In House Potrait Studio

[pappa850]

Hey All,

I'm looking to setup a Cost Effective In House Studio for taking Pictures of People and Art Paintings.

I have a D80 + Lens Kit Already, but I read somewhere that 50mm is what the naked eye see's as far as distance, or 50mm is equivalant to the naked eye. Please correct me on this. But anywho, was wondering what would be needed for a Controlled Lighting system. Are there a certain Light Lamps that can be bought to help control constant lighting? Also would it be better to get a Prime Lens like a 50mm to get better shots? And if I need a close up, I can move the TriPod Closer? Just need some tips. Plus if I have the controlled Light, there should be no reason for a flash right?

Thanks in Advance.

 

[coqui mackey]

hi,

i've also heard about the 50mm being the equivalent of the human eye's vision, but i don't think it holds true with digital cameras, as it would be more like a 75mm on your d80... i'd double-check, though... i may be wrong, but i do believe i was taught that way before i even had a digital dslr...
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[coqui mackey]

here's what i found:

"A focal length of 50mm (33mm for most digital cameras) is considered normal because it represents a scene with the approximate angle that the human eye can see. Normal lenses are good for still life, landscapes, trees, flowers, and images where the subject is interesting by its own without the need for optical enhancements."

found here:
http://www.thelensflare.com/docs/index.php/Camera_Lenses
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[HoppyUK]

Your eyes are stereoscopic continuous scanning devices with a field of view that can be anything from 180 degs to as little as 1-2 degs. And what you actually 'see' is controlled by a very sophisticated computer called the brain.

What the reference to lens focal length means is that certain focal lengths will tend to give you a camera to subject distance that gives natural-looking perspective, but there is no absolute rule.

For general walkabout photography, a 35mm lens on a Nikon 1.5x crop camera (eg D70) will 'tend' to produce images with persepctive that looks natural. It's the field of view that is important here - about 40-50 degs (similar to a 50mm lens on a full-frame 35mm camera).

For a head and shoulders portrait, most people would say moving to 60-70mm gives a more pleasing result as you don't have to stick the camera up the subject's nose to get a nice frame-filler!

Richard.

 

[pappa850]

Richard,

Good points, totally understand what your saying. Then what would be a good Lens for Potraits? 18-70? or a prime lens that fixxed?

Also anyone know about the Lighting situation? I'm interested to know if there are like Umbralla style lighting, kind of like the flash Umbralla's. Anyone doing a semi-pro Studio in there house??

Thanks

 

[Ernest Snider]

You might check this out. It's a fairly simple online photography course by Jodie Coston and she describes a cheap homemade style light setup.

http://www.morguefile.com/archive/classroom.php?lesson=7

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D80 : 17-135, 50 1.4

 

[FauxToeGiraffer]

On film cameras, as has been said, 50mm was thought to be natural and 85mm was called a portrait lens. One reason for the longer lens for portraits is that people look better with their faces flatter. If you use a wide lens like a 18mm for a portrait the nose will be the size of building and the rest of the face will be smaller and get warped near the edges.

On the D70 the sensor is smaller than a pane of 35mm film. This changes the degree to which a particular lens effects space (makes things flatter or warps them like wide angle lens). If you want the equivilent of 50mm or 85mm on a the 35mm camera for your D70 then you divide by 1.5x.

50mm = 33mm
85mm = 57mm

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fresh batteries=love

 

[stdon]

Digital makes lighting a relative breeze compared to film especially if you shoot RAW mode. You can always adjust Wihite balance in PPing. Lighting setups can be as simple or as complex as you wish and the simple ones are very easy to setup.

A very big consideration would be your backdrop for your protraiture. Do you wish to show folks in their natural settings or more formal type portraits? Different consideration for glass there. Natural settings usually look well with a wider lens more closed will give you more DOF and giving a better idea of the subjects enviroment. Where it is kind of typical to use a longer lens for formal type portraiture to more open for a shallow DOF putting the B/G OOF zoneing in on the subject.

Lots of options, and money to be spent here.

One option is to get an inexpensive mid zoom and use it for awhile. See what focal length you are normally set at. Or in you are interested in a fixed prime you can set the lens at the primes F/L and see if this works for you. I am doing this now as I am very interested in the 85 1.4 but being a huge expense I want to see it's usefullness so I've been keeping my 28-105D set at 85. Over a little time I'll see if this will work for me or if I need to look elsewhere.

BTW, the 28-105 is a great lens. In addition to being inexpensive it is very sharp, has good speed, contrast and color and is good for protraits.

There really is no pat answer as the range this can take. Look around to see what others are doing and what they are using. Our own Coqui is a great example of what can be accomplished with a 50 1.8 prime and go from there.
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Don

 

[HoppyUK]

Hello pappa,

On the focal length aspect, it's important to remember that it is camera to subject distance that controls perspective, not focal length - it's just that the focal lengths I've mentioned above tend to allow you to work at distances that make the subject look more natural, but there is no absolute rule here.

Another thing about portraiture is that shallow depth of field is also quite effective, throwing the background out of focus and concentrating attention on the person. So a wide aperture lens, like f/2 or f/2.8 is good.

All of which leads me to suggest that a 50mm f/1.8 Nikon lens would be a very good and cheap way for you to get started. Check out Coqui's galleries in her profile above - she uses this lens and her images speak for themselves But you kit lens is also very capable - it just won't give you those soft blurry backgrounds that you get by shooting with f/1.8 (good bokeh).

There is a lot of choice of studio lighting. Just keep it simple to begin with - you really don't need anything more than one umbrella flash and a reflector to get really nice home studio portratis. Have a look at the range of stuff on here: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/ Scroll down the menu on the left-hand side to Studio Lighting. It's a UK site, but lots of good equipment and helpful information, too. I use an Elinchrom D-Lite 2 studio flash kit which is good quality and good value at £400GBP.

Best regards,

Richard.

Richard,

Good points, totally understand what your saying. Then what would
be a good Lens for Potraits? 18-70? or a prime lens that fixxed?

Also anyone know about the Lighting situation? I'm interested to
know if there are like Umbralla style lighting, kind of like the
flash Umbralla's. Anyone doing a semi-pro Studio in there house??

Thanks

 

[pappa850]

Don,

Awsome post, good information: The Problem that we ran into when we first started doing this, we tried to use the SunLight on a Wood Fence to be our natural Light, and it over exposed it big time. right know I'm using the 18-135 Lens but we only did 1 print, and what we are doing are Large Poster Prints. So my friend ask what it would take to get Controlled Lightning in his house. Our Backdrop is just a Green Screen/Board. But we are just getting idea's and setup plans, so nonthing formal yet.

Thanks for the replies:

Shawn

 

[unsavory]

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http://www.unsavory.com/