How to Choose Your Studio Needs
Lighting
Lighting Source
Even more than your camera selection, your choice of lighting is the largest contributor to the success of your photography. Depending on your training and experience, you may already have a pretty good idea what you are looking for. Or, you may not. We carry two different lighting choices great for both the beginner and the professional: constant and strobe.
Constant
Constant lighting is lighting that remains on for the entirety of your photography session, independent of your camera. This allows you to position items and determine where the light and shadows will fall without the need for taking test photos or hooking your lights up to your camera. Constant lighting is typically not as bright as strobe lighting, and therefore there are some limitations on its use. While not ideal for portraits or sports, constant lighting is useful and convenient when taking photos of still objects, especially if you are on a tight budget.
Strobe
Unlike constant lighting, strobe lighting is synced with your camera to provide a burst of light at the moment your shutter opens. This creates more intense, bright light, and therefore makes strobes the lighting of choice for portraits.
Connections
With strobe lighting, it is necessary to sync your lights to your camera so that they are triggered when your camera shutter opens. The strobes we carry support this in three different ways. Whichever way you choose, only one strobe needs to be hooked up to your camera and the rest will trigger automatically from the synced strobe.
Sync Cord
Sync cords create a wired connection between your camera and the strobe unit. One end plugs into your strobe unit and a second plugs into your camera. This is the most reliable way to hook up a strobe.
Each strobe comes with a sync cord. Check your camera's manual to ensure that you have a PC sync port to plug the sync cord into. If your camera does not have a PC sync port, you can purchase a hot shoe with a PC sync port to fit onto the hot shoe of your camera.
One downside to sync cords is that they are a physical connection, so if someone trips on the cord, damage can occur to both your camera and your lighting.
Wireless Trigger
Wireless triggers come with a transmitter that attaches to your camera and a receiver that attaches to the sync port on the strobe. When you release the shutter on your camera, a signal is sent to the strobe that triggers it to flash.
Some wireless triggers work with only certain camera models. The wireless triggers we carry will work on any camera with a hot shoe.
Camera Flash
If your camera has an on-camera flash, you can use this flash to trigger your strobe lighting without any additional equipment. Check the user manual for your camera and ensure that you can turn on pre-flashes and that you can set your camera's flash mode to manual.
Number of Lights
Using multiple lights can reduce the shadows present in your portrait. We recommend using at least two lights positioned on either side of the camera to reduce the shadows in the face. A third light pointed at the background is useful to eliminate the shadows created by the subject on the background. A fourth light positioned underneath the camera is useful to provide more lighting and reduce shadows under the chin (this is most useful when photographing still objects).
Lighting Modifier
Softboxes
Softboxes offer the most control of your lighting and the most uniform lighting output. Our softboxes include two diffusers, allowing you to produce softer lighting than other modifiers. Larger softboxes diffuse light over a greater area, making it more easy to photograph larger items. Softboxes are useful in reducing shadows and can handle a larger amount of light than umbrellas. However, softboxes are generally your most expensive option and the most difficult to setup. If using with strobes, our softboxes include speed rings designed specifically for attaching the softbox to the strobes we carry.
Umbrellas
Umbrellas can be used for shoot-through or reflective light modification. They are the cheapest light modification option and easy to setup and use. Shoot-through umbrellas are useful for diffusing light, while reflective umbrellas can change the amount or color of the light that hits your subject. However, umbrellas are difficult to control and can wash out elements of your photo if used with too much light.
Brolly Boxes
Brolly boxes are a good middle of the road approach that look a lot like umbrellas. They combine some of the benefits of softboxes with the ease of setup of umbrellas. The brolly boxes we carry have a black back lining to keep out unwanted light and a white front lining to diffuse light. The black lining can be closed around your lighting to further eliminate spill. The lighting output is generally greater than softboxes, but too much light will wash out your subject.
Reflectors
Reflectors are lighting modifiers that are not directly hooked up to your lighting. There are several different colors of reflectors available, and this element is the most important factor in choosing your reflector. Translucent reflectors soften light; white reflectors bounce light into shadows without affecting the light quantity, quality, or color; black reflectors remove excess light from your photos; gold reflectors warm up your pictures; silver reflectors brighten your picture without affecting the light color; silver and gold stripe reflectors softly warm up your pictures. The larger a reflector is, the more the light is spread out.
Reflectors can be hand held, but it is most useful to have a stand to hold them to keep your hand frees and yours work space uncluttered during a shoot.
Background
Material
Paper
Paper backgrounds are useful in creating seamless backgrounds. The heavier the paper, the better it resists wrinkles and creases. Flame retardant paper is available. Because the paper comes in large rolls, when a crease or dirt appears, you can pull new paper from the roll and trim off the excess. However, the large rolls make portability an issue.
Muslin
Muslin backgrounds are extremely versatile and portable. They are the most widely available and offer the most color options. Most are machine washable, although they may fade after repeated washings.
Vinyl
Vinyl backgrounds are made from plastic and have a smooth, non-glare surface. They come on rolls for storage to prevent creases, so again, portability is an issue. It is easy to clean, but not easy to remove creases from.
Color
Solid
Backgrounds with solid colors keep all of the focus on your subject. Make sure to choose colors that compliment your subject and will not make it blend in too much or contrast in an unpleasant manner.
Chroma Key
Chroma Key background colors allow for easy background removal in computer software. Blue and green are the only true Chroma Key colors, and are ideal for creating special effects backgrounds on your computer.
Patterned
There are many different patterns available, from tie-dye to bricks to stars. Patterns are most useful when trying to create a specific feel to a photograph without the need to computer editing later. Tye-dye and crush-dye patterns are some of the most popular background selections and are available in all colors. They give depth to the background without taking your focus away from your subject.
Scenic
Scenic backgrounds are typically hand-painted backgrounds that create an environment for the picture. They can come in basic nature landscapes, windows, or sports themes.
Size
There are various sizes of backgrounds available, and each is useful in different situations. Smaller backgrounds are best used for small items and head shots, medium backgrounds are best for larger items (such as chairs), single people, or children. Larger backgrounds are ideal for large groups of people, large furniture, or action shots.
Typically, we taking portraits, you will want to position your subject 6 to 8 feet in front of the backdrop, so make sure your backdrop is long enough for this use.
Support
When using a background, it is important that you have a support stand to hold it up. The stand needs to be heavy duty enough to support your background and resist toppling due to wind or children. It also needs to be wide enough to hold the size background you are using - if you are using rolled paper, it is better to order a stand slightly wider than the roll than one that is too narrow (or you won't be able to use it). We offer a single support system that will support any backgrounds you purchase from us.