What equiptment do i need to start home photography?
Hi there,
i am an amerture photographer and i use a Nikon D40 SLR camera. I was just wondering what equiptment I would need for a home photography business. I have been looking at these umberallas etc but have never used them before and am unsure if that is what I need. Am looking at doing baby and kids photography.
Thanks!! 
here is the link to what i am looking at getting. or something from their range (just what one do i need?)
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fotogenic-Studio-Lighitng-Kit-Lights-stand-Muslin-/260708518915?pt=AU_Cameras_Photographic_Accessories&hash=item3cb3704c03#ht_2728wt_1344
or instead of umberallas should I get softboxes instead? whats better?
newborn baby photography blogs
Tagged with: amp • cameras • ebay • hash • home photography • kids photography • nikon d40 • photographer • photographic accessories • photography business
Filed under: Baby Photography
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Come on !!! how on earth do yo uthink you can start a photography business when you don’t even have a clue about what equipment you need.
Do yourself a favour and spend the next couple of years learning the trade properly. By doing so you will gain the necessary skills and the knowledge of what equipment you will need to do studio work.
You need to be very patient. Until you become a professional photographer, you can’t start a business. Experiment with photography in different settings. Play with your aperture and shutter speed and learn all the basics of photography. Creating your own home studio shouldn’t be too hard or even too expensive. Take a look at these links. You don’t need anything else at the moment. With time, you can build something more advanced.
http://xKimJoanne.deviantart.com/art/My-Now-Old-Portrait-Setup-141182641?q=gallery%3Axkimjoanne%2F23513725&qo=3
http://www.diyphotography.net/homestudio/cheap-homemade-diy-studio-no-lighting-needed
http://www.istockphoto.com/article_view?ID=14
http://photo.net/learn/studio/primer
A tripod, a few lights, a camera and lenses, a flash, umbrellas..etc
You can also make your own umbrella, apparently.
Good cameras (definitely have a back up just in case), good lighting and lenses, and backgrounds for a start. Good luck!
It’s a very basic continuous light system, but it would do for a start.
If you put muslin or some other diffuser over the open end of the umbrella you will effectively have a soft-box, you would have to watch for heat building up within the umbrella. The umbrellas to avoid are the shoot-though type these are wasteful of light and can pick up colour casts from painted walls etc., this reflective type is fine as they direct the light just where you want it, you will often not want any light on the backdrop.
The technique with these umbrellas is to place them close to the model, just out of shot. The larger the lighting area relative to the size of your subject softens the shadows anyway, you may not need a diffuser. Most beginners place them too far away and the shadows will then be harder.
Don’t put the muslin backdrop in front of a window if light travels through these they diffract it into ‘hot-spots’ (bright speckles). A more solid background material is better. Whichever material you use you will need some cheap spring clamps to stretch all the wrinkles out.
You will need room to photograph kids getting them to sit still is virtually impossible for more than 5 minutes. If you want to light a large area you will need lights with lots more power than these.
Like you I thought first of a home studio, then I converted a large double garage, but finally ended up with a unit on an industrial estate (a posh one) the height is very useful as I can permanently install a couple of setups on gantries, and, of course, you can shoot down onto your subject, I use this more and more as it’s a viewpoint of themselves that people don’t normally see and sells very well.
It would be a good kit for a start, but be aware that before long you will be using studio strobes, it’s the only way to get loads of light into your shots in a compact unit. The more light you have the more noise free your images will be. Studio strobes are manual you will also need a flash meter, these also work with continuous light, you have your camera on manual set a shutter speed and ISO, set the same on the meter, place the meter close to the subject looking back at the camera and press the read button, it will tell you the aperture you need to set, it will be accurate to 1/10th of a stop.
This degree of accuracy really matters with digital, you will get perfectly exposed images every time. This setting will be good provided you don’t alter the light(s) to subject distance, the camera to subject doesn’t matter you can move around with your camera and take shots from any angle and any distance.
The problem with metering in camera is they don’t take into account the tone of the subject so a woman in a white dress will be under exposed (a grey dress) and a man in a dark suit will be over exposed (a grey suit) when actually the same exposure is required, these incident light meters will read the light falling onto the subject and will always be far more accurate. Believe me this really matters.
Sorry for the digression
Chris