Studio Photography Starter Checklist
October 07, 2020
Image credit: Ross Sneddon
Starting your own photography studio, even a small home studio, can be a daunting prospect. Studio photography covers a huge range of subjects and styles and requirements can wildly vary from photographer to photographer. A fashion photography studio, for example, will typically be a very different setup from a product photography studio. However, most of the basic photography studio equipment overlaps and there are some tools that every new studio should have.
Let’s start by considering what we’ll need for a basic photography studio setup. As a basic starting point we’ll want a camera, a lens, a light source, a way to modify that light source, and some sort of background for our images. This is a bare bones way to start a studio but it will offer flexibility until you need to expand.
Cameras & Lenses for Studio Photography
What kind of camera is best for studio photography?
Almost any camera with interchangeable lenses will make a great studio camera. Since you have control over lighting and don’t need to worry about lugging a bag of heavy lenses with you all over town, there are fewer constraints on the type of equipment you can consider.
One factor worth bearing in mind is whether you intend to crop or print your images and, if so, how much or how large. Preserving image quality after extreme cropping or very large (e.g. wall/billboard) format printing requires a camera with very high resolution.
For more info on different types of camera, check out our Beginner’s Guide to Digital Cameras, DSLR Camera Buying Guide and Mirrorless Camera Buying Guide.
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What kind of lenses are best for studio photography?
A good quality zoom lens that covers 24-70mm or 24-105mm (or equivalent for your chosen sensor size) is a great start for many studios. This will offer the greatest flexibility with the lowest initial outlay and give you a good place to start expanding into more specialised equipment as your business or practice develops.
Photographers with a more established business/practice may prefer to have one or more prime lenses (either instead of or in addition to a zoom) suitable for their favoured subjects/focal lengths – e.g. a 50mm or 85mm for portraiture, or a macro lens for detailed product shots.
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Studio Photography Lights
Photographic lights are an essential part of your studio bread and butter, but how many and what type do you need? This can become a very complicated topic very quickly, but we’ll keep it simple here. We’ll be looking to get one light and a way to modify it. We’ll skip over speedlights and look at strobes and continuous (LED/fluorescent) lights as our two choices.
For more advice on different lighting types take a look at our Lighting Buying Guide.
Image credit: CameraPro
Strobes
Strobes are lights that output a powerful flash or pulse of light when triggered. They create enough light to allow us to work indoors with low ISO settings and narrow apertures. They also pulse extremely quickly, which allows us to freeze any action that may be happening in our frame. Strobes come in a variety of strengths ranging from low power models that put out 400 watt-seconds (Ws) of light to much higher powered 1200Ws models. Depending on the work you’re doing and how close you’ll have your lights, power will be your first concern.
There are so many features that differentiate studio strobes that we’d need several articles to cover them, but there are a few key things you’ll want to look for as a new studio owner.
Firstly, colour consistency (measured in Kelvin) should have a very small difference value. Manufacturers measure this as a plus or minus swing over the whole power range. A low value means you can expect the light to be colour consistent no matter what power the strobe is set to.
Next, flash duration should be fast. Manufacturers often provide this information in the forms of t.1 and t.5 values but don’t tell you which one they’re using in the basic specs. It is worth doing some research, as a fast t.1 number is more useful if you’re photographing action.
The final thing you might want to consider is modifier compatibility. Will the softbox or umbrella you want to use fit the mount of your strobe? That can be a crucial part of the decision. In the end, most modern strobes from reputable companies are excellent and the differences between them are subtle. A great modifier will get you great photos more than a great strobe will in most cases.
Aputure Amaran LED HR672 SSW 3-Light Kit (Image courtesy of Aputure)
Continuous Lights
Constant or continuous lights are ones that don’t ‘flash’ when you press the shutter; they’re simply always on. The benefit of this is you can see exactly what your light will look like before you press the shutter. Especially with LED panels, constant lights are becoming more flexible as they incorporate brighter bulbs that can shift colour to match your white balance.
One of the major downsides to most continuous lights is that they’re nowhere near as powerful as studio strobes. This means that in order to get deep depth of field, you’ll need to increase your ISO in order to stop down your aperture. Also, if you’re planning to stop action, you’ll need extremely bright continuous lights.
On the other hand, one of the major benefits of continuous lights is for hybrid photographers; you can also use this type of light for video work.
When shopping for continuous lights you’ll want to know how bright they really are, especially inside modifiers. One of the keys to creative studio photography is being able to modify light. If you’re restricted to using an aperture of f/1.4 after placing a softbox on your light, that softbox will not be a versatile investment. Understanding what you plan to be photographing and how much light it will require is key when purchasing any type of light, but especially continuous lights for studio work.
Manfrotto 1004BAC Stackable 4 Section Light Stand (Image courtesy of Manfrotto)
Light Stands
Don’t forget that you’ll need a place to put your studio light – i.e. a light stand. For indoor studio photography, a C-stand and boom are excellent starting acquisitions if you have the ceiling height and space. This will give you the most flexibility with positioning your light for all types of photography. Having casters on the stand is a big bonus that’ll save your floors and make moving a boomed light much easier.
Image credit: Sven Brandsma
Light Modifiers
Once you’ve purchased your light, you’ll need a way to modify it (make it effectively larger or smaller). The harsh light coming directly from your light will not flatter most subjects, so you’ll want to start with something medium in size that will allow you to significantly soften the light you produce.
This could be an umbrella or a scrim, but the most versatile modifier you can start with is a softbox. Because of the way a softbox restricts the direction of light, you are able to choose more effectively where you want and do not want light to fall. The type of subject you’re working with will determine the size of softbox you need. Generally speaking, a softbox that is relatively larger than the subjects you’re photographing (remember that bringing the softbox in closer will make it appear relatively larger) will produce softer light than something smaller.
A quality modifier is a really great investment. At first, a softbox from a reputable brand may seem much more expensive than the budget offerings you see, but it will last so much longer and produce a much better quality of light. Even if you save a few dollars on the strobe you decide to get, a quality modifier is essential for any professional studio.
Since we’ve looked at only getting one studio light to start with, purchasing a reflector is a cheap way to get much more contrast control. It can be used to bounce light into the shadow side of the subject to fill in shadows, or even to flag some of the light coming from your light source to stop it spreading to unwanted areas of the scene.
Image credit: William F Santos
Backdrops for Studio Photography
Any studio for photography will need to have some sort of background for the photographs to be taken against. What type of photography studio backdrop you invest in will really depend on the type of work you’re doing.
With genres like tabletop product photography you can get away with very simple, inexpensive paper or fabric backgrounds from a generic store. However, for studio portrait photography, especially full length or group portraits, you’ll want to invest in a good quality, seamless paper option.
A set of studio background stands and a single white roll of paper will be a great place to start and as your studio grows, you can consider other colours or even building a cyc wall if it suits your style.
Other Accessories for Studio Photography
There is a vast range of other available equipment designed to help studio photographers work more quickly, easily and effectively. How useful you’ll find each product will depend on how and what you shoot, but the following are recommended for anyone working primarily in a studio environment:
- A sturdy, high-quality tripod for maximum sharpness and precise and/or consistent composition when needed
- A grey card or colour checker for accurate representation of skin tones and other subjects (important for products being advertised)
- A light meter for highly accurate, reliable and consistent exposures
- A tether cable to connect your camera directly to a computer or laptop – ideal for instantly previewing shots up close
It’s also great to consider the type of photography you’ll be doing and get a few genre-specific studio fillers or props. In a family photography studio, you might want books or toys for kids to read or play with. Alternatively, in a product photography studio you might be more in need of white and black cards to make reflectors and flags as needed.
Don’t feel as though you need to acquire every piece of equipment in one go, however. As with everything, it’s likely that you’ll collect more and more studio accessories over time as jobs demand them.
Image credit: Szabo Viktor
Starting Your Studio Setup
Although starting your own photography studio may seem overwhelming, remember that you just need the basics to get going and can add to it from there.
Start by making sure you have a versatile camera setup, at least one photography studio light with a good quality stand and modifier, and a background to work against.
Once you’ve covered those essentials you can add more lights, gels, modifiers, backgrounds, and props as you need them.
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