More Studio Garage Shots

[MarkBarbieri]

I had some friends over today to mess around with my makeshift studio garage. They have four girls (ages 3 to 8) with amazing eyes.

I used a light in a 32"x40" softbox for the key light. I used a reflector (OK, it was a flattened cardboard box painted white) for fill light. My wife held a light and a shoot-thru umbrella for a hair light. I wish I'd had an additional light to blow out the background. I used a cheapo white muslin tacked to the wall of the garage for the background. I used a cooler for a posing stool.

I'm still a complete novice with studio lights and the results show it. Still, I'm learning lots of new things every time I shoot. Besides, our friends are happy because they've never taken their kids to a professional photographer and have really low expectations.

I don't have the photos posted to my smugmug site yet, but I have a slideshow here.

 

[polkadotladybug]

Link isn't working - says I'm choosing to open an application file and gives me option of saving it?

 

[MICKEY88]

nice work,

one thought on your slide shows, is it possible to make them run a little slower, they seem to go just a little too fast to really take in the whole picture..

 

[Anewman]

nice work,

one thought on your slide shows, is it possible to make them run a little slower, they seem to go just a little too fast to really take in the whole picture..

You say that because Marks shots tend to be good, with some other slide shows it feels like it will never switch to the next image.


I am in the process of putting a garage studio together, so far I have purchased...

RPS Studio 480 watt, 3 Monolight Portable Strobe Kit(Payed $90 EBAY item 330162635689,retails @$400)
7 Muslin backgrounds(Amvona ones, all under $20 including 2 scenic ones)
Background Stand Support System(again amvona from ebay)
Various other items including additional lightstands(for hair and background) and wireless shutter release and stobe trigger.

Still looking for some nice props(chairs and stools...), portraits are not my favorite type of shooting but my wife insists that I shoot my daughters senior portraits.

 

[Suburbanmom]

Nice lighting...perfect for shots of children. You did good! And I'm taking a class in portrait photography right now, so I know what I'm talking about (yeah, right ). But really, I did enjoy the slide show.

 

[MICKEY88]

You say that because Marks shots tend to be good, with some other slide shows it feels like it will never switch to the next image.


I am in the process of putting a garage studio together, so far I have purchased...

RPS Studio 480 watt, 3 Monolight Portable Strobe Kit(Payed $90 EBAY item 330162635689,retails @$400)
7 Muslin backgrounds(Amvona ones, all under $20 including 2 scenic ones)
Background Stand Support System(again amvona from ebay)
Various other items including additional lightstands(for hair and background) and wireless shutter release and stobe trigger.

Still looking for some nice props(chairs and stools...), portraits are not my favorite type of shooting but my wife insists that I shoot my daughters senior portraits.

good point, but even if they were bad I'd want it to run slower since he wanted us to see how he did...


you bought all that for your daughter's senior portraits..???

around here that would be a waste of money, most seniors want outdoor location shots for their senior pics..


your wife is smart, I shot my stepson's senior pics and ordering from mpix, paid less than $100 for more pics than we would have gotten for 1000-1500 from the popular studio in our area

what size backgrounds, did you get a chromakey blue or green ???

I got one of each size 10'x20' from Amvona

 

[Anewman]

g

you bought all that for your daughter's senior portraits..???

If my wife asks you..., YES I DID PURCHASE ALL OF THAT JUST FOR HER And yes I have taken many outdoor/action shots, last thursday was her last Varsity volleyball game and took some there along with all of this years 12th graders.

Not a waste IMO...
She also has Winter formal coming up and there are at least 6 couples that will be stopping by the house b4 jumping into their limos, so I expect to get lots of shots for that. And then her prom will be in May, and then my son still has 2 years of high school and he tends to be very much in demand with the girls(which I cant understand since I see how gross he is at home). Plus we are considering adding another child to the family in the coming year, and after that I expect to have grandkids.


As for muslin size most are 10x16 cept for one 10x12 and I did get a BLUE Chroma key(10x20), I have been bidding on a Green but most of them have gone over my limit. I tend to be real cheap, and as you know with Amvona EBAY auctions most of the price is in the shipping. I have gotten most of the backgrounds at 99 cents(plus shipping), with the Blue Chorma key coming in at $1.29.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Link isn't working - says I'm choosing to open an application file and gives me option of saving it?

My apologies. I should have made it more clear in the original post. The slideshow is an executable file. It runs only on Windows platforms. I do that rather than video based slideshows because it provides better picture quality in a smaller file.

ne thought on your slide shows, is it possible to make them run a little slower, they seem to go just a little too fast to really take in the whole picture..

At first I thought you were being sarcastic. It's about half the speed of my usual vacation slideshows. Still, I understand that different subjects require different speeds. If you move your mouse and look in the bottom right hand corner, you should see a little toolbar. There are buttons on that for pausing, going back, forcing it to advance, and even quitting altogether.

Here are some of the shots from the slideshow:

 

[MICKEY88]

If my wife asks you..., YES I DID PURCHASE ALL OF THAT JUST FOR HER And yes I have taken many outdoor/action shots, last thursday was her last Varsity volleyball game and took some there along with all of this years 12th graders.

Not a waste IMO...
She also has Winter formal coming up and there are at least 6 couples that will be stopping by the house b4 jumping into their limos, so I expect to get lots of shots for that. And then her prom will be in May, and then my son still has 2 years of high school and he tends to be very much in demand with the girls(which I cant understand since I see how gross he is at home). Plus we are considering adding another child to the family in the coming year, and after that I expect to have grandkids.


As for muslin size most are 10x16 cept for one 10x12 and I did get a BLUE Chroma key(10x20), I have been bidding on a Green but most of them have gone over my limit. I tend to be real cheap, and as you know with Amvona EBAY auctions most of the price is in the shipping. I have gotten most of the backgrounds at 99 cents(plus shipping), with the Blue Chorma key coming in at $1.29.

I didn't mean it was a waste, just that for senior pics only, around here it would be because the seniors don't want studio shots,


strobes and backgrounds last a long time if taken care of, and will definitely yield a return..

 

[MICKEY88]

My apologies. I should have made it more clear in the original post. The slideshow is an executable file. It runs only on Windows platforms. I do that rather than video based slideshows because it provides better picture quality in a smaller file.


At first I thought you were being sarcastic. It's about half the speed of my usual vacation slideshows. Still, I understand that different subjects require different speeds. If you move your mouse and look in the bottom right hand corner, you should see a little toolbar. There are buttons on that for pausing, going back, forcing it to advance, and even quitting altogether.

QUOTE]

I found the controls right after I posted, great shots, one thing I would recommend if you do this again with advanced notice, recommend solid colors rather than bright prints,,,

the eyes should be drawn to the face, not the clothing, something that was beyond your control...

someone recently posted this link in another thread,,it's a good article... I saved the pdf for future reference...

http://photocamel.com/forum/tutorials/16516-rules-good-portraiture.html

 

[Anewman]

I didn't mean it was a waste, just that for senior pics only, around here it would be because the seniors don't want studio shots,


strobes and backgrounds last a long time if taken care of, and will definitely yield a return..

Oh I agree that if I was going to shoot her portraits and then never use the equipment again it might be considered a "waste", just pointing out that I hope to get mucho use out of everything.

 

[SharonLowe]

Nice shots of the girls - their eyes really are amazing! The wrinkles in the backdrop are a bit distracting - what f/stop were you using? Also, you could whiten the backdrop in PS with an easy curves/level adjustment on most of the shots. To get really nice white backgrounds with lighting, it is best to have 2 lights pointing directly at the background (not angled); one on each side of your set-up. Have to make them 1 to 2 stops brighter than your main light too because your meter wants to make the white gray. It is easier to get it right rather than try to fix post due to hair and other things that keep you from having nice clean lines.

I swear by my Alien Bee set-up; well made but not too expensive. Start with a kit and add on as you need. Also, a good light meter is really needed if you want to do it right.

 

[DVC Jen]

Great job Mark. I tried doing some studio work out in my garage this past summer but without air conditioning in there - WAAYYYY to hot. So we moved inside. Sacrificed some space for much cooler air.

So how do the parents feel about the portraits? I bet they love them.

 

[extreme8]

Those eyes really do pop!
Interesting time for this subject to come up because I'm just about to fly south to Tennessee study with this guy for a weekend.

www.keepsakephotography.us

The way he controls light - both natural and strobes - just amazes me. Take a look at his gallery & senior pages and see if you agree. Senior photos are a big part of his business.

I've been playing around with multiple flashes (Vivitar 285's) and light modifiers for a year or so.
I finally decided to get serious about it and buy a set of Alien Bees, soft boxes, grids, etc. I may even get one of their ring lights in place of one of the regular strobes.