Studio @ Home – Intro

Welcome to Studio @ Home.

After three years and some change that this site is running I am getting a lot of feedback that makes me think that some order is needed.

True, over the last few years we’ve covered almost any aspect of home photography on a budget going through backdrops, light modifiers, and camera tweaks that will make your life easier when going on this long journey of getting a home studio. However, all the info was scattered all over wisely spread across the time line.

FOLLOW THIS SERIES OF ARTICLES!
NEXT- What Does It Take?

What Is This All About?

Studio@Home is designed to create an online resource for amateurs and pro’s alike. I will try my best to share all that I have learned during the time I’ve been taking pictures at home, including the three years DIYP runs.

We’ll start small with very little gear required (none other than camera and some stuff found at home, actually) and slowly grow to a full-fledged home brewed studio. 

We’ll cover things like space, backdrops and lighting – going from simple and super cheap to more complex setups which cost more. In fact I’ll run through some of the topics twice: once with the idea of a small product shot studio in mind and a second time targeting a full sized studio, equipped for shooting portraits or big items. Not to fear, you will never need to take a mortgage to accomplish any of the projects in this series.

I’ll try to keep a weekly posting schedule on Wednesdays.

It Will Be A Collaborative Project

I am sure some of the ideas in this series will be familiar to some of you. I am also positive that some may have done similar projects in a better way than the one I will describe, or that have ideas to improve a setup.

To get the most out of Studio @ Home, I encourage you to ask questions, share, upload images to the Flickr pool and be an active participant. Obtaining critical mass will make this project bigger than the sum of its parts.

There will also be assignments. Once a subject is covered, we’ll have an assignment to build (and by build I mean spend a few minutes with paper and scissors) practice and shoot with our new creation. Submission will be free and will be made via the DIYP Flickr group. If you do not have a Flickr account you can register now, it is free. If you already have a Flickr account you will need to join DIYP group to submit your stuff.

The way of the world is that photography studio has quite a bit to do with light and physics, I’ll be referring to several resources:

Light Science and Magic – the best lighting book ever written (get it here)

Strobist.com – The best lighting site ever constructed (it is all free here).

Wikipedia – the best online encyclopedia ever written by the human race (made by you, here)

What Does It Take To Participate?

Not a lot actually. First, you will need to want to take better pictures with really frugal limited budget. Then you will need a camera. That’s about it. Almost all the other stuff is either already at your home or can be bought at the local office supplies, art, or hardware store.

And most importantly, you need to want to have fun. Here we go.