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Don’t have the budget to rent a building for a studio? Or maybe you just don’t want to? It doesn’t matter your reasoning, a photography studio set up in your home is super easy and much more affordable than renting a studio space.
And don’t worry, you’re not the only person with a photography business with a photo studio set up in your home. It’s very common and you can still produce high-quality images for your clients.
We’re going to walk you through the steps to creating a photography studio set up at home and show you the best and more affordable tools and equipment to get this done.
Make Room for Your Photography Studio
The first step is to pick a place for your photo studio. You need open, dedicated space, you can’t just clean out a small corner of a room. That said, it doesn’t mean you need a large room. It depends on the type of photography you plan on doing.
For example, are your doing portrait photography? Or product photos? If you plan on doing one-on-one portraits, your space doesn’t need to be very big but if you want to do family portraits, you need more. With product photos, it depends on the product.
If possible, avoid rooms where the ceiling is too low as the light can bounce off the ceiling and affect the look of your image. You (and your clients) won’t like the look that generates.
Set up The Lighting
Lighting is the biggest factor for your photography studio. If you have bad light, whether there’s too much or not enough, you’re not going to get a good shot.
Natural light coming in from a window can make a beautiful image but it can also create gross ambient light. So, you need to use something to cover the windows but that’s also easy to remove.
Light diffusion curtains are designs for this. You can even purchase light diffusion fabric to create simpler make-shift curtains.
Or, if you don’t want to spend cash on new curtains, you can use a shower curtain or even newspaper for a darker mood.
Our Favorite Affordable Light Diffusion Curtains: Neewer Nylon Silk White Seamless Diffusion Fabric
- Neewer offers a nylon white light diffusion fabric that works great for any photography studio and at a great price. You can use this fabric to make your own curtains.
- It’s 19.7 feet by 4.9 feet, plenty of fabric to work with.
- Light reduction with this curtain is about 1.0 f-stop.
Check Price of the Neewer Diffusion Fabric at Amazon.
Now, it’s time to get into light reflectors to give you more control of the lighting. Light reflectors aren’t necessary but using them can up the lighting game in your home studio.
The light reflector has to placed opposite the window. It helps to purchase a stand reflecting arm to hold the reflector up and to maneuver it into position.
If you don’t want to spend money on a light reflector, there are plenty of DIY projects you can do. Purchase a foam core board as a much cheaper option that can reflect just as well.
Our Favorite Affordable Light Reflector: Mountdog Photography Portable Light Reflector
- This product from Mountdog is a 5-in-1 light reflector. It includes translucent, silver, gold, white, and black.
- The frame is made of steel so it’s durable. You won’t break this reflector if you drop it.
- It comes with a zippered case, making it super portable.
Check Price of the Mountdog Light Reflector at Amazon.
Don’t forget the light stands. These are important to hold your lights as you’re shooting so you don’t want a flimsy light stand that can’t handle the weight of your cameras.
Although you don’t want super cheap light stands, that doesn’t mean you can’t find quality light stands at an affordable price. Keep in mind, you have to purchase one for each camera so it can add up.
Our Favorite Affordable Light Stands: Impact LS-RL7 Reverse Legs Light Stand
- Impact’s reverse leg light stand is made from aluminum. It’s tough enough to hold your lights but light enough to travel with if you need to or just to move around your home studio.
- It folds up so it’s even more portable.
- The max height is 74.8 inches and the minimum height is 19.29 inches.
Check Price of the Impact LS-RL7 at Amazon.
Set up The Perfect Backdrop
Lastly, you need to set up the perfect backdrop for your images. You can’t do a photoshoot with just have a plain wall in the background as it would just look unprofessional to clients. With backdrops, you can get creative.
If you want to be as versatile as possible, you’re going to want different colors for your backdrops. You also have to decide if you want a permanent or collapsible setup.
Since you’re creating a home studio, permanent seems like the obvious choice. But don’t discount collapsible backdrops. If you want to use different colors, it’s much easier to collapse one color when you’re done and easily set up another.
Our Favorite Affordable Backdrop: Neewer Collapsible Chromakey Black & White Backdrop
- This Neewer collapsible backdrop is reversible so you can easily switch between a white or black backdrop.
- It has a strong steel frame so it’s durable. This backdrop won’t wear out right away.
- This backdrop is 5 feet by 6.5 feet.
Check Price of the Neewer Collapsible Backdrop at Amazon.
If you don’t want to purchase a backdrop, don’t fret. You can purchase a roll of white paper to use as a backdrop and simply hang it from the ceiling. Make sure you tape it against the table so it doesn’t move around when your client moves.
The Bottom Line
The beauty of creating a photography studio setup at home is that you don’t have to throw money at renting a studio. Plus, the equipment you purchase doesn’t have to be expensive.
We hope this guide helps you create the perfect photography studio at home. It’s a lot easier than you think.
