Every budding photographer is always intrigued by the quality of photos taken in a studio and yearns to have such shots to his or her credit. The problem comes with the cost of owning or even hiring a studio. But little do they know that owning a photo studio is actually at their reach! Though outdoor photographs are great and many photographers will be comfortable bringing home landscape photos, taking that to another level will definitely pave a way for full maturity to professional photography. Studio photography can pose a challenge to professionals and amateurs alike especially when it comes to lighting and color balance. It will take hours of studio practice with many tries and experiments to achieve that coveted quality. The best way to start is by setting up a simple home photography studio.

Photography studios can be very expensive to set up but with a little improvisation, you can easily have your own home studio without filing for bankruptcy thereafter. Here is how.

Space 

The first basic requirement you need for a photo studio is space. Since this is a home studio, we are talking of your flat or your own house. If you have a room that is not used often or its use can be compromised, then that is the place you should think of setting up your studio. Your garage could be a great place also since it’s not often used and it’s normally spacious enough to fit studio requirements.

Studio space will however depend on the type of photography you wish to undertake. If you will be doing micro photography where you are dealing with small subjects, then the space needed will be small. But if you are dealing with people and need to take their full length, then you will need more space. You will need at least 5 feet from the subject to the camera and more space for placing your lights. The space required will increase as the size of your subjects increase.

Lighting

The greatest challenge in studio photography is lighting. Even before I give any hints let me point out that you will need to read books on lighting or at least do a bit of google searching for this topic if you really want to make proper use of your studio. Nevertheless, you can still start with basic light and advance with time. There are two types of lighting layouts you can adopt. There is floor based lighting and ceiling based lighting. Floor based means you will have to use light stands to hold your lights while in ceiling lighting, lights are attached to rollers and a rail system on the ceiling. For sure as a beginner and for a home studio, the ceiling lighting system is out of question since it’s not only costly but it would not make sense if you have to dismantle your studio later on.

Lights to use in your studio will depend on the size and the type of your subjects. For portraits and full length human forms, 500 watt-seconds lights will be good enough. If you are photographing smaller table top subjects, then small strobes will do. You can also buy continuous lighting kit and some umbrellas for bouncing light. Of course you should not forget to buy stands for your lights.

Backdrop

Though you may be seriously thinking of improvising here even before you read on, I will strongly suggest that you spend a little bit more and get yourself proper backdrops. Some photographers will think of buying some fabric and using it as a backdrop but the fact is the fabric will need stitching or if you have to get a fine image finally, the fabric may not provide a smooth finish when you crop in photo editing software.

Final click

There are other things you will need, like well painted walls, tripods etc. It may happen that you won’t be able to get all what you need at one go but you can obviously upgrade with time.

	Quick read: Photography studios can be very expensive to set up but with a little improvisation, you can easily have your own home studio in a budget If you have a room that is not used often or its use can be compromised, then that is the place you should think of setting up your studio Lights to use in your studio will depend on the size and the type of your subjects. For portraits and full length human forms, 500 watt-seconds lights will be good enough It is highly advisable that you buy good quality backdrop since that will improve the quality of your photos

Photos by Exclaim Media Studios