Business Venture

[Micki169058]

Hi,

I am a hobbiest photographer who is considering starting a digital studio in a couple of years. I have no experience with digital photography. I will probably be purchasing the Canon D10 (I know the most recommended is the 1Ds-in the Canon line that is). I have flashes and lenses that are already compadible with Canon EOS SLR's.

I would appreciate suggestions on:

Digital studio lighting (brands, complete kits...)

Software for editing (I have Adobe Photoshop 7.0- understanding
it...another story; perhaps there is something easier. I am planning on
learning it though.)

Professional Labs (35mm and Digital)

(I have already searched the Thomas Register with no luck.)

I will be specializing in children's and family photography.

I won't have that much overhead. My studio will be on my own property. I've checked into the business end of it. I hope to be ready in about a year to year and a half.

Thank you,
Micki

 

[Micki169058]

Wanted to revise my post. I've read on this forum that most here like Adobe. I apologize if my post sounds repetitive (I'm new to online forums).

 

[Christopher Crawford]

Wanted to revise my post. I've read on this forum that most here
like Adobe. I apologize if my post sounds repetitive (I'm new to
online forums).

Micki,

You're going to have serious troubles. You can't start a business in a year if you don't understand Photoshop and don't know anything about lighting! There's no such thing as digital lighting, though some manufacturers sell items with that word in the name. You can shot digital portraits using any traditional studio strobes or continuos light systems (hint: you want strobes; continuos lights are hot and make your subject sweat!) Your problem however is much bigger than what to buy. Studio lights have to be positioned to bring out the best in your subject, and this requires lots of practice. It gets complex because you usually use many lights together, rather than just one like when you use a camera ith built in flash. I shot some portraits of my son this week. I used three lights; one bounced into a 40" umbrella pointed straight at him for the fill light. That's the light that adds some light to the shadows. It's typically one to two stops dimmer than the main light, because if the shadows are too bright the subject looks flat. If the fill is too dim, the shadows go black with no detail! My main light was in a 32x44 softbox aimed at him from slightly above him and at a 45 degree angle from the camera position. It gives the main light on most of his face and body. The third light was aimed at the background from one side and had a honeycomb grid on it to narrow the light to a soft-edged spot to add a bright spot to the background behind him. I made this a stop less bright than the overall exposure so it wouldn't make the background overpoweringly bright.

Here's the result:



--
Chris Crawford

http://www.crawfordandkline.com

 

[Christopher Crawford]

I hope i didn't sound too negative, but you're talking serious money investment for equipment you do not know anything about. That's a recipe for disaster. I spent $2000 on my strobes (I have four Photogenic Powerlight 1250 monolights, and I recommend them highly), $400 on softboxes, $70 on umbrellas, $300 on backgrounds, $400 on a flashmeter (don't skimp here; a cheap meter will handicap you seriously. I have 6 or 7 good meters I've bought over the years, but the Sekonic L-508 is my current favorite). You'll also need lightstands. B and H sometimes sells some Photogenic kits that come with them. If not, they're about $80 each. You'll need some grids for background lighting like my example above, and Photogenic's grid kit is $150. You'll probably want a tripod, though some photographers, including myself, prefer handholding portraits because you have more freedom to move around your client. That's about $180 for a nice Bogen model. I have a 3011 with 3047 head, and it works nice without being too big and heavy for me to carry when I do my fine art landscape work.

The EOS 10d you want is good, it's $1500 and needs lenses. For portraits, a 50mm is good for full length shots, an 85mm or 100mm is good for headshots....those are for 35mm cameras. for the digital, you need different focal lengths for it since te sensor issmaller than 35mm film. I think you want a 28 and a 50, but don't take my word for that...ask around. I shoot a Mamiya 645 medium format camera because it's still better than digital, but I'd probably do digital if I were starting out new today.

Here's my recommendation for your business: It will fail if you start it with lots of high cost equipment and no experience. I have a bachelor's degree in Photography from Indiana University and even with all that there was lots for me to learn after I graduated in 1999. Take some classes at a local college or university..most offer photogaphy as part of a fine arts or commercial art program and the classes are cheap. At IU's Fort Wayne campus, where I attended, it's about $400 for 12 weeks with two 3 hour classes a week. That's a lot of classes for so little. The one on one with the instructor (often a local professional who teaches part time) is very valuable, especially if he or she is a working pro teaching for fun....those teachers know the local market well and can assist you greatly. You can also take classes on Photoshop too.

Take some classes ans spend a year or two, or more if you need it, practicing with your equipment on family and friends till you get good enough to work with strangers while appearing totally confident you know what you're doing. Clients panic if you fumble around too much or don't look experienced because they wonder if you're worth the money.

good luck.
--
Chris Crawford

http://www.crawfordandkline.com

 

[Tinker Photo]

I am a hobbiest photographer who is considering starting a digital
studio in a couple of years. I have no experience with digital
photography. I will probably be purchasing the Canon D10 (I know
the most recommended is the 1Ds-in the Canon line that is). I have
flashes and lenses that are already compadible with Canon EOS SLR's.

10D will work just fine, but by the time you actually start your studio you will probably want something newer. DON"T start a studio with out at least a years practice first. Go ahead and buy the 10D, and practice practice practice, then when you think you have it mastered, practice some more. If you have a local college around you can take some classes, but I have found that if you go to books a million spend the same amount of money on books as you would tutition, you will experiement more and learn faster. Mainly because you will not feel like you are trying to fulfill an assignment from a teacher.

I would appreciate suggestions on:

Digital studio lighting (brands, complete kits...)

to start out Alien Bees has some very nice strobes that are nicely priced. But I reccomend using regular HOT lights too. Mainly because you can SEE the light. and that is important. You must learn to see light and shadows. You must know what different difussion materials do, and how to vary your lighting to achieve different results. So for cheap hot lights you can get some Smith Victors. Plus with the Smith victors you can use them as modeling lights and then use the (since you said you had them) 550ex flashes or 420ex flashes on light stands as your stobes too.

also remember it is not as much about the Hi-lights as it is about the shadows!

Software for editing (I have Adobe Photoshop 7.0- understanding
it...another story; perhaps there is something easier. I am
planning on
learning it though.)

Buy a couple of books on photoshop, then practice, practice, practice, then when you think you have mastered it, practice somemore, For organization of digital files I use Compu Pic Pro. Really nice product! great for showing full screen previews after a portrait session. Stay away from ACD See. it is ok but I crahsed on me way too much, that is the reason I went to compupic pro.

Professional Labs (35mm and Digital)

I have been using Pro Photo Imaging (they do film and digital) in florida for portrait work. For regular prints for personal use you can use Printroom.com, They use ICC profiles so what you see on your monitor is what you get when your prints are returned. Also Get some sort of monitor calibration software like Spyder.

I will be specializing in children's and family photography.

I won't have that much overhead. My studio will be on my own
property. I've checked into the business end of it. I hope to be
ready in about a year to year and a half.

Thank you,
Micki

GOOD LUCK, you are starting out almost just like I did. However I did go to school for Television production, and that is my main money maker (still photography is about 1/3 my income), so lighting was something that I studied very intently.
--
Clint Smith
Tinker Photography
If God is love, and love is blind . . . Ray Charles must be God!

 

[GBear]

Hi,

I am a hobbiest photographer who is considering starting a digital
studio in a couple of years. I have no experience with digital
photography.

Use and learn photoshop because it is the standard - everybody you talk to will "speak photoshop" = if you learn/use another program you will have a lot of unlearning to do, eventually. Elements II is good because it is just a "stripped" version.

 

[Micki169058]

Chris I must Thank you for your advice. I have purchased a PhotoShop book. A couple of years ago I took a photography class. I am not in an area where they offer any advanced training. So I took a local professional's class. (The class only taught how to use a camera on a very basic level. We never advanced to lighting issues. The instructor apologized...) I would love to take some courses, and if you know of any reputable courses I could take online or by mail I would greatly appreciate it! I'll check around.

I have some lights, but they are hot. I have yet to use them. I think I'll donate those.

I have several lenses already; I also believe Tamron is coming out with some aimed at the digital cameras. One is a 28-75 f2/8. I thought I may get that one.

Thank you Chris!

Micki

 

[Micki169058]

Clint,

Thank you for your advice. To be honest I was scared to post anything. You have been very kind.

10D will work just fine, but by the time you actually start your
studio you will probably want something newer.

We always want something newer!

But I reccomend using regular HOT lights too. Mainly
because you can SEE the light. and that is important. You must
learn to see light and shadows. You must know what different
difussion materials do, and how to vary your lighting to achieve
different results.

Wait, I won't donate them to the Good Will afterall. I stated I would donate those in an earlier reply to Chris.

I just recently ordered a book on Photoshop!

Thank you again; I will be taking your advice.
Wishing you well,
Micki

 

[Christopher Crawford]

Chris I must Thank you for your advice. I have purchased a
PhotoShop book. A couple of years ago I took a photography class.
I am not in an area where they offer any advanced training. So I
took a local professional's class. (The class only taught how to
use a camera on a very basic level. We never advanced to lighting
issues. The instructor apologized...) I would love to take some
courses, and if you know of any reputable courses I could take
online or by mail I would greatly appreciate it! I'll check around.

I have some lights, but they are hot. I have yet to use them. I
think I'll donate those.

I have several lenses already; I also believe Tamron is coming out
with some aimed at the digital cameras. One is a 28-75 f2/8. I
thought I may get that one.

Thank you Chris!

Micki

micki,

Keep your hotlights. They're no good for portraits (that's why I said don't buy them since you want to photograph people) but are useful for things like copying old photographs. I make a little money copying old photos and restoring those that are faded or damaged. Most people nowadays scan old photos that need to be copied and/or restored, but that only works if the client's picture fits your scanner. A lot of people have old 11x14 and larger portraits from their family's past that they want copies of. You simply photograph the old photo and make prints from the negative (or digital file) that results. Hot lights are great for copying because you can easily measure with your light meter (you need a handheld meter for this) if the light is perfectly even. taking all these measurements with flashes is a pain since you have to fire the flashes for each reading. I usually set up the lights and then measure the center and all four corners with an incident light meter (a meter that measures the light that hits the subject instead of the light that reflects off it, like your camera's meter does). If all five measurements are identical (more than 1/10 stop difference can be seen!) then your light is good. if not you adjust the positions of the lights to fix it. Usually using two hotlights, one on each side, equally distant from the photo and pointing down at 45 degree angle, will give good even light with no glare on the photo but you usually have to adjust that a bit to perfect it.

Since you have the hot lights, you may as well keep them..they can be useful.

If you're copying an old photo that needs restoring, a digital camera is great because you get a file of the photo ready to work on in Photoshop (you'll need lots of practice for restoring, it can be quite hard depending on how bad the thing looks).

--
Chris Crawford

http://www.crawfordandkline.com

 

[Micki169058]

Chris, I'll keep them (the hot lights). (They are very old though...I may still donate them...ha)

I host a lot of children's parties, and I have had a lot of luck with my pictures outdoors (35mm). I am using a bracket mounted flash as a fill light. I've also used some homeade reflectors.

Okay, so I've got my lists together...and will probably keep adding to it, as I've also just realized I'm going to need a better monitor.

Thank you for sharing your picture and lighting technique. Your son is adorable, by the way!

Micki

 

[Robert Barzilla]

Hot lights work fine for portraits... there are ways to avoid the heat build up. Mine are set up on a good power strip and I have a foot pedal attached to the strip that then attaches to the outlet. This way when I am not using the lights I step on the pedal and they go out, thus avoiding the heat.

Chris, I'll keep them (the hot lights). (They are very old
though...I may still donate them...ha)

I host a lot of children's parties, and I have had a lot of luck
with my pictures outdoors (35mm). I am using a bracket mounted
flash as a fill light. I've also used some homeade reflectors.

Okay, so I've got my lists together...and will probably keep adding
to it, as I've also just realized I'm going to need a better
monitor.

Thank you for sharing your picture and lighting technique. Your son
is adorable, by the way!

Micki

 

[Micki169058]

Thanks Robert!

Hot lights work fine for portraits... there are ways to avoid the
heat build up. Mine are set up on a good power strip and I have a
foot pedal attached to the strip that then attaches to the outlet.
This way when I am not using the lights I step on the pedal and
they go out, thus avoiding the heat.