I had to modify my idea - the garage did not work... So, we have a very long room in our house 10 X 28 - it was used as the original owner's weight room. 10' poles with standard closet pole holders on the wall, serve as my backdrop stand. I have two poles with black and white paper right now. We're moved, arranged and I think it will work, a bit tight... but do-able. I'll post pics when it's finally arranged.
Edited by EnduringPortra on Oct 25, 2005 at 09:49 AM GMT
As for the ring lights that are on this thread,anyone that does house remodeling can make one for next to nothing.I made one by saving all the old high hats and bulbs that we moved in our reconstruction work so mine did not cost anything.Just cut out a circle of plywood 36in diameter ,mount the sockets from the old lights,Install a dimmer switch which I think is important due to the heat and wire and you are ready to go.
jawak wrote:
As for the ring lights that are on this thread,....... ,Install a dimmer switch which I think is important due to the heat and wire and you are ready to go.
I tried one with a $7-dimmer switch. After it was hooked up and turned on I found that it was rated for 300W only. It immediately blew and became non-functional. The $40- dimmer that I then purchased rated for up to 1000W works well. To keep the wattage under 1000 I installed six 75W bulbs and six 100W daylight bulbs. It's difficult to find a dimmer rated for more than 1000W.
NeilS wrote:
I tried one with a $7-dimmer switch. After it was hooked up and turned on I found that it was rated for 300W only. It immediately blew and became non-functional. The $40- dimmer that I then purchased rated for up to 1000W works well. To keep the wattage under 1000 I installed six 75W bulbs and six 100W daylight bulbs. It's difficult to find a dimmer rated for more than 1000W.
I just built my ring linght last night... I used 10 60w light bulbs and an 8 dollar dimmer rated at 600 watts. worked perfectly. Home depot does have a 1000 watt dimmer but its 40 bucks!
I'm very curious to see photos of this. A few questions:
1. Was your garage interior unfinished?
2. What are your concerns about humidity and dust/dirt over time -- do you plan to take the sheets down and wash on occasion?
3. Are you going to try full-length portraits in that size space?
EnduringPortra wrote:
I am setting up studio in my garage and will take pictures for everyone to see... I'm trying to do it VERY inexpensively, until I know what I'm doing with this...
This is what I've done... I went to Plej's... a discount linen store here in NC. And I purchased a TON of King Size Flat Sheets at $4.99 per sheet. My husband has been gracious enough to allow me to use the majority of the garage, about 23X23... I used white sheets and stapled them to the rafters and amazingly... It looks pretty darn good. Our house is worth nearly $300K, so I'm not talking trash here... It doesn't look too shabby... makes the appearance of a ceiling. Cost me all of about $30, not including the $10 staple gun and $3 staples...
Then I purchased as many sheets in one color as I could... and I tufted them at the ceiling and stapled them to the wall... The color of my walls are a sagey green color. I'm nearly finished...
Then on the floor, I cleaned it really well and took epoxy paint from Lowes... and painted one half of the garage floor... then I went to our local remnant carpet store and found a remnant that was 24 feet long and I had them edge it, so it looks like a throw rug now...
My only dilemma.... is recently we had our driveway paved... and we've had a lot of heavy rain here in NC recently... and it flooded!! The door wasn't open... but somehow the water seeped in... and I have no idea what to do about it, I'm going to have to remove all the sheets and wash them now. We have to work on finding the culprit area... and get it fixed... but soon it will be finished and I will submit my photos... with my new camera... ...Show more →
It looks like you have a nice setup there. Roughly how big is that shooting area?
I took a look at your site, you have some nice panoramas, can I ask what software you used to create these, I guess you had some cloning to do where the tripod was standing.
i want to mention kevyn in this forum. if its mentioned already take it easy. he shoots all his shooting in a garage with a 5X6 reflector. I love his style. being in northeast we have only 4 months to do like this
Ok... not directly related to "Studio"... but JohnE has posted a great behind the scenes essay of a recent location shoot he did for Miller Light. I know a lot of you really appreciate the work John does in this forum...
calvin2 wrote:
I'm very curious to see photos of this. A few questions:
1. Was your garage interior unfinished?
2. What are your concerns about humidity and dust/dirt over time -- do you plan to take the sheets down and wash on occasion?
3. Are you going to try full-length portraits in that size space?
It didn't work Calivin2. We had to modify the idea completely. I didn't even get my equipment in there. It would have worked, except the driveway installers put the driveway too high and it flooded and continues to flood the garage. I moved my studio into our house and just rearranged. Thanks for asking. I will post photos soon.
Well this is my first post here......This thread was my reason for joining this forum, and I Thank everyone who has contributed to this thread, but most of all to JohnE. I have the highest respect for people who are good at what they do, and have patience to help all of the people asking questions.
Finraz wrote:
Well this is my first post here......This thread was my reason for joining this forum, and I Thank everyone who has contributed to this thread, but most of all to JohnE. I have the highest respect for people who are good at what they do, and have patience to help all of the people asking questions.
Well thanks Brian. I have the greatest respect for those that share with others, I believe that quality is a major factor of this community at FM and is one of the reasons FM is a respected site.
For those that are reading this thread to help get ideas on the start of their first studio and their first flash gear. Which also means you are probably on a budget.
Here is a link to help give your guys some insight to flash equipment.
I have definitely been pulled into the studio void now. Starting to look for a small setup to do portraits. Possibly the "DigiBee" package form Alien Bees!
