Studio set up - lots of questions

Rudesing

Rudesing

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Ruth
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Following on from this thread:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=181439&

Here's my test set up
IMG_1054.jpg


Untitled-13.jpg


I started with two lights in the backdrop and one key light
Had too much shadow on left hand side so bounced fourth light off of wall

Results SOOC:

2010-03-01_2_.jpg


One_Hilite_light.jpg


2010-03-01_3_.jpg

She was facing slightly away from the key light, so lost some of the catchlight :(

Kit is:
Bowens 500/500/500
Extra light borrowed from friend (another 500w I think)
Hilite

So my main concerns are:
1) Not enough height and width really to be completely flexible for larger groups
2) The flooring

Any other comments appreciated!

Solution 1
Add material background in front of Hilite - increases height & width and lessens difference between backdrop and floor
Results on next comment (sorry about creases, didn't have masking tape to hand to pull it straight)

Solution 2
Spend MORE money and buy reflective floor. May have to start selling my body as well as studio sessions to pay back Mr Rudesing :)

All thoughts and comments appreciated - hope this is in the right place but thought it made sense under lighting.
 
So trying to decide whether to keep playing with the idea of putting a sheet in front of the Hilite to a) increase backdrop size and b) reduce difference between colour of flooring and backdrop.

First attempt (needs work!):
One_Hilite_light_with_sheet1.jpg


One_Hilite_light_with_sheet_closeup.jpg


So do I, try this again tomorrow, increasing the brightness of background lights etc. Or give up and buy a reflective flooring?

Many thanks for getting this far! Appreciate your (constructive) input!
 
My biggest worry from your setup mate is that sloping ceiling. I would make it black right away, or I presume it's going to really bounce buckets of light back into your shot....

The side walls are also about as close as my own, and I had to blacken them too.

Welcome to the strive for a perfect seyup :D It's going to knock you for six mate :)

Gary.
 
Good point Gary.

It's set up different to I orginally thought (had some help from a new pro friend)

So in the above set up, the hilite is in front of the runway. I can move it to where I orginally thought which means only a small amount of white wall on right hand side. But then I need a different solution to the shadow issue.

Original plan was this (sloping wall above runway):
Room1.jpg

Right now I want lots of light bouncing around for kiddie photos. I'll worry about nice sculpted lighting once I've paid for some equipment from yummy mummy shoots.
 
This is how I do it.

1: Massive softbox back wall lit by two Bowen Gemini Pro 1000's (you have the hilite)

2: Reflective floor (absolutely essential)

3: Large octobox with Bowen Gemini Pro 1000 (front stage right)

4: Large brolly with Bowen 400 watt (front stage left)

5: Black out the walls (essential, also allows your studio to double as low key)

I then turn my backdrop lights off, and balance my two key lights (technically one is fill)....the brolly.

Then turn BG lights back on, obviously you should light meter subjects and backdrops.

G.
 
Thanks Gary, looks like you'll be keeping 'A thoroughly nice chap' for a while yet.

I'm not far off with equipment, I'll have a play with using a brolly rather than bouncing off the wall & get out my black backdrop. I'll dust off my light meter & go beg some money off of Mr Rudesing and buy a reflective floor...
 
A very very very cool experiment if you can be arsed, make a large draped tunnel in Black to your hilite, lower your keylights so they are shooting in the front door of said tunnel, and compare the difference. That's in essence what I have permanently....I will try and explain better.

On my left and right studio wall, I have a curtain rail which extends an inch or so from the wall.

Went to IKEA, and bought an entire roll of their cheapest black fabric, cost me about £40.

Now, this is the cool bit. Start in the bottom right corner, unroll the material up behind the curtain rail above, then over the top and across to the other curtain rail, where you then drop it behind to the floor. Takes about 1 minute, you now have a two black walls and a ceiling. I had to do it twice for my length, but its a great mod and looks cool too.

I will try and get some detail shot of the setup for you....

It solved 95% of my lighting problems.

G.
 
Edit: Oops! Crossed post with Gary :D

It's really difficult to get right without at least a bit of PP.

I would suggest lowering the lights in the HiLite to the middle or lower, use a reflective floor, raise the camera to maximise reflection effect off the floor (angle of incidence equals angle of reflection), position the subject closer to the background (makes better use of the background for groups too), forget the cloth. Be guided by Gary - he's the only person I know to have achieved a PP-free white background and train.

What you're trying to do is technically impossible to get perfect without over-exposure somewhere. The trick is to get everything working absolutely optimum in every respect, lights and angles, floor material etc. You're close, and a few more tweaks here and there should get you closer still. Then the final push of over-exposure need only be a fraction of a stop - effectively no over-exposure, or at least nothing that matters.

Then the final adjustments, possibly a bit more contrast on the Picture Styles and a smidge of over-exposure and you're there, maybe a dash more saturation to pull back lost colour. Deep lens hood, optimised for the actual focal length to control flare as best you can. But you need to get that floor brighter first or you'll just end up blitzing the HiLite so that the spill fixes the floor, but the subject outline will be horribly bleached and the image awash with flare (which is what most people do).

Edit: On the lens hood front, when I was using a 17-55 lens ( ;) ) for portraits, I fitted the hood off my 100-400L. It looks enormous but doesn't vignette at the long end and does a really good job. They're about £30. It's all about the details, 5% improvement here, 10% there, adds up.
 
HoppyUK said:
Then the final adjustments, possibly a bit more contrast on the Picture Styles and a smidge of over-exposure and you're there, maybe a dash more saturation to pull back lost colour.
Click to expand...


Understatement :D

+2 over the Nikon Vivid setting for me. I have discovered White BG Setups in small spaces can = Contrast Black Hole :D

G.
 
[.........I'll dust off my light meter & go beg some money off of Mr Rudesing and buy a reflective floor...[/QUOTE]

:thinking:
 
Just a quick query really - all this talk about tweaking contrast in Picture Styles would imply that a jpeg is being shot - my understanding is that the style settings don't apply to RAW is that right? So I guess you guys are doing RAW+JPEG so you can show to clients straight away but PP the RAW file if a sale is done??

Jeremy.
 
can i just jump ontot his thread with a quick question regarding the back drop and reflective floor.

Am i looking at studio kit at the moment and was looking at white and black backdrops that i roll right out.

why do you suggest a reflective floor?

thanks
 
donkeymusic said:
can i just jump ontot his thread with a quick question regarding the back drop and reflective floor.

Am i looking at studio kit at the moment and was looking at white and black backdrops that i roll right out.

why do you suggest a reflective floor?

thanks
Click to expand...

Looks better IMO and much less PP required...
 
so you would have a cloth backdrop that rested ontop of the reflective backdrop?
 
Thanks Gary, didn't know that.. DPP would be a painful step in my workflow to Lightroom just to retain styles, I guess a preset would be more appropriate for me.
 
Been reading this thread with interest, good info Gary.
I'd like to ask if you leave the black fabric up there all the time?
 
Treesie said:
Been reading this thread with interest, good info Gary.
I'd like to ask if you leave the black fabric up there all the time?
Click to expand...

Never comes down, it's a permanent requirement. Hopeless without it. All my recent "on black" photos have been taken against said fabric too, so it has added to the functionality of the studio.

Gary.
 
EdinburghGary said:
.. Remember to allow Maybe allow 1ft of white wall to extend from your backdrop to you, to allow dodging in of corners - gives you a tiny bit more width.

G.
Click to expand...

Sorry Gary,its not even Friday but I'm not sure what you mean (my space is just over 9ft widebut have 33ft length).:thinking:
 
Treesie said:
Sorry Gary,its not even Friday but I'm not sure what you mean (my space is just over 9ft widebut have 33ft length).:thinking:
Click to expand...

OK. Your backdrop is almost touching the sides. Lets say you did want to drape everything black (or paint it). If you allow a bit of white wall to extend FROM the backdrop towards you, in otherwords, your corner than consists of your backdrop and wall is white, it gives you more width.

With the length you have though, I don't think it's an issue....

G.
 
Right, I was thinking the sides in black met with the background for the tunnel effect but I should actually leave a gap. :)
 
Gary do you by any chance have a name for the fabric? Mynearest Ikea is about 40miles away so knowing my luck it won't be in stock if I don't call first :cool:
 
Treesie said:
Gary do you by any chance have a name for the fabric? Mynearest Ikea is about 40miles away so knowing my luck it won't be in stock if I don't call first :cool:
Click to expand...

Erm......I will try and find out for you, but top of my mind , forgotton. I think roughly £6 a sheet though, not the cheaper one.

G.
 
Glad the thread has been of use to so many people! You should all search for Gary's other posts about his set up, very helpful & inspirational too.

Quick update from me. Feeling very stressed by the whole thing today! I haven't posted as I'm sulking & indecisive :)

I've been debating about the reflective floor. My problem is that the room HAS to be duel use, I don't do enough work to pay business tax on it. Despite the very obvious advantages shown by Gary's work, the fact it isn't very moveable (plus I haven't found it for less than £90 a sheet, ugh!), is putting me off.

I've had two studio photographer contacts come round and both have given completely different advice to what's been said here. I've now got a set up with no Hilite (set up by him) but it is currently showing the backdrop creases more than I'd like & I need to work on the spill too. He suggested getting a paper roll instead.

After baby being up all night, I'm trying to concentrate on getting an 'OK' set up for this weekend and I'll worry about long term another day. I can't even decide whether to go back to the Hilite or stick with the more traditional set up that I've been shown.

If anyone gets to IKEA, let me know what the fabric is called, sounds like a good option.

Thanks again for taking the time to help (particularly Gary & Richard!)
 
HoppyUK said:
Edit: On the lens hood front, when I was using a 17-55 lens ( ;) ) for portraits, I fitted the hood off my 100-400L. It looks enormous but doesn't vignette at the long end and does a really good job. They're about £30. It's all about the details, 5% improvement here, 10% there, adds up.
Click to expand...

I've always used my 24-105 for studio work, but I tried the 17-55 yesterday (thanks again) and it's going to be great for larger groups, with the 24-105 I was half way out the room to get everything in.

I've got a 70-200 so I'll try the lens hood from that.

(I also used the 27-55 at a low-light party last week - superb :clap:!)
 
Hya,

Obviously with it being Friday you have limited options in time for the weekend, it's difficult to know what to suggest.

The HILITE IMO appears to give MUCH better control of the backdrop and lightspill, but at a trade off in terms of FLOOR WORK (mopping up). This is where that reflective floor comes into it's own.

Can I ask, what type of shoot do you have at the weekend? The most important exposure is your subject exposure, your BG whilst not ideal, can be fixed in post.

G.
 
Rudesing said:
Glad the thread has been of use to so many people! You should all search for Gary's other posts about his set up, very helpful & inspirational too.

Quick update from me. Feeling very stressed by the whole thing today! I haven't posted as I'm sulking & indecisive :)

I've been debating about the reflective floor. My problem is that the room HAS to be duel use, I don't do enough work to pay business tax on it. Despite the very obvious advantages shown by Gary's work, the fact it isn't very moveable (plus I haven't found it for less than £90 a sheet, ugh!), is putting me off.

I've had two studio photographer contacts come round and both have given completely different advice to what's been said here. I've now got a set up with no Hilite (set up by him) but it is currently showing the backdrop creases more than I'd like & I need to work on the spill too. He suggested getting a paper roll instead.

After baby being up all night, I'm trying to concentrate on getting an 'OK' set up for this weekend and I'll worry about long term another day. I can't even decide whether to go back to the Hilite or stick with the more traditional set up that I've been shown.

If anyone gets to IKEA, let me know what the fabric is called, sounds like a good option.

Thanks again for taking the time to help (particularly Gary & Richard!)
Click to expand...



Hi Ruth

Agree, I enjoy reading Garys posts :)

I know exactly how you feel,I set up my studio and have been using it for a couple of months now. I had two people come and look and gave me a recommended set up which to be honest was way out of my budget. Trouble is the more people you speak to the more complicated things seem to get:thinking: I'm not quite happy with where I am at the moment but I'm thinking Garys suggestion may cure the problem I have with light bouncing around. :) Just got to sort out my whites now ;)
 
EdinburghGary said:
Hya,

Obviously with it being Friday you have limited options in time for the weekend, it's difficult to know what to suggest.

The HILITE IMO appears to give MUCH better control of the backdrop and lightspill, but at a trade off in terms of FLOOR WORK (mopping up). This is where that reflective floor comes into it's own.

Can I ask, what type of shoot do you have at the weekend? The most important exposure is your subject exposure, your BG whilst not ideal, can be fixed in post.

G.
Click to expand...

I have one family on Saturday (with a one year old) and a second family on Sunday. I've been doing family shoots for a couple of years (but not a huge quantity) with less kit so I have an idea of a compromise set up, I just want it better now I've bought the Bowens Kit.

I completely agree about the Hilite. Tonight I'm thinking of trying the Hilite, with an extra light on the train (this I've never really tried) plus a key light (or two). I'll drink a glass of wine for every extra hour a do in pp & dream of reflective floors :)
 
Treesie said:
Hi Ruth

Agree, I enjoy reading Garys posts :)

I know exactly how you feel,I set up my studio and have been using it for a couple of months now. I had two people come and look and gave me a recommended set up which to be honest was way out of my budget. Trouble is the more people you speak to the more complicated things seem to get:thinking: I'm not quite happy with where I am at the moment but I'm thinking Garys suggestion may cure the problem I have with light bouncing around. :) Just got to sort out my whites now ;)
Click to expand...

It's weird that it makes me feel better that I don't suffer in this alone :cuckoo:. Where is your studio (have I missed a post?)? Before now I was dismantling the guest bed and moving furniture once a month to set up a studio. Mr Rudesing got bored of that quickly (as he was the one doing the moving).

Now I've got the loft (almost) to myself I have huge expectations of what I can achieve. As there is no colour in there except white walls & a black floor, none of the photos have a problem with 'white' anymore. Unlike in the orange/red (inspired by Grand Canyon trip) bedroom. Where anyone in make-up looked like an umpa lumpa :bonk:.

Edit to say: did a search and will look through your posts (look interesting!) when the kids aren't throwing crisps at me.
 
Mine is outdoor in the end of a barn. Would like the whole barn but need to make money first or the other half won't be easy to evict;)
Everything was white but kept getting glare so painted the ceiling mid gray.
My problem is the white vinyl background, I adjust the lights or camera but so far its still an issue:'(
My weekend is full of photograhy so I'm hoping for big improvements :)
Hope your weekend goes well, will be good to have an update :cool:
 
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