Studio Photo Business
Studio Photo Or Studio Photography
Studio Photo used to be a expensive business. Because of this, this kind of photography was relatively unknown to many photographers. But now, a professional photo studio is very affordable! Our vast product range can be a bit overwhelming, so we wrote this mini studio guide to cover the basics and to explain some terminology.
Basic Knowledge About Studio Photo
Basic Knowledge about Shadows The length and hardness of a shadow is determined by the power of the light source, the distance to the subject and the type of light: direct or indirect. Compare this to your own shadow: on a sunny day, you have a long, hard shadow. On a cloudy day, your shadows hardly visible. This is because the clouds have the same effect on the sunlight as a diff-user has on a studio flash: it makes the light more even and bounce around the subject.
Lighting Studio Photo
Additional lights can be used to light up the background. Using one ore more additional flashes, you can light it up evenly to eliminate shadows, or create a gradient effect. For portrait shooting, a third light “effect light” is often used as a hair light to create more depth in the portraits.
Diffusors Studio Photo
Most flash kits come standard with diffusors. The purpose of a diffusor is to evenly spread the light, like clouds do with sunlight on a cloudy day. Another benefit is the reduction of reflections on glass objects and on faces, which for example makes a person look sweaty. A softbox is the most common solution. It has a reflecting silver layer on the inside, which bundles the light before it is emitted forward through a diffuser. This make the best use of the available light. The main advantage of an umbrella diffuser is the little time it takes to set it up. This makes it ideal for a portable studio. Compared to a soft-box, however, more light is scattered so the lighting efficiency is less optimal. This can be compensated by turning the flash’s power up, or repositioning it closer to the subject.
Reflectors Studio Photo
Reflectors are one of the most widely used tools in studio photography. You can use them to lighten up shadows, or to reflected a slightly colored light onto the subject. They come in various sizes and shapes, some are 5-in-1 with multiple colors you can choose from. They also enable you to make the best use of available daylight, when you don’t want to use lighting equipment.
The Power Studio Photo
If you are shooting portraits or you are doing small product photography, 100-150Wat flash heads can be used. When you are shooting a whole person, 200 Wat is a desired minimum. For larger groups and objects, 400Wat flash units are advisable, whereas for very large groups of people 800Ws or more are the best choice. Of course you can always reduce the flash power on a unit when needed. It is better to turn it down a little, than having too little light for your project.
Camera Studio Photo
You don’t need an ultra high-tech camera. Basically, any camera that lets you enter the shutter speed, aperture and ISO manually is suitable for studio photography. A good starting point is to set ISO value on 100 and the shutter speed on 1/125. You can then experiment with the aperture and power setting on the flash head to find the desired lighting values. Alternatively, a flash light meter can be used to quickly find the best values.