A word about ANY online forum/community – BUYER BEWARE.  There are many fine, upstanding citizens out there using these forums, with no harm, no foul.  However, flip that rock over and out will crawl lesser mortals and lower creatures….and you can get slimed.  Use your common sense and listen to the little bells and whistles sounding off in your own wee noggin.

Anywho, the lovely young lady in the image above approached me to update her portfolio.  I agreed and we were off to the races.  After many and sundry emails exchanged back and forth, we both finally settled on a ‘look’.  Dark and sophisticated with touches of Gotham City thrown in for fun.

I decided to use a basic two light, low key setup.  See diagram below:

The Gobo (a large sheet of black foam board held in place alternately by a background stand with arm and the subject’s friend) was placed between the key light and the background (in this case seamless black paper) to keep the light off the background, allowing it to go completely dark.  By using two lights, the subject is completely lit and does not disappear into the background.  In this type of lighting setup, try to move the subject as far away from the background as possible.

There is an alternate way to light this, still using two lights, but placing one behind the subject and aimed at them.  See Below:

Here are some other shots from the session. Click on each image to see it larger:

Fetish photography with low key lighting tutorial.

And finally, I just fell in love with this image and couldn’t resist post processing it like a slightly twisted ‘beauty shot’:

To see any of the images larger, just click on them.

For more lighting tutorials, see these articles:

High Key Portrait Lighting Tutorial

Low Key Portrait Lighting Tutorial

Photographing Young Children With Low Key Lighting – Tutorial

Studio Lighting for Headshots Tutorial

© Deborah Wolfe for Studio on a Shoestring, 2009. All rights reserved.| Permalink | 6 comments

People are always asking me what are some of the ways, in the portrait market, I close a sale and bring in revenue. Before I even begin to speak about one of my favorite, tried and true methods, let me say I hope NO ONE is still using paper proofs.  Not only are they so last decade, they are also detrimental to your bottom line.  They’re there, already printed and so tempting for people to want to take home and ‘think about’ (translation: scan).  Also, they can encourage clients to devalue your work, because well….there they are, in those convenient little sizes that just seem so…….cheap.  And you’re not going to do anything with these anyway, so why can’t I take them home with me????

And now a word about online proofing.  If you are not already limiting the time these galleries remain up, you are losing revenue.  When a customer first lays eyes on their proofs, they are totally excited.  They want to run right out and share those images with everyone they know and love, from their sister to the guy behind the counter at the post office.  Each time they look at these images, they get their ‘use’ out of them.  If they’ve had the ‘privilege’ of looking at them for months on end, with no price of admission, they’ve gotten their FULL use out of them.  All of their friends and family have seen them and the excitement is g-o-n-e.  By the time they come in to order, all those images they couldn’t live without, have been narrowed down to two 5 x 7s.  I kid you not.  I have seen this happen time and again.  It doesn’t matter whether I put up a gallery for 30 days or 90 days – the orders ALWAYS come in days before the deadline, if not on the very last day.  The longer the gallery is up, the smaller the orders.

Back to the topic at hand – how to increase your bottom line.  Under promise and over deliver.  One of the ways I have done that is to create a collage for my customers BEFORE they come in to view their proofs and place their order.  I realize after many years of being in business, that most of my customers want most, if not all, of the images.  So I sit down with all of the images from a given shoot and come up with a collage and print it off on my printer, just for a quick and dirty example to have in my hand to show them.  I have not had one single customer walk away without this collage.  Sometimes a few changes are made, substituting  one or two images they like better, but each customer orders one of these collages.

There are as many different types of customers as there are personality types.  I won’t go into all that, but I will say that MOST customers often feel overwhelmed, when presented with a large array of stunning images of themselves and/or their families.  I have come to understand that we do them a disservice when we just throw all of the images at them and expect them to know what to do.  They are usually not photographers, visual artists or designers and simply don’t have the experience or confidence to envision the possibilities for their photographs.  When we create some parameters for them, they are usually grateful and happy to fill in the blanks.  What we are offering them is a valuable service, as well as taking care of them.  People will return to even a mediocre photographer if they feel taken care of.  Trust me, if we all had to have talent to make it, none of us would know who Posh Spice is.

When designing collages, it is helpful to have a ‘standard’ format.  For example, I decided I would offer a standard size of 16 x 20 inches mounted on heavy matboard with a total of nine images.  This is the largest ‘standard’ sized frame you can easily purchase ready made and the matboard prevents sagging and wrinkling.  When I first began, I cropped the images square and arranged them into three rows of three.  That was fantastic for one or two subjects, but quite tricky for groups.  So I started playing around with other shapes and sizes.  I strive for a certain symmetry, just to make things easy and not drive myself too INSANE with choices.  I am a Gemini and do have a hard time choosing, so I find it helpful to set some ground rules for myself.  See?  And we expect our customers to design something?  It is really surprising how many different looks you can achieve within fairly narrow parameters.

Pricing can be made very attractive, keeping in mind you do have a certain amount of work involved in producing a collage.  Occasionally I will feature one image, usually the center piece, as large as a 5 x 7, and the rest are usually either 4 x 5, 3.5 x 5 or 4.5 x 4.5 inches. Add up what you would typically charge for nine different 5 x 7s (the smallest size I would advise selling) and then discount it slightly.  Talking points for your customers:

• They receive nine distinctive images
• They have a great visual ‘story’ that will make them smile for years to come
• It does not have to be ‘custom’ framed or matted – can be dropped into ready made frame
• Because it has already been produced, they can receive multiples at a reduced price as gifts for grandparents (and that means NO substitutions – otherwise you’re reworking it)

For those of you who no longer offer prints, this is still a good idea.  Simply go ahead and create it and either upload it to their proof gallery or project it in your presentation room.  Charge a design fee for this to be included on their CD/DVD.

© Deborah Wolfe for Studio on a Shoestring, 2009. All rights reserved.| Permalink | 3 comments

The image below is a masterpiece.  A work of art.  A thing of  beauty.  Right?  Nah.  Not even.

However, this little jewel has downloaded a stunning 282 times in the first half of February.   It has earned $93 for me during that time.  And what was I doing, while that money was pouring in?  A little web surfing, some grocery shopping, a tad of house cleaning, a few marketing calls, a couple of marketing emails, some nice long walks around the neighborhood.  In other words, for THAT money, I wasn’t doing a thing even remotely associated with that image.  Since I originally uploaded it, more than three years ago, it has downloaded more than 500 times, earning around $200.  I’m not exactly sure why there has been such a run on this particular image over the past 12 days, but I’m happy to take the money : )

Is $93 or even $200 a lot of money?  Right now, this red-hot minute in America…..no.  Can I retire on it?  Not right now.  But that’s not the only image I have on microstock sites, nor is it the only angle I’m working.

So what exactly is microstock or a microstock agency?  Microstock photography is an offshoot of traditional stock photography.  The term ‘microstock’ was derived from the term ‘micropayment stock photography’.  Despite the fact I LOVE to talk and share information, Lee Torrens over at MicrostockDiaries explains it in far better depth and detail than I can.

I upload my images to three different microstock agencies: Shutterstock, iStock and BigStockPhoto.  In terms of upload approval and acceptance rates, BigStockPhoto is the easiest.  However, I have found I make the least money with them.  iStock has the toughest standards and accepts the fewest images uploaded.  Shutterstock falls in between these two for upload approval and acceptance, but they are far and away the agency I earn the most consistent money with.  In fact, iStock rejected the image above three times, due to issues with lighting. They were correct.  I shot that image right after I got my first digital camera and had not yet perfected my lighting techniques.  However, that has not stopped 500 people or businesses from downloading that image, now has it?

Microstock giveth….and taketh away.  The fact is, microstock agencies have opened up broader avenues allowing even more photographers to enter a once rarefied field.  Now, there really are places where you can upload your best stuff and make some money.  The downside?  There are two, in my opinion.  The first is, the marketplace is increasingly glutted with imagery, with everyone from the milkman to your mother entering the field of photography.  It has cheapened the product and watered down the revenue by paying more people less money.  However, even given that caveat, there really are people out there earning a GREAT living at microstock, like Lise Gagne, who can earn several hundred thousand dollars a year with iStock.  But recognize that Lise and others like her, is WORKING IT with fierce focus and dedication.  The other down side is the labor intensive upfront time and effort it takes to upload and keyword images, many of which WILL be rejected, no matter how good you are.  Perhaps the best way to view either of these microstock photography ‘negatives’ is with a positive attitude:

• If you don’t put too much ‘stock’ (couldn’t resist the pun) in any ONE income stream, then you can enjoy the varying amounts of prosperity that flow to you through many different avenues.  A little money here, a little money there and before you know it, Jack is a very happy boy.  Jack?  Who’s Jack?  There are some who say I don’t know jack…..but that’s a story for another day!
• Sure it’s a lot of upfront work.  But after you’re finished with the uploading and keywording, then you just forget about it.  I uploaded the image above almost four years ago and haven’t had to do a thing to or with it since.
  

So, why all this talk about microstock photography?  Because the best insurance against unexpected bumps in the economic road is multiple streams of income. Get as many legs up under your table as possible.

What can you do that others haven’t already done?  What can you do differently or BETTER than others?  What businesses can you partner with?  What package or bundle of services can you offer at a slightly discounted rate?  What incentive can you offer for referrals?  What related industries can you tap for growth and expansion?  What goals have you set, but are not taking active steps toward attaining?  What under utilized skill set do you need to pull down off the shelf and dust off?  What great idea did you have last year, that you KNOW is brilliant, but you’ve been too scared to implement?

If it’s true what they say, that time equals money, then the time is NOW.  Step up, step out and step toward your goals.

© Deborah Wolfe for Studio on a Shoestring, 2009. All rights reserved.| Permalink | One comment

There are at least as many ways to shoot a headshot as there are ways to skin a cat.  We won’t go into WHY someone would want to skin a cat, but I can tell you why people would want to shoot headshots.  This is a great basic skill to have in your repertoire.  Think of it as The Little Black Dress of photography.

It’s amazing at all the different types of people and professions who need headshots; realtors, editors, authors, entertainers, models, CEOs, dancers, moguls, rock stars, travel agents, ministers, entrepreneurs, business owners, internet marketers and even the occasional porn star, just to name a few. Being able to shoot reliable, polished headshots can bring in infusions of cash, and hey, who doesn’t like a little infusion, from time to time?

For this tutorial, I will focus on the ‘classic’ headshot.

Beautiful headshots can be produced with three lights and a reflector.

You will need a key light, a background light and a hair light.  The most important light, in my opinion, is the hair light.  Hair, especially dark hair, soaks up an incredible amount of light and doesn’t bounce back much.  This can leave the photograph looking dull and ‘dead’.  The effects of a hair light can be subtle, but it can really bring life to an image, just like catch lights do in the eyes.  Look at the difference it makes in these two images.

Just as the lack of a hair light leaves an image looking unfinished, a badly placed hair light can ruin an image.  It is very important to make sure the light is placed well to the back of your subject’s forehead.  Make sure the light is hitting from the midpoint of the head and falling off to the back.  If you position the hair light too far forward, you risk racoon eyes and a glowing nose.  Not pretty.  You will have to play around with light settings and height, which will be different for brunettes and blonds.  I usually find a height of about 3 feet above my subject is best and a setting of f/4.5 or f/5.6.  If you’re not careful with blondes, you’ll blow out the top of their heads.

Place your background light as close to the background as possible, with the light aimed almost, but not quite, straight up.  You’ll want to make sure it is somewhat lower than your subject.  I usually put mine about 3 feet off the ground.  I do not use a light modifier, instead I use a standard pan reflector to direct the light.  I usually set my background light a stop under my key light and this gives a very nice gradient behind the subject.  Background lights help separate the subject from the background and give dimensionality to the image.

A word about backgrounds. For headshots I want depth and dimensionality, so I prefer either black seamless paper or dark gray seamless paper. The shorter rolls are just fine for this type of shooting.

Place you key light, preferably in a VERY large umbrella, almost directly in front of and well above your subject.  You will bounce the light into the umbrella, NOT shoot through it.

Place a large white or silver reflector at a 45 degree angle directly under the subjects face, low enough not to be in the photo.  This will bounce fill light under the subject’s chin and cure a myriad of ills, such as double chins and soft jawlines.  It also adds an extra little ‘kick’ of liveliness to the image.

Place yourself slightly higher than the subject aiming down.  Shoot with longer focal length lenses, in the 85-150mm range.  I prefer to shoot against either a dark gray or black background.  And there you have it – the basic headshot.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

High Key Studio Lighting – Tutorial

Low Key Studio Lighting – Tutorial

Photographing Young Children With Low Key Lighting

Using Bold Color in Portraiture – Tips and Techniques

How to Set Up a Photo Booth in Your Home

How to Photograph Large Groups in the Studio

Make a Beauty Dish for Studio Lighting

© Deborah Wolfe for Studio on a Shoestring, 2009. All rights reserved.| Permalink | 12 comments

Occasionally in my web surfing I come across things that strike me as quite clever.  One such example is a homemade beauty dish I stumbled upon on lifehacker.com.  Well, actually the lifehacker page was really the entry to a rabbit hole I eventually went down, that lead to  David Tejada’s blog for commercial photographers, where he references Tyler Burk‘s instructions for this clever little item on Flickr.  Such is life in cyberspace.

Okay, so why do you want to know how to make a homemade beauty dish anyway?  Because they can turn your camera’s dedicated flash unit into a stunningly fantastic piece of advanced lighting equipment. And because you can make this version for approximately $15-$20, vs $175-$365 for one like this Dynalite Model.

If you’re still not convinced, check out the two images in this post by Evan Romine, both lit with a beauty dish.  Good stuff, no?

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

High Key Studio Lighting – Tutorial

Photographing Young Children With Low Key Lighting – Tutorial

Studio Lighting for Headshots – Tutorial

How to Set Up a Photo Booth in Your Home

How to Photograph Large Groups in the Studio

Photographing Babies, Birth to One Year – Tips and Techniques

Using Bold Color in Portraiture – Tips and Techniques

© Deborah Wolfe for Studio on a Shoestring, 2009. All rights reserved.| Permalink | 4 comments

I know I’ve said this a few thousand times, but it really IS true I’ve had a camera in my hand since I was nine years old.  I celebrated my 50th birthday last May (yeah I know, hard to believe huh?) So, I’ve had a few years to rack up some doozies.

Here are some of my favorites.

1. EMBARRASSMENT COMES EARLY

My very first moment of embarrassment came right along with my first camera, which was a gift from my parents on my 9th birthday. It was a Brownie box camera, which you had to open up completely to load with roll film. We’re talking way old school here. In my excitement, I ran next door to share with our neighbors, a married couple with no children of their own at the moment. The husband, who had befriended me, marveled over it, ooh’ing and aah’ing. With a wicked gleam in his eye, he said, “betcha there’s no film in that camera.”  And I’m all “uh huh, there is too film in my camera” and he’s all “nah, couldn’t be” and I’m all “well just look then!”   Quick as a wink, before you could say ‘bad idea’, I ripped open the camera, exposing the film. Of course, I didn’t understand that at the time. I just knew he GASPED, looked SHOCKED, then burst out laughing. I did what any reasonable 9 year old would do and ran home crying. I was mortally embarrassed and vowed to never leave the house again. I still see him almost every time I go home for a visit, and he has NEVER let me live that one down.

2. OOPS, MY BAD

Early on in my photography career, I had a brand new portrait customer in with her two children for a shoot. So, I’m all wedged between my tripod and the back wall (where I was ALWAYS wishing I could back up 3 giant steps), just shooting away. Oh yeah. It was good. It was happening. Great stuff going on and I’m getting it all down on film. I was just shooting away. Shooting……and shooting……..and still shooting…..and gosh this is a really long roll of film and ….WHY AM I STILL SHOOTING?????? Why haven’t I had to change the roll of film????? WHY? BECAUSE THERE WAS NO FILM IN THE CAMERA!!! Oh yes. I had been shooting for almost 20 minutes with absolutely no film in the camera. When I realized this, I audibly gasped. Mom looked up.

Her: “What’s wrong?”
Me: “I don’t want to tell you.”

My mind was racing. Here she was, thinking we were winding down and the session was almost finished. Good thing too, as her son was nearing his personal meltdown point. Yet, not one single picture had been taken. I had no idea how she would react. I took a deep breath.

Me: “I know I’m supposed to be the professional here, but there’s no film in the camera. We have to keep shooting.”

She looked at me for a nanosecond…..then threw her head back and GUFFAWED. Literally laughed until tears were streaming down her face.

Conclusion? I loaded the camera, we kept shooting and I actually got even BETTER images, because her children had relaxed by that point and it got REAL. She became a repeat customer for many years after that, adding baby number 3 and occasionally hubby into the mix.

3.  OPEN BOX, INSERT FOOT

And then there was the time I fogged an entire box of unexposed photographic paper. Yep, all 100 sheets. How, and why was it embarrassing? Because it was at my local rental darkroom in the middle of the mad dash to the Christmas deadline aka The Christmas Crazies, when I, like many of my fellow photographers, was chained to my enlarger. I had some sort of brain fart either coming or going to the feeding room with a light tight paper safe.

The facility manager was trying to figure out when everyone would be finished feeding prints, so he would know when he could start shutting equipment down for the night. I had already been there for 8 hours and was exhausted. Without thinking, I said  “well let me see how many prints I have left to feed.” And I opened my paper safe. In the light. The manager, a personal friend btw, merely cocked at eyebrow at me, while I stood there twitching like Daffy Duck in a bad cartoon skit. Trust me, he had seen it ALL. I, however, was mortified. So were my darkroom buddies. No one said a word. Not one.

4.  CAN I GET A WARM TOWEL WITH THAT, PLEASE?

My ‘dream’ studio was housed on the ground floor of my home. I went to the gym every morning and usually scheduled my first shoot of the day at 10:00 am. This gave me time to rush home, shower, dress and head downstairs. The studio itself was always in a state of readiness for the day’s shoots.

Piece of cake if everything went according to plan. Until the morning a family of five showed up 20 minutes early and I was still in the shower. I kid you not. The doorbell actually had the audacity to ring and I had a decision to make. What to do???

Well, I greeted them at the door, in my robe with a towel wrapped around my head. Dad looked a bit uncomfortable. I invited them in, tried to act far more glib about it than I felt, gave them some reading material and went back upstairs. I returned 15 minutes later, slightly more presentable. They did not become repeat customers. Was it something I said?

5.  ANATOMY 101

One of my favorite ‘poses’ for infants who can sit alone, but not yet crawl, is the ‘Shoot the Moon’ pose. Basically, you place a naked baby on your backdrop, facing away from the camera. Then you have mom call their name and they usually look back over their shoulders at her, often with a little index finger raised. It’s so cute. You get gorgeous eyes, curious looks and sweet little baby ‘cheeks’.

Worked like a charm, until I had a customer with a little boy who had clearly never sat around much naked. He ‘discovered’ his, um ‘little friend’. Oh my goodness. He tugged on it, pulled on it, bent double staring at it and would not leave it alone. Would not. He was EARNEST. And mom was sooooooo embarrassed. We kept trying to distract him with other props and toys, but nothing was nearly so interesting as stubby. Mom was crimson. She kept saying “Oh my goodness. Oh my. Oh dear. Oh he’s just never done that before.”  And I kept trying to reassure her it was ‘normal’ and nothing to be embarrassed by, while secretly feeling like an inappropriate voyeur. But the little guy just wouldn’t let up and ultimately, even I had to concede defeat. We dressed him. He was not happy. They didn’t become repeat customers either.

6.  FEEL THE LOVE

When you work with families as much as I have, you begin to develop a sixth sense about a lot of things. You can feel when something interesting is about to happen and you develop your instincts and hone your reflexes on the shutter.

You also learn to read family dynamics and anticipate trouble. Usually.

I was photographing a set of three siblings, two boys (ages 3 and 4) and a girl, aged 6. The boys were wild. Screaming, jumping and creating utter chaos. The girl was a bit rough and tumble, but basically a good kid, sitting on her mark waiting for her two young brothers to be wrestled into submission by Dad. We were twenty minutes into an unbelievably difficult shoot and Dad was starting to lose it. His patience was frayed like an old rope.

I can usually tell when things are about to ‘pop’ in a family and will do or say something to distract and diffuse. Not this time. The little girl starting trying to ‘help’ Dad, who blew a gasket so fast it was unbelieveable. He whipped his head around, yelled “YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER!!!!!” And started spanking her on the legs.

I was embarrassed for EVERYONE. First of all, it was o.v.e.r.  I sat there with all these emotions rolling around inside me, wanting to say  ”Hey Dad, do you really think I’m gonna get good pics of your kids now????” His daughter was crying and so very embarrassed to be spanked in front of me. Her little face was red and swollen and snot was flying. For good measure, the boys started wailing because…well, just because. Mom looked like she wanted to melt into the floor. Dad had that ‘deer caught in the headlights of a car’ look in his eyes. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

I just sat down and sighed audibly. I said I thought it might be best if we concluded the session. I didn’t charge them a sitting fee and I never saw them again. I still cringe every time I think of them.

7.  WHEN IN DOUBT, DROP KICK IT

After several successful years in business, I was finally able to afford to step up to a medium format camera. I purchased two Bronica bodies, and all the accessories and gear to complete them.

I had several NFL players and their families on my list of customers. I was in the middle of a session with one such family, with the action moving fast and furious. I was photographing mom, dad and their two very young, active children. My studio was completely set up to deal with this type of situation, with the lights suspended on an overhead track system, I used a radio release so I wasn’t tethered to sync cords and my tripod was mounted on a dolly with wheels, so I could zoom up and down. I went to flip my camera from horizontal to vertical as fast as possible so as not to miss any of the action. I must have forgotten to lock my camera to the tripod head. My beautiful Bronica went crashing to the CONCRETE floor, where it broke into all its separate pieces-parts. I was looking at a couple thousand dollars worth of equipment scattered all over the floor. Defensive lineman Dad’s eyes bugged out and his mouth dropped open. My heart sank, right before it stopped completely. But of course, I couldn’t let this show, because uncomfortable customers don’t make good photographs. So I came back to life and simply said “Don’t worry, I have another one,” and my assistant grabbed the extra body from the workroom and we continued shooting, like nothing had happened.

After they left, I cried. I took it to a camera repair shop to see what the extent of the damage was. Surprisingly, other than a few dings, the camera was still functional. I used it without incident for several more years. The lens survived too. Without a scratch. The film back, on the other hand, never did close right again and would sometimes fly off the camera unexpectedly.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

High Key Studio Lighting – Tutorial

Photographing Young Children With Low Key Lighting – Tutorial

Studio Lighting for Headshots – Tutorial

How to Set Up a Photo Booth in Your Home

How to Photograph Large Groups in the Studio

Photographing Babies, Birth to One Year – Tips and Techniques

Using Bold Color in Portraiture – Tips and Techniques

© Deborah Wolfe for Studio on a Shoestring, 2008. All rights reserved.| Permalink | 4 comments

There are several ways you can create a rich, saturated backdrop. Many of them involve multiple light heads, specialty brackets and hardware, and colored gels. I will focus on the easiest and most economical way to do it, which is with a basic, one light set up. You don’t need to light your background and can just let the light fall off. This will render your backgrounds richly saturated. You can view the basic lighting set up in my Photographing Young Children with Low-Key Lighting tutorial and view suggestions and links in How To Set Up A Photo Booth In Your Home.

The entire session above was shot against intense tulip background paper. As you can see, we rocked that color for all it was worth, going both romantic and modern.  Never let it be said that pink cannot function as a ‘neutral’.  If you are interested in the paper I used, it is Savage Tulip in 107 inch, but you can also order it in the 53 inch width.

Several years ago we bought and renovated a 1964 ranch style home on the ‘wrong’ side of the tracks.  Literally.   But that’s another story.   My studio was in the living and dining rooms. One of the concessions to working in smallish places is making everything do double duty. I kept the living room portion as my main camera room and therefore, the walls and ceiling were painted a clean, true white, to make sure any light bouncing around remained ‘neutral’. The dining room was my ‘presentation’ room for presenting multimedia shows for our clients. I had the walls in the dining room portion painted a rich and textured shade of red, but because I knew I also wanted to shoot in there, they were painted with a matte finish, so as to avoid glare and hot spots.

I had the perfect opportunity to shoot in there when I did the music CD cover shots for Amy Lee, saxophonist extraordinaire.  She played with Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefer Band for many years and was just going solo.  She wanted a lush, sexy new look and by golly, we gave it to her.  We did several looks that day, some in the more typical white high-key, but her faves and ours were the ones shot in that red room.  Ask me nice sometime and I might tell you how I lit it.

Here is the actual CD insert:

If you ask almost anyone what they think the most difficult or challenging color to work with is, most of them would probably say orange.

Not me.  I LOVE ORANGE.  This fabulous family was so energetic and lively it was the perfect background for them.  Of course, we discussed and agreed upon this vivid shade in a pre-shoot phone consult, wherein I offered suggestions for clothing.  Once they arrived at the studio, we were off and running.  Of course, it never hurts to be prepared to change colors and course, if need be.

So, don’t be afraid of color.  Granted, it’s not for everyone, but if you have clients and friends who are up for the fun, grab it and run!

Look for future articles on how to make sushi with nothing more than a soft box and synch cords.  Just checking to see if you were really paying attention.  Because everyone knows you need a radio release to make sushi.  Geez.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

High-Key Portrait Lighting Tutorial

Low Key Portrait Lighting Tutorial

Photographing Young Children With Low Key Lighting – Tutorial

Studio Lighting for Headshots – Tutorial

How to Set Up a Photo Booth in Your Home

How to Photograph Large Groups in the Studio

© Deborah Wolfe for Studio on a Shoestring, 2008. All rights reserved.| Permalink | 4 comments

This tutorial is for those of you who would like to go a step further in polishing your photography skills.

In this tutorial, I will give you a list of all the items you will need to set up a small, functional photo booth in your home.  What is a photo booth?

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Behold the photo booth:

As you can see, it is nothing more than a background stand and seamless paper.  That, and a few more pieces of equipment, which I will outline below.  I have also provided links so you can see the items I am discussing.  You will be able to set this up in any extra room in your home, then take it down and store it when you’re finished.  This equipment is also highly portable, so you can set it up on location as well.  There is, of course, an upfront cost to getting the equipment, but everything other than the paper is a one time cost.

List of essential components:

1 Camera
1 Light
1 Slave (optional)
1 Stand for light
1 Reflector (optional)
1 background stand
1 roll 5 ft background paper
1 soft box or shoot through umbrella

The Camera—You don’t need an ultra advanced camera.  In fact, you could even do this with a really good point and shoot with a zoom/telephoto lens and a built in flash.

The Light—This could be the dedicated flash for your camera, a non-dedicated flash unit or a strobe.

• If you use your camera’s dedicated flash unit, read your user guide for instructions on how to fire it off camera.

• If you use a non-dedicated flash, such as the Vivitar 285, you will need an external slave.

• If you use a strobe, you can either trigger it with your on-camera flash or the sync cord that should come with the unit.  If you have a prosumer DSLR without a sync port, you will need a hot shoe adapter.

I have been using Paul C. Buff’s White Lighting line in my studio for literally decades.  I can’t say enough good things about this product line.  FYI–I do not get a single cent from them.  I just happen to be a very happy Paul C. Buff customer and know firsthand how well-made their products are and how top-notch their customer service is.  I recently had an opportunity to use their Alien Bees B800 units during a private consulting session, and was just FLOORED by the power output from these EXTREMELY economical units.  These fantastic units cost no more than a Nikon or Canon dedicated flash unit.  One of my major purposes, aside from teaching and mentoring, is to provide real value to my readers.  Paul C. Buff is REAL value.

The Stand—Although you don’t have to have an extremely sturdy stand, I advise buying the best you can possibly afford.  Like a Chinese chef once told me years ago, you can cook small in a big wok, but you can’t cook big in a small wok.  In other words, a sturdy stand can hold a small light head, but a lightweight stand cannot hold a big light head.  I personally prefer Bogen, but Photoflex is a very good and economical choice as well.

The Reflector—The reflector is optional.  They are relatively inexpensive, especially compared to the price of most flash units and strobes, yet they can act very effectively as another ‘light’.  Of course, having a stand and arm to support them is very helpful, but once again, this is all optional.

The Background Stand—Same advice as for the light stand.  Get the best background stand you can afford.  It’s a one time purchase and you can take it with you.  Plan on needing it for the bigger rolls of paper, but you can use it for the smaller rolls in the interim.

The Background Paper—This comes in several different widths.  For the purposes of this tutorial I am referring to either the 5 ft or the 9 ft width.  The 5 ft is useful for table top, babies and non-hyper children.  You can get a gazillion different colors, so if you’re fickle, background paper is the place to ‘pig out’.  You just trim it and roll a little more down as needed. It can last quite a long time, and depending on the angle at which you’re shooting, dirt and grime won’t necessarily show.  Much.

The Soft Box or Umbrella—Once again, there are many different manufacturers of these products.  I’ve owned many of each. Photoflex is the economical choice and they make very nice light modifiers.  I also own two medium sized Chimera soft boxes.  They are PRICEY, but oh so nice, because they are shallow and take up that much less space.  But the truth is, I’ve used Photoflex for years with great results.

As I’ve already mentioned, my personal preference is a soft box for this application.  They give more directional lighting with more contrast, which makes for a sharper, crisper image.  However, if you don’t like soft boxes or already own an umbrella that can be converted to a shoot-through, then by all means, use it.  You’ll just have to keep a closer eye for lens flare and light spread.  I would also stick with a small to medium sized umbrella.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If your light source is a dedicated or non-dedicated camera flash unit, you will want to make sure you purchase a soft box designed to fit this type of light.

And there you have it.  Your very own photo booth.  Now get shootin’ people!

For more information on positioning you lights or reflectors, see my high key and low key tutorials. Here is another post full of tips and techniques about what to do with those babies once you’ve got them on that background paper.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

High Key Studio Lighting – Tutorial

Low Key Studio Lighting – Tutorial

Photographing Young Children With Low Key Lighting

Using Bold Color in Portraiture – Tips and Techniques

How to Photograph Large Groups in the Studio

Make a Beauty Dish for Studio Lighting

© Deborah Wolfe for Studio on a Shoestring, 2008. All rights reserved.| Permalink | 2 comments

There is no doubt that photographing young children can be a challenge, and never more so than when using a low-key lighting setup.  So why bother?  Because the drama and richness inherent in this type of lighting is SO worth it and because it’s unexpected for high energy children’s photography. For the purposes of this post, young and active will be defined as children between the ages of one and four (toddlers).

The good news about this type of lighting is the comfort and ease with which it can be set up.  You only need one light and a dark background.  Most of the time I use black seamless paper or dark gray seamless paper. To provide the widest possible latitude for movement on the child’s part, the light should be positioned as close to the center as possible.  See diagram:

I prefer a soft box for this particular situation, as it provides a more directional, slightly ‘harder’ light than that bounced out of an umbrella.  This does not mean you cannot use an umbrella.  As a matter of fact, you could use a white, translucent shoot-through umbrella to great effect.

Okay, let’s say you’ve got your victim…er subject lined up.  So now what?  Well, just tell that two-year to go on out there to the ‘middle’ of the background and do something interesting while you photograph them.  Sure thing Mz Photog, but…what’s a background and where’s the middle and what am I supposed to do out there all by my lonesome?  I am about to introduce you to the very best friend you will ever have.  Meet Mister Smiley Face:

Draw him on the ‘sweet spot’, your pre-determined perfect lighting zone.  Might as well go ahead and draw him in with a sharpie marker, so toddlers can find it easily, and make him at least one inch in diameter.

This next step is very important.  Make sure the child knows about Mister Smiley.  Get down on their level and show them ‘their’ smiley face.  Make a big deal out of it.  If you have a fresh roll of paper, you might even wait until they are in the camera room and draw it in front of them.  In any event, make a big production of Mister Smiley Face, emphasizing it is just for them.  You now have a way to direct the toddler.

This may seem overly simple, but trust me.  I have been photographing toddlers for almost 20 years.  They don’t know from backgrounds and lighting zones, nor do they care to learn.  They have other things to do.  Like moving around.  A lot.  All over the place.  You will save yourself and the child an enormous amount of unnecessary stress if you have a non-combative, non-confrontational way to direct them.  It allows you to remain in position to shoot and allows them a certain amount of freedom and distance from you. If you’re very clever, you can get some killer shots of them looking for ‘their’ smiley face.

Mister Smiley Face works well for slightly older children, in the four, five and six year old range, as they love having a ‘mark’ to hit.  It’s a wonderful, stress free device that can easily be erased via Photoshop. Another great device for keeping busy toddlers in place is anything they can climb into, such as THE BOX.

I found this box at Pier One and knew immediately it was a great prop.  It’s heavy, well made and has a lid that will stay open and won’t fall and chop off little fingers.  The great thing about the box is, if they won’t get inside it, they’ll get on top of it.  Either way, they’re in your lighting sweet spot and all’s right in the world.

If you don’t have a box, try a simple stool, like this one I purchased at IKEA for under $20.  The plain, simple lines and blond wood make it an unobtrusive prop.  Don’t assume the possibilities are limited with this type of prop either.  I’ve had kids turn it over and sit in between the ‘legs’ or even try to crawl through it, which affords a great opportunity to photograph them peaking out.  Just make sure you and your light source are closer to the ground when photographing this way.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

High Key Studio Lighting – Tutorial

Low Key Lighting – Tutorial

Studio Lighting for Headshots – Tutorial

Photographing Babies, Birth to One Year – Tips and Techniques

How to Set Up a Photo Booth in Your Home

How to Photograph Large Groups in the Studio

Using Bold Color in Portraiture – Tips and Techniques

© Deborah Wolfe for Studio on a Shoestring, 2008. All rights reserved.| Permalink | 10 comments

In my last post I discussed a classic four light, high key on white, lighting setup.

“But Deborah,” you say, “I don’t have four lights.  Or three.  Or really, even two.  I just have the one.”  No problem.  You’re perfectly outfitted to do a beautiful, classic low-key lighting setup.  Your camera’s dedicated flash unit could even be set up off-camera to achieve this result.

What is low key lighting? According to Wikipedia, it attempts to create a chiaroscuro effect. In traditional photographic lighting, three-point lighting uses a key light, a fill light, and a back light for even illumination. Low-key lighting requires only one key light, optionally controlled with a fill light or a simple reflector. This type of setup is usually shot against a dark background.

The image above of my oldest daughter was taken using a single light inside a very large soft box that was positioned directly to one side and approximately 2 feet away from her.

See diagram:

Generally speaking, this is a less ‘forgiving’ lighting setup than other options in two different ways.

• The lighting zone is much more narrow than high key lighting, meaning the subject has to be more carefully placed in relation to the light.  This would NOT be the lighting setup of choice for a busy two-year old (unless you have a trick or two up your sleeve, like my super secret weapon MR. SMILEY FACE).

• Severe side lighting will highlight any natural flaws in the skin.

Therefore, this is lighting best reserved for the very young, those with flawless skin or ruggedly good looking men where you want to emphasize their facial ‘character’.

However, that last drawback can be overcome if:

• you simply back farther away from your subject, shooting full body, rather than tight facial close-ups and you
• angle the light more towards the front of the subject and use a reflector directly opposite it (see diagram below), which is not only more flattering, but allows light to spill onto the background, providing a level of separation between subject and background.

This image is a good example of the natural drama of this type of lighting and the unexpected scenarios you can use it in.

I used one light and a reflector on an arm and stand for the shot above.  The key light was placed to one side and slightly in front of the subjects.  The reflector was positioned on the opposite side to bounce light back onto the subjects.  Whereas the first photograph of my daughter was against seamless black paper, this one was shot against a dark cloth backdrop.  The side lighting emphasizes the texture in the background to nice effect.  If I had not used a reflector opposite the key light, the young man’s face would have been completely in dark shadow with no visible expression.

Best results with this lighting setup are achieved with the use of a soft box.  The larger the soft box, the more ‘window-like’ the lighting will be.  In another post I will illustrate this lighting technique using natural window lighting, which, while it requires NO lights, does require knowledge of how to get a properly exposed image.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

High Key Studio Lighting – Tutorial

Photographing Young Children With Low Key Lighting – Tutorial

Studio Lighting for Headshots – Tutorial

How to Set Up a Photo Booth in Your Home

How to Photograph Large Groups in the Studio

Photographing Babies, Birth to One Year – Tips and Techniques

Using Bold Color in Portraiture – Tips and Techniques

© Deborah Wolfe for Studio on a Shoestring, 2008. All rights reserved.| Permalink | 7 comments