Studio Tips and Tricks

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I thought I’d start a thread in here to collect together all the tips and tricks for Studio / Lighting for people like myself who have learned through a process of trial and error. There are probably loads of things I do ‘wrong’, or certainly inefficiently.

I’ll start off with one I learned from Garry Edwards at one of his studio workshops. Seems obvious now but when changing modifiers you should always offer up the studio flash head to a large modifier rather than trying to offer the modifier up to the head while its on a stand.

There were countless times when I’d be struggling trying to offer an octo box up to a flash head and risking damaging the tube. With the modifier face down on the floor putting the flash head onto the fitting is so much easier.

Anyone else?
 
I have wrestled with my softbox trying to get it onto the flash head :)
 
Yes, a lot of people don't seem to know that it's so much easier to put the softbox or beauty dish face down on the floor and then click the head into position:)
Another one, based on safety/common sense - when using a boom arm, move the counterbalance to the right position so that the whole thing is balanced - don't rely on the locking mechanism to hold it out of balance.
And another one with boom arms and, to a lesser extent, with ordinary light stands too - always arrange the stand so that one of the legs is pointing towards the flash head, it's far more stable that way.
 
Here's my £0.05 worth, although I'm sure I'm not the first realise any of this :-/


  • If I don't need the speed of an all SuperFast setup, I'll often use the Safari II on the boom in the studio - as it's significantly lighter.
  • Lencarta's Superfast 600's will happily strobe along in slave mode with a remote Nikon SBxxx flash if you want to do multi-flash shots (stroboscopic dance for example). They'll do 10fps up to about 7.4 on the output scale if I remember correctly, or more at a slower frequency. I just put an SB900 on an YN622N radio trigger right over the slave cell on manual at 1/128th.
  • Have multiple radio triggers so you can have one in the hand for triggering whilst metering (or wired into the meter) Be aware though that you'll get into a right muddle if you try adjusting power on multiple WaveSync (FT16) triggers (and most likely on other triggers that allow remote power adjustment) - the one on the camera will over-write the settings you made with the spare trigger.
  • There's no need to take all the diffusion layers off of an umbrella style softbox (like Lencarta's ProfFold series) when packing it away; or even the grid, just peel back enough to get your arm in to release the locking mechanism and fold up as is.
  • Put your umbrella style softboxes in the bag with the speed-ring at the opening. This will allow you to see how many poles it has (ie "which one of these many black bags is the damm 120cm octa?" :P ). I've written the size and type in permanent marker on the speed-rings on mine too.
  • When taking them out, make sure you have a grip on the fabric *and* the frame. If one comes away from the other, you need 6 hands to get it all back in - especially the octas :)
  • Carpet dryers make excellent wind machines.
  • Pop-up reflectors make excellent wind machines.
  • Office fans are useless as wind machines - most of the air goes around the open blades.
  • Outside, petrol leaf blowers are excellent wind machines - from a safe distance (and great for turbo charging the BBQ but that's another forum :P)
  • Your light stand may well be cushioned, but I bet the boom arm you use is not cushioned at the extension point, so if that arm is more vertical than horizontal, beware when loosening the extension grip.
  • Put wheels on your light stands - it makes it easier to adjust their position, and less prone to toppling if pushed.
  • Put a large white sticker on your lightmeter, so you can find it in the dark studio, and black-interior photobag..
  • Make a manifest-checklist for your gear. I have a standard one with everything on it. One column is ticked (or a number entered if there's more than one) if I'm taking it on this shoot, another one for packed/charged ready, one for "in the car outbound" and one for "in the car - return".
  • Studios never have reliable fog machines - buy one (or two), they're £30.
  • Studios often have a lack of power sockets in the right places - bring a long extension.
  • Studios almost never have a large stripbox (180cm plus) with a grid. If you need one, buy one :)
  • Studios often have white walls for some reason. This is a problem if the studio is small - bring some black muslin cloth, and gaffer tape.
  • You can put up a seamless paper roll against any wall, with the roll on the floor - pull some out and tape it up - no stand required.
  • Put "this is mine" stickers on all your lighting gear. It saves confusion when packing up.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Yes, a lot of people don't seem to know that it's so much easier to put the softbox or beauty dish face down on the floor and then click the head into position:)
Another one, based on safety/common sense - when using a boom arm, move the counterbalance to the right position so that the whole thing is balanced - don't rely on the locking mechanism to hold it out of balance.
And another one with boom arms and, to a lesser extent, with ordinary light stands too - always arrange the stand so that one of the legs is pointing towards the flash head, it's far more stable that way.
Click to expand...

Yep - I remember you showing me that with my softbox and head!
 
Just a couple from me that have been missed so far.

Don't be afraid to improvise, not everything that can help your lighting comes with a massive price tag and a Profoto label. bits of black or white card, Spring clamps and blu tac are often the difference between good and great.

When going for soft light, your softbox is only 'too close' when you can't see your subject any more.

Beauty dishes are not suitable for females over 24, unless they're over 80 and your aim is to exaggerate their wrinkles.
 
Phil V said:
Just a couple from me that have been missed so far.

Don't be afraid to improvise, not everything that can help your lighting comes with a massive price tag and a Profoto label. bits of black or white card, Spring clamps and blu tac are often the difference between good and great.

When going for soft light, your softbox is only 'too close' when you can't see your subject any more.

Beauty dishes are not suitable for females over 24, unless they're over 80 and your aim is to exaggerate their wrinkles.
Click to expand...

Very true! The light doesn't care if it's coming from a £500 softbox or bounced off a bedsheet. And I well remember my first visit to a professional studio, mainly advertising products work, expecting to see immaculate kit and custom widgets for everything. All the gear was there, but the actual sets were a mass of bits of black card and white card attached to coat-hanger wire, cooking foil, little mirrors etc etc, all tucked out of sight and held together with bodge-tape, BluTak (prolly plasticine back then) and sellotape.

And, IMHO, beauty dishes are expensive, heavy, hard to store, and vastly over-rated :D
 
Phil V said:
When going for soft light, your softbox is only 'too close' when you can't see your subject any more.
Click to expand...
•
Right! …that is if one wants to have the maximum wrapping effect. Flagging,
"stripping", and strong angling are among the many way to use them.
Phil V said:
Beauty dishes are not suitable for females over 24
Click to expand...
•
This is not an absolute rule but a relative guide to your model skin complexion.
The light if the soft light is so "bitty" that it forgives very little… specially mine
with it's silver reflector. I used it successfully on a 34 year old model but that
was an extremely rare situation. For a special look, I like to use it with younger
teenagers and pre-teenagers.

The other thing is that it should be used fairly close as over a given distance it
is just a light source like any other reflector.
 
Last edited:
Kodiak Qc said:
•
Right! …that is if one wants to have the maximum wrapping effect. Flagging,
"stripping", and strong angling are among the many way to use them.
•
This is not an absolute rule but a relative guide to your model skin complexion.
The light if the soft light is so "bitty" that it forgives very little… specially mine
with it's silver reflector. I used it successfully on a 34 year old model but that
was an extremely rare situation. For a special look, I like to use it with younger
teenagers and pre-teenagers.

The other thing is that it should be used fairly close as over a given distance it
is just a light source like any other reflector.
Click to expand...
Or to quote the non polically correct Garry Edwards:)
Maximum age 23, and only if she has good bone structure, good complexion and slept in her own bed last night...

To get the true beauty dish effect (which in my experience can ONLY be achieved with a well designed beauty dish) the only position that works is directly in front of where the face is pointing, very close and high enough to produce the characteristic shadow under the bottom lip. Current models of "folding beauty dishes) only produce an effect very similar to a silver reflective umbrella, and the small ones sold for hotshoe flashguns aren't big enough to do the job at all.
 
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