How to Make a Home Photography Studio

As a budding photographer, you love the look of studio portraits but the cost of equipment and lights is prohibitive. If there was a way you could create your own studio at home, you know you could produce great shots of the family and save the expense of a professional photographer. With a few readily accessible items from the local hardware store, you can soon have your home photography studio.

Things You'll Need

• Worklights
• Sheets
• Colored poster board
• Variety of fabric

Instructions

1. Choose a room with white, or light-colored, walls. Alternately, hang white sheets on dark walls to reflect light back onto your subject. However, if the walls are more than 8 feet away from your subject you must alter your tactics. Try running a clothesline on either side of the model and draping it with white sheets. Use different-colored sheets as backdrops or paint your own canvas scene.

2. Turn up the lights. Photography is all about light and you can purchase work lights on tall tripods from your local do-it-yourself store. Because direct lighting can make facial features appear harsh, aim your lights at the white sheets, allowing the illumination to bounce back on your subject in a softer form.

3. Place your lighting in a flattering pattern. Experiment with various angles, but for a traditional look place your camera directly in front of the model with your main light a few feet away on one side that reflects at a 45 degree angle off the sheet onto the subject. Add fill lights on the sides to soften features.

4. Use a backdrop light to remove shadows. On the floor behind your model's seat, place a work light so it points upwards towards the backdrop. This will erase any shadows the model casts. Be sure to use a soft bulb to keep from creating a light streak on the backdrop.

5. Add a hair light. Above your subject's head, affix a light to a cable, or on a high tripod that shines directly down on her hair. Hair lights, used extensively by professional photographers, create a flattering look. Use a bulb that illuminates the top of the hair without creating downward facial shadows.

6. Experiment with your lighting by bouncing if off various colored poster board sheets, and shining it through gauzy fabric. Move the lights and camera during a shoot to achieve different effects.

Tips & Warnings

• Shooting in a home photography studio is a system of trial and error. Find a few light placements you like and make a notation of how you achieved each effect. Keep a notebook for quick future reference.

• Lights become hot quickly. Don't place them too close to the sheets or other flammable items.