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How to turn a small home studio into a concert stage

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October 2, 2018 by John Aldred 2 Comments

If we’re shooting in a small home studio, it can be a challenge to make images that look new and interesting. You often shoot the same images over and over because you’re limited on space. But there is hope! In this video, Gavin Hoey simulates what he says is a small pub stage, but I’ve seen similar shots to these from huge gigs in the past, too.

Gavin sets the stage, if you’ll pardon the pun, using Godox AD200 strobes, V850II speedlights and a fog machine. He starts by blacking out the walls, and then using a lot of careful lighting and some fast dissipating fog in the fog machine. Gavin’s shown us his fog machine and the different types of fluids you can get for it before.

The fog machine makes a massive difference to how the images look, even with just a single light. But Gavin builds up the shot one light at a time, explaining the reasoning for each light and modifier, until he achieves each of his final looks.

We also see some of Gavin’s post workflow. How he cleans up some of the issues of working in such a small space – like seeing the light stands and the edges of his black background due to light falling on them.

There’s a lot you can do with a small space. It just sometimes takes a little creative thinking.

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Related posts:

7 common studio portrait lighting mistakes and how you can avoid them Here are some essential lighting terms in photography you need to know How to fix colour banding with gel modifiers How to create a festive wintery portrait in the studio with a little compositing

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: flash photography, gavin hoey, studio photography

About John Aldred

John Aldred is based in Scotland and photographs animals in the studio and people in the wild.

You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.

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  • Chris Hutcheson

    Interesting and something I’d like to try. One question, do fog machines trigger fire alarms in small spaces? I don’t think my landlord would be cool with that.

  • Richard Doktor

    Great results, I like it.

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Dunja Djudjic is a writer and photographer from Novi Sad, Serbia. You can see her work on Flickr, Behance and her Facebook page.

John Aldred is based in Scotland and photographs animals in the studio and people in the wild.

You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.

JP Danko is a commercial photographer based in Toronto, Canada. JP
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.

To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.

JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.

Clinton Lofthouse is a Photographer, Retoucher and Digital Artist based in the United Kingdom, who specialises in creative retouching and composites. Proud 80's baby, reader of graphic novels and movie geek!
Find my work on My website or follow me on Facebook or My page

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