Studio Photography used to be a expensive business. Because of this, this kind of photography was relatively unknown to many photographers. But now, a professional photo studio is very affordable! Our vast product range can be a bit overwhelming, so we wrote this mini studio guide to cover the basics and to explain some terminology.
Decide what format camera you'll be using. Bigger cameras require smaller apertures to get adequate depth of field and hence more light. Decide how big your subjects are going to be. Head-and-shoulders portraits require much less light than automobiles. To learn about hot lights, read one of the many good books written for cinematographers on the subject. With flashes, 500 watt-seconds is sufficient for digital or 35mm photography of people at full-length. The smaller strobe systems also work for 4x5 view camera photography of tabletop subjects. Most serious studio photographers start with about 2000 watts-seconds, which is adequate for 4x5 photography of large subjects, and will rent another pack if they have to light something huge.
If you have any windows in your studio, you might be able to use the sunlight coming in. The color temperature of sunlight varies from about 2000K at sunrise to 4300K in the early morning to 5800K at high noon in midsummer.
Not too many still photographers use hot lights, though, because they have the following disadvantages:
heat. Thousands of watts of heat that make the photographer sweat, the models sweat, and the props melt.
limited accessories. It is much easier to control a light source that isn't hot enough to light paper on fire. You can experiment with electronic flash without burning your house down. With hot lights, you must make sure that your diffusers, soft boxes, umbrellas, etc. can handle the heat.
Not too many still photographers use hot lights, though, because they have the following disadvantages:
heat. Thousands of watts of heat that make the photographer sweat, the models sweat, and the props melt.
limited accessories. It is much easier to control a light source that isn't hot enough to light paper on fire. You can experiment with electronic flash without burning your house down. With hot lights, you must make sure that your diffusers, soft boxes, umbrellas, etc. can handle the heat.