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Home Studio Lighting Without Breaking the Bank

This page describes one way to set up a home studio without breaking your bank!

Here I will explain and describe my home studio setup. all of my portrait shots were taken with this home studio, so if your trying to find out how it performs, check out my gallery, however thats limited by my skill, better examples to look at may be Si's work or some of Claire's. their setups are slightly different.

Below is a shot of my home studio:

My Equipment

The Interfit ex150 kit comes with two 150 watt/sec flash heads, two lighting stands, a 60x60cm softbox, a white translucent umbrella, power cables and sync cord. I have 2 of these kits so the equipment is doubled up. If you are worried about the power from a 150w head, don't be, I use them on half power the majority of the time.

1) 100% re-charge ready light

2) Infra red cell and flash receptor

3) Mains Plug and Fuse Holder (6.3 amp)

4) On/Off Power

5) Modelling lap control. Position I = Full power. Middle = Off. Position II = Proportional mode.

6) Test button

7) Sync lead connection between camera and flash head (connect to PC sync socket or a hotshoe adapter on your camera)

Cover is removable and washable and is an elasticated fit over the base which also doubles up as a diffuser. I'l warn you that the advertising for this product is so poor. The sample pics they use are terrible in my opinion, and i bet they lose a whole bunch of customers this way. I assure you that it performs alot better than what they show.

Above: Example of what can be achieved.

The IRX fits into the camera hotshoe, and emits a wide infrared beam which will trigger any infrared sensitive flash unit, so eliminating the need for a sync cord between the camera and flash unit and any worries about sync voltages on DSLR's.

Lens?

I cant recommend the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM highly enough. Its a cracking lens and produces sharp and detailed results. However, you do need a little space to play with. IdeallyI have double doors that open up into my living room, this gives me the requires space. If you are really limited on space, i would go no higher than a 30mm.

I also have the EF 50 mm f/1.8II which is a great little lense and produces sharp results, considering you can pick it up for around £50 if you look in the right places.

Video tour:

Setup and Settings

First of all, I am going to say don't just copy what write here... Experiment! thats the fun in it and you will get better results.

The lights that illuminate the front of the subject want to be around 4ft away from them and the bottom edge of the softbox at around chin height pointing down at a 45degree angle. have the lights at the back the same hight too, but experiment at which angle you tilt them.

Something to Remember:

Make sure your subject isn't sat to near the vertical bit of the backdrop, as this will result on the rear lights flooding on to them causing a horrible misty effect like the below. If you sit them away from it and your still getting this misty effect, chances are the flash is too powerful, so just turn it down.

above: Sat to near the backdrop/flash too powerful

I shoot most of the time with my lights on half power. with these settings:

Again, experiment with your settings to achieve different results!

Below is a diagram of my home studio setup:

Now, im not saying this is the only way to setup a home studio, far from it... but this is one successful way of doing so, without going bankrupt! Please post your comments and questions and I will eagerly get back to you. Hope this helped.

Written by Shaun SnapAlley.com

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