DIY home studio

Iren

Iren

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Irina
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I was thinking to do 1st birthday smash cake photoshoot for my daughter.
I am all for natural light and have just a camera (canon 6D) and 2 lenses (85 and 50mm) , so not looking to invest into expensive equipment which i wont use much.

Are there any tips or websites that you would recommend?
I want to buy backdrop, would this be fine without softbox or just white would be better?
image.jpeg
should i position the backdrop facing window or to the side? I will buy or make 2 large reflectors which i was thinking to place on the sides of the backdrop, do you think it will be enough to avoid harsh shadows or i need to invest in speedlight and defuser or forget this "studio" idea?

Thanks
 
These type of backgrounds look awful when used. You would be better off using a separate backdrop and floordrop and clamp a piece of skirting board in the middle.
 
connersz said:
These type of backgrounds look awful when used. You would be better off using a separate backdrop and floordrop and clamp a piece of skirting board in the middle.
Click to expand...

oh, good to know! thank you!
I have very photogenic floor, so could do with just the backdrop and place pompoms and balloons where the skirting should be
Any suggestions on where to look for a separate backdrop?
 
Your local diy shed can provide a sheet of hardboard/mdf, wallpaper/paint and maybe an offcut of skirting board. Make use of both sides of the board for two different backgrounds.
 
Iren said:
oh, good to know! thank you!
I have very photogenic floor, so could do with just the backdrop and place pompoms and balloons where the skirting should be
Any suggestions on where to look for a separate backdrop?
Click to expand...
You can find the backdrops almost anywhere and there's tonnes of them on ebay. It's worth considering what you want to be the focal point of your pictures; I'm guessing the baby but you could inadvertently create a picture of pompoms and balloons if you're not careful and it's a mistake I see made all the time in these kind of photos.
 
connersz said:
It's worth considering what you want to be the focal point of your pictures;...you could inadvertently create a picture of pompoms and balloons if you're not careful and it's a mistake I see made all the time in these kind of photos.
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Spot on... less is more.
 
Alastair said:
Your local diy shed can provide a sheet of hardboard/mdf, wallpaper/paint and maybe an offcut of skirting board. Make use of both sides of the board for two different backgrounds.
Click to expand...

Thats an idea! However very bulky as i have nowhere to store it and I guess it has to be a decent size, but definitely an option
 
connersz said:
You can find the backdrops almost anywhere and there's tonnes of them on ebay. It's worth considering what you want to be the focal point of your pictures; I'm guessing the baby but you could inadvertently create a picture of pompoms and balloons if you're not careful and it's a mistake I see made all the time in these kind of photos.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I need to search better as i find many backdrops with the "floor"
I would like to concentrate on baby yes ;), but have no idea how to conceal the difference between floor and backdrop or what to do with the background.
Looks like i have few options now
 
Just a couple of quick images I have to hand, but may be of help.

This set up uses a paper roll background, a pack of laminate flooring and a length of painted skirting board. Portable and if you are trying to work with just natural light you have the ability to set it up at any angle to the window if there room is large enough.
Essex-Newborn-Photography-013-600x900.jpg


And this is just in my lounge, so my actual floor, wall skirting and angry wife standing by with a broom and mop. But your position relative to any windows is fixed and not optimal so really needs it's own lighting.
Charlotte cake smash-001small.jpg
 
Or you could just go with paper... if you have it... blue for boys, pink for girls...

Personally, I don't do a lot of them for my own reasons... this was a 'jelly smash'... just a blue paper seamless background. Granted, it's not to everyone's taste.

Jelly Smash by Beth Botterill, on Flickr
 
This is my desired effect (minus golden leafes) with the backdrop, but without additional light would i be able to pull it off?
image.jpeg

This is backdrop from ebay, i "healed" website name from the backdrop to post here, so looks bit messy
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
 
sunnyside_up said:
Or you could just go with paper... if you have it... blue for boys, pink for girls...

Personally, I don't do a lot of them for my own reasons... this was a 'jelly smash'... just a blue paper seamless background. Granted, it's not to everyone's taste.

Jelly Smash by Beth Botterill, on Flickr
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I like jelly, alternative for cake smash :)))
Paper background looks nice and clean, but i guess you had few softboxes as well?!
 
bass_junkie83 said:
Just a couple of quick images I have to hand, but may be of help.

This set up uses a paper roll background, a pack of laminate flooring and a length of painted skirting board. Portable and if you are trying to work with just natural light you have the ability to set it up at any angle to the window if there room is large enough.
View attachment 76534


And this is just in my lounge, so my actual floor, wall skirting and angry wife standing by with a broom and mop. But your position relative to any windows is fixed and not optimal so really needs it's own lighting.
View attachment 76535
Click to expand...

I am sure your wife was pleased with the results though and baby loving it too!
Thanks for the options. I think i'll try with regular bed sheet first to see which position will work best in terms of light and then decide what backdrops will work there
 
You don't want to use a backdrop to decide the right position from the window, you want a baby. It's the baby you're lighting, the background will be if 2ndary importance, and might require some work to fix it in post.

But that's better than having an evenly lit BG and a crap lit baby.
 
Iren said:
I like jelly, alternative for cake smash :)))
Paper background looks nice and clean, but i guess you had few softboxes as well?!
Click to expand...
Ah, yes, I missed that point of you are using natural light. Many apologies.
As an aside, this was one large softbox in front, one on the background.
 
A window is do-able, providing you pick the best time of day, it's positioned well and is large enough to get the light you need. It may be that you are shooting at mid-range ISO's and so studio kit just means you can optimise everything, easily and quickly. You may wish to soften the light further with a good diffuser, so creating your own large softbox. In front of our living room window is one of my favourite spots at home, but even on a good day I'm shooting fairly wide at iso400 so isn't optimal.

Funny as we're doing a smash with our girl this weekend for her first birthday. My other half has found the scheme (pink/gold) so am just replicating that for her - the things we do! Look forward to seeing your results.
 
Livin The Dream said:
A window is do-able, providing you pick the best time of day, it's positioned well and is large enough to get the light you need. It may be that you are shooting at mid-range ISO's and so studio kit just means you can optimise everything, easily and quickly. You may wish to soften the light further with a good diffuser, so creating your own large softbox. In front of our living room window is one of my favourite spots at home, but even on a good day I'm shooting fairly wide at iso400 so isn't optimal.

Funny as we're doing a smash with our girl this weekend for her first birthday. My other half has found the scheme (pink/gold) so am just replicating that for her - the things we do! Look forward to seeing your results.
Click to expand...

Exciting! Please do share your results! Theygrow too fasf :)
Why iso 400 isnt optimal? I tried with the white sheet in front of the large window yesterday and the result was good with iso 640, 1/80 and f2.5

I am spending hours on printerest looking for ideas, most are over the top and i want something simple, so lets see, i still have few weeks to go
 
Iren said:
Exciting! Please do share your results! Theygrow too fasf :)
Why iso 400 isnt optimal? I tried with the white sheet in front of the large window yesterday and the result was good with iso 640, 1/80 and f2.5

I am spending hours on printerest looking for ideas, most are over the top and i want something simple, so lets see, i still have few weeks to go
Click to expand...
1/80 is pushing your luck for photographing a living being. I'd be wanting to double that as a minimum. My 6d is set on auto ISO with a minimum SS of 1/250

Those kinds of light levels are begging for a switch to flash if I'm honest.

I would shoot a bridal portrait in that windowlight, but that's an 'incidental', if I was in that room for a couple shoot I'd be breaking out a softbox.
 
Iren said:
Exciting! Please do share your results! Theygrow too fasf :)
Why iso 400 isnt optimal? I tried with the white sheet in front of the large window yesterday and the result was good with iso 640, 1/80 and f2.5
Click to expand...

Optimal is base ISO with a faster shutter speed plus more DOF. You can get that with artificial lighting; usual settings would be ISO100, F9-11, 1/160 sec. Also, you can have fluctuations in colour temperature depending how long the shoot last using daylight as your source; studio lighting = full control of everything.

Like I said, it's do-able, but not ideal. Depends on whether you want to explore a small setup which can be done on a budget?

For us, it's a bit of fun and hoping that my OH hasn't overdone the 'set design' - I probably would have gone a little more minimalistic, but she likes doing that side of it.
 
Livin The Dream said:
Optimal is base ISO with a faster shutter speed plus more DOF. You can get that with artificial lighting; usual settings would be ISO100, F9-11, 1/160 sec. Also, you can have fluctuations in colour temperature depending how long the shoot last using daylight as your source; studio lighting = full control of everything.

Like I said, it's do-able, but not ideal. Depends on whether you want to explore a small setup which can be done on a budget?

For us, it's a bit of fun and hoping that my OH hasn't overdone the 'set design' - I probably would have gone a little more minimalistic, but she likes doing that side of it.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the details. I probably wont be able to achieve good results with those settings, but i give it a go.
What would you suggest for a small set up on a budget?
 
Iren said:
Thank you for the details. I probably wont be able to achieve good results with those settings, but i give it a go.
What would you suggest for a small set up on a budget?
Click to expand...

I'd go for something like lencarta's smartflash (you don't need anything more powerful than 200w/s at home) Two heads would be great but you could get away with one head, stand, medium-sized softbox (chiaro 85x85 @ £48 would do but also look at bessell as they're reasonable for the money), trigger and a reflector to add fill if needs be. The second head can help with the background but certainly not essential, can add that later on.
 
Lencarta Smartflash 2 (softbox & brolly)

I recently purchased a set and I love it.

Although I only have a black background at the moment.
 
If you're happy to forego the support (I wouldn't in your shoes - Lencarta are brilliant for advice) you can buy Godox units from Ebay and save a few quid.
 
Personally, I think that if you look at the price of a reasonable camera body / lens, plus the cost of a proper photoshoot from a decent pro, it's not a bad outlay at all.

If you want to document your child growing up with professional images, why not. You won't need to upgrade that kit for home use, plus it's great fun learning.
 
Livin The Dream said:
Personally, I think that if you look at the price of a reasonable camera body / lens, plus the cost of a proper photoshoot from a decent pro, it's not a bad outlay at all.

If you want to document your child growing up with professional images, why not. You won't need to upgrade that kit for home use, plus it's great fun learning.
Click to expand...

:) yep, if i get the kit listed above and all the accessorise for the photoshoot, it would be def cheaper just to go somewhere and do professional session, but i am doing it for fun, learning process as you say and could use some of the kit later on as well.
 
Livin The Dream said:
I'd go for something like lencarta's smartflash (you don't need anything more powerful than 200w/s at home) Two heads would be great but you could get away with one head, stand, medium-sized softbox (chiaro 85x85 @ £48 would do but also look at bessell as they're reasonable for the money), trigger and a reflector to add fill if needs be. The second head can help with the background but certainly not essential, can add that later on.
Click to expand...

Thank you, will do bit research on these
 
It's not difficult to get a nice, clean, professional shot and it's a great learning curve too, but thoroughly rewarding. Here's my favourite shot this year, I have a large canvas of this hanging above my PC and it looks awesome. All lit with one medium softbox and a reflector for fill on the RH side. I'm so glad I bought my stuff having been inspired from others on here, the only caveat is that it can get addictive with further kit and props.

28440972241_2533fd9c0b_k.jpg
 
Livin The Dream said:
It's not difficult to get a nice, clean, professional shot and it's a great learning curve too, but thoroughly rewarding. Here's my favourite shot this year, I have a large canvas of this hanging above my PC and it looks awesome. All lit with one medium softbox and a reflector for fill on the RH side. I'm so glad I bought my stuff having been inspired from others on here, the only caveat is that it can get addictive with further kit and props.

28440972241_2533fd9c0b_k.jpg
Click to expand...

Awww she is just gorgeous and veeery nice photo!
 
minnnt said:
Lol, some of your budgets and my budget differ massively.

My idea of budget is a cheap and cheerful speedlight with a sofbox made from a banana box. :D
Click to expand...
It's a matter of priorities David is it not?

£500 of lights and a £100 lens will give better images in a studio than £500 lens and £100 of lighting.

Of course if you're wanting images outside of a studio, the lenses become a priority.

Though some of us need both :(
 
I'm quoting this post for emphasis - because I love the pic and love the message (y)

Edit: Lencarta Smartflash-2, umbrella/softbox, stand, trigger, reflector - around £200.

Livin The Dream said:
It's not difficult to get a nice, clean, professional shot and it's a great learning curve too, but thoroughly rewarding. Here's my favourite shot this year, I have a large canvas of this hanging above my PC and it looks awesome. All lit with one medium softbox and a reflector for fill on the RH side. I'm so glad I bought my stuff having been inspired from others on here, the only caveat is that it can get addictive with further kit and props.

28440972241_2533fd9c0b_k.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
HoppyUK said:
I'm quoting this post for emphasis - because I love the pic and love the message (y)

Edit: Lencarta Smartflash-2, umbrella/softbox, stand, trigger, reflector - around £200.
Click to expand...

Thanks Richard. It is an example of what a forum should be about. Several years ago I thought studio shots were something you needed space and considerable money for. Whilst certain shots benefit from either, there's much the average bear can do at home [emoji4]
 
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