How to design a photo studio? What are the essential accessories? Whether you have a large space or a small area, here are the must-have items for setting up your photo studio.
A simple octagonal softbox, mounted on a studio flash, illuminates the model. A reflector placed beneath the face softens the shadows. The halo on the gray background was created in post-production. Hasselblad X1D, 90 mm, 1/500 s at f/11, ISO 200.
When outdoor lighting and environmental conditions are unsuitable, photographers turn to indoor spaces. The studio either recreates outdoor conditions or breaks free from them. It is the quintessential setting for portraiture, still life, fashion, and nude photography. From one studio to another, depending on the photographers’ working methods, the equipment can range from minimalist to extensive. Let’s take a look at the essentials.
Day light
Light is the most essential element. The photographer’s studio is a modern-day version of the 19th-century painter’s studio. The earliest photography studios operated using natural light. Under this lighting, extraordinary portraits and still lifes were created using simple means: a backdrop, reflectors, a stool for the model, and a tripod for the camera.
This classic environment appealed to photographers like Irving Penn, for whom “light that falls into a studio from the north sky that sets it beyond any other illumination. Electric lights are a convenience, but they are used, I believe, at the expense of that simple three-dimensional clarity, that absolute existence that a subject has standing before a camera in a north-light studio.” (Introduction of World in a Small Room, 1974)
The earliest photography studios operated using natural light, such as the Atelier Malicot in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, built in 1898. It is one of the few studios from the turn of the 20th century equipped with a glass roof that still survives today.
Continuous Light
Electricity has made artificial lighting possible—first as continuous light in the early 20th century, then as flash lighting starting in the 1950s. Artificial light is very practical for overcoming the vagaries of the weather or creating theatrical lighting effects. In the realm of continuous light, LEDs have been revolutionizing artificial lighting for the past decade or so.
Whether in panels or spotlights, they offer excellent light quality, with a color temperature that is often adjustable between daylight (5500 K) and tungsten bulbs (3200 K). This makes it easier to choose a warm or cool tone for color photography. They generate much less heat than the tungsten bulbs and tubes that have been in use for over a century.
LEDs have taken the studio world by storm, for both video and photography. Unlike a flash, the lighting is WYSIWYG.
A small 10×15 cm LED panel is enough to illuminate this antique book with side light, which reveals the texture of the paper.
Flash
Flash has one major advantage: it freezes motion using very brief flashes, which can be synchronized with very fast shutter speeds. Its color temperature simulates daylight (5500 K). The leading brands of studio flashes (Elinchrom, Hensel, Godox, Profoto, Westcott, etc.) offer models ranging from 200 to 500 Ws that are suitable for the most common situations: portraits of one or two people, still lifes, etc.
The ISO sensitivity of recent digital cameras makes it easy to shoot at ISO settings between 400 and 1000 with well-controlled noise. With medium-power strobes, you can thus maintain a lens aperture between f/5.6 and f/8. In a large studio, models ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 Ws are preferable.
Compact Flash Units and Remote Triggers
Compact flash units are equally at home in the studio and on location, thanks to their compact size and light weight. Their power can reach up to 1,000 Ws, making them suitable for most shooting situations where high sync speeds are essential. Traditionally, studio flashes are triggered using a sync cable that connects them to the camera—at the risk of tripping over the cable. A radio-controlled remote trigger allows the photographer to move more freely around the studio.
How Many Light Sources?
There’s absolutely no need to use multiple light sources to achieve professional-quality lighting. Many professional photographers make do with just a large softbox and reflectors for their portraits. After all, there’s only one sun, whose rays are sometimes diffused by clouds and sometimes reflected by all kinds of surfaces.
It’s wise to take inspiration from this, both for aesthetic reasons and to save money. On the other hand, for theatrical effects, multiple light sources are essential.
For complex setups, multiple light sources are needed. Here, three flashes are used. The first, equipped with a softbox, illuminates the entire scene; the second, placed in the background, creates a backlighting effect; and the third creates a halo of light in the background. The band Dyslexic Swing and The Silent Broccoli.
The Background
In the 19th century, painted backdrops were the iconic props of early photography studios. Rolls of solid-colored paper have since replaced them, but modern fabric printing techniques offer a wide variety of alternatives.
Two tripods and a bar are all that’s needed to unroll a roll or stretch a canvas to a height between 2 m and 2.5 m. Studios often have ceilings at least 3 m high. In such cases, a backdrop unrolling system is mounted on a wall.
Setting up a background takes just a few minutes. Two tripods and a horizontal bar support the background, which can be made of paper or fabric.
Reflectors
In both artificial and natural lighting, a reflector helps eliminate shadows or dark circles under the eyes. Simple white fabric or foam boards will do the trick. Reflectors with a silver surface are more reflective. When mounted on a tripod, they eliminate the need for assistants.
A reflector can be a polystyrene panel or any surface coated with white paint or a silver or gold material. When travelling, folding reflectors are very convenient and can be mounted on tripods.
Tripod
In natural light, it’s useful both for perfecting your framing and for preventing camera shakes during long exposures. Try taking a portrait with an exposure of half a second or a quarter of a second. When using flash, it’s especially helpful for paying close attention to framing. An L-bracket attached to the ball head makes it easier to handle the camera for vertical shots.
In the studio, tripods are often column-style models, designed to bear heavy cameras, such as view cameras. A lightweight tripod intended for photojournalism is also suitable, provided you don’t jostle it.
The Stool
During portrait sessions the model is very often seated. Some studios have large wooden cubes of various sizes, similar to the pedestals used for sculptures displayed in galleries or museums. These allow the model to sit at different heights. A bar stool or studio stool will work just as well.
A high stool, like this vintage model, provides better seating than a standard model. Some models feature a height-adjustable seat to accommodate different body types.
Softbox and Umbrella
There was a time when umbrellas were very common in studios, right up until the 1980s. They can be seen, for example, in Antonioni’s famous film Blow-Up (1966). Softboxes provide diffused light and better control over the lighting angle than umbrellas.
They come in square, rectangular, and octagonal shapes. For a starter kit, a softbox measuring 60 to 80 cm on each side (or 80 to 90 cm diagonally) is a good starting point for portrait photography.
Direct lighting from torch-style lights—whether LED or flash—can be diffused using various types of accessories that attach to the light source. The most common are softboxes and umbrellas.
Focusing Light
Dramatic lighting effects are achieved using directional lights. For continuous lighting, Fresnel lenses are frequently used to focus light rays at varying angles by moving the lens closer to or farther from the light source.
Light barndoors, which resemble window shutters, also help control the light angle.
Fresnel lenses concentrate light. Widely used in theaters since the early 20th century, they were adopted by studios for film and photography. LED lights are compatible with this optical system, as are strobes.
Handheld Light Meter
Is this measuring instrument still useful in the digital age? After all, you can instantly check an exposure on the camera’s rear screen. A handheld light meter teaches us how to assess the intensity of a light source, whether it’s a flash or continuous light.
When used to measure incident light, it allows you to check the uniformity of lighting on a studio background or to compare differences in illumination between a model’s position and that of the background.
Handheld light meters remain indispensable tools whenever you need an accurate light reading. Some models allow you to measure the duration of a flash, which is useful when you want to freeze motion during a shot.
Discover the professional photography courses at Spéos
Spéos photography school offers professional photography programs in 1 year, in 2 years, short photography programs (in 2 months and in 5 months), as well as photography workshops.
The long courses to become professional photographers allow you not only to master all the photographic techniques and its vocabulary (blurs, hyperfocus, sharpness zone, depth of field, backlighting, focal length, shutter release, autofocus, wide-angle, rule of thirds, etc.), but also all the stages of shooting and image processing.
Visiting the school allows you to discover the premises, the studios and the equipment, and is undoubtedly the best way to familiarize yourself with your future way of working. This is why, in addition to the open days, Spéos offers throughout the year personalized visits by appointment to come and discover the school with a member of the team.
Text and photos: Philippe Bachelier, teacher of Printing techniques at Spéos