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03/07/2006 04:23:12 PM · #1 |
any idea how i can make a home studio out of things knocking about the house? I know it will not even touch a proper one but just wanted an idea so i could take pictures of flowers and stuff a bit better.
thanks
Message edited by author 2006-03-07 16:23:46. |
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03/07/2006 04:28:44 PM · #2 |
A sunny window and a table top are the perfect place to start. Use reflectors made from aluminum foil over cardboard to control light all around your subject. Add white card stock (poster board) for a small, but effective backdrop :)
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03/07/2006 04:33:41 PM · #3 |
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03/07/2006 04:34:09 PM · #4 |
I took some shots of flowers for my photography class with this setup.
1 piece of white posterboard.
1 thick black cotton blanket.
1 vase of flowers.
1 spray bottle of water.
1 thin white cotton pillow case.
Tin foil.
I set a chair on top of the kitchen table, and then taped the white poster board to the back of the chair to provide a white background. Depedinding on the size of your subject if your using a background, you'll have to adjust how far removed from the backdrop your subject is. For me, it was about three feet. I checked through my lens. (I was shooting at ~135mm, and just adjusted until the poster board was sufficiently blurred. I sprayed the flowers with water, just to add a bit to the composition.
Then, I set up a lamp to the right of the flowers, and slipped a pillow case over the lamp to diffuse the light a bit. (It was really bright, it was a daylight balanced fluorescent lamp with an adjustable neck.) The tinfoil bounced some of the light back onto the underside of the flowers (I just had it set up on the table, because the light was to the right of the flowers and elevated at about 45 degrees.)
Then, I shot another roll with the black blanket as the background.
So, there's plenty of stuff you can use to set up a studio in your house, but the difficulty increases with the size of your subject. If your shooting portraits, you can move some of the furniture around in a room with a north-facing window and use the free space to hang up a blanket and do some headshots, or just move in a chair and do full-body shots.
The important thing to remember is to not mix lamps with different light temperatures. If the white balance is a bit off, then you can always correct it in raw editing, but when there's several different color casts it can be extremely difficult. Or just shoot in B&W.
Hope this helps. |
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03/07/2006 04:36:42 PM · #5 |
| My husband just made me a homemade light tent. It was pretty simple, made with PVC pipe that he glued together. You can use any dimensions you want and I had him not glue the legs on so I could make it taller if I needed. I bought cheap ($7.50) lights for each side, add a white sheet (or whatever color) and it's done. I tried it this weekend and it worked great, just have to get higher watt bulbs. I do a lot of flowers and I'm looking forward to using it more. For backdrops my old standby is black velvet. Use it all the time. To use it with the light tent, just drape it over the back before you cover it with the sheet. If you do a search on "light box/light tent" on google, you should come up with something, I found my instructions that way. |
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03/07/2006 04:37:31 PM · #6 |
| Too slow, Nigel's link is the instructions we used. |
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03/07/2006 04:43:59 PM · #7 |
| If you search the forums on this topic you will find many threads where people describe the homemade items they use for a studio. |
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03/08/2006 11:07:52 AM · #8 |
| thank you very much that is fantastic! |
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