brands and models of flashes, we won’t cover how to change this setting. If you are not sure how,  a quick search of the Internet will be your best bet for learning.
o   Take a test shot. See photos below.




The Backlight and Platform
·         Open up your laptop and place it next to your diffuser.
·         Bring up a white image in full screen mode.
o   I would also recommend turning the ‘auto off’ for your screen to ‘never’ so that you don’t lose your screen mid-shoot.
·         Place the hardbound book on top of the keyboard, the card stock or plain paper on top of that, and finally the lone piece of glass.
o   The glass will give the photo a nice studio look.




The Camera
·         The position of the camera is going to be a matter of preference. This is a portion of the adventure that you continually adjust in order to get different perspectives. I prefer to have the camera straight on and slightly higher than the object. See image below.



·         The camera/flash settings for this shot may take a little bit of research on your part. My Nikon equipment allows me to remotely fire flashes using on the on camera flash. If you have a different camera this may require a little more equipment/research. If you use Nikon here are a few links to get you going: Nikon Speedlight PDF YouTube Video instruction
·         If you have all the necessary equipment than there are really only a few choices. Do you want a white background, gray background or a black background?
o   In Manual Mode: Slow shutter speed (1 sec, F20) will get you white,  fast shutter speed (1/60 sec, F22) will get you a black one and gray is somewhere in the middle (it's an adventure, remember, go and find it!). See images below.

Shutter: 1sec Aperture: F22

Shutter: 1/40 sec Aperture: F13


Shutter: 1/60 sec Aperture: F22


·         If you don’t have an automatic shutter it may be difficult to get a clear shot with a slow shutter speed, drop the aperture (i.e. F4) and make the shutter a little faster (i.e. 1/40 sec) and this should help.
·         Bonus: Load up a different backdrop! There are many “out of focus lights” images on the web (Google is your friend here!). Just grab one and make it your backdrop on the laptop. You will have to use the slower shutter speed for the camera’s sensor to pick up the light from the laptop.



·         This is my first tutorial so it’s a little rough around the edges; if you have any questions/critiques/comments feel free to contact me.