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You can start your own home studio

Has anyone thought of setting up a home-based studio?

Do you know how to go about it?

To start a home studio, you need to use a room that has white walls in your house.

The white walls act like reflectors when you need them to, although they are neutral the rest of the time. They don't create colour casts.

You also need a solid floor to avoid vibration. Garage floors are usually made from concrete and work well for this purpose.

The ceiling height is another thing to consider. You will need at least two feet of clearance above the tallest person or object that you will photograph.

For example, if you have a house with standard 10-foot ceilings, you should have enough room for portraits.

Most importantly, you will need enough space to keep all the lights, props, backgrounds and other studio photography paraphernalia that you will accumulate as your business grows.

The size of the space you will need also depends on the things that will be shot. For example, if you will only make catalogue shots of jewellery, a small closet will work.

But if you want to photograph larger objects or people, a typical garage space should do.

When it comes to lighting, several factors will determine how you will light your subject in the studio.

Ideally, the room you select will have a window that you can cover with a blind. This allows you to use controlled natural light.

You will need strobes or hot lights if the room you are using does not have natural light.

Strobes are flashes that sync with your camera's shutter and stop action.

Hot lights are lights that you can leave on all the time while you are shooting and are easier for beginners to master.

Irrespective of what light source you will use, you must make sure that you have reflectors, diffusers, barn doors, soft boxes and other light modifiers that will help you shape and control the light.

These can be purchased at local camera stores.

Working in a studio may require you to modify your camera or tripod system. Tripods on wheels are great for the studio, because they can easily be moved.

Whichever route you take, studio photography opens up new opportunities for the photographer in search of more creative possibilities.

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