How to Use Your Garage As A Professional Photo Studio

This article by Nick Fancher over at Digital Photography School is great for anyone interested in using their garage as a studio.

He uses his garage in an even simpler setup than I use. I have V flats in my garage so I could shoot exactly the same way that he is. However, I have taken the time to put rollers on the ceiling and I have three vinyl backdrops that I can pull up and down with a chain.

If I want to take dramatic portraits on a black backdrop (without even needing a single light), a garage is your new go to spot. This is the simplest (and most makeshift looking) setup that I use. All I am using is a piece of black foam core, folded into a “v,” (behind the person) set inside a garage on a sunny day.

While you can accomplish this setup on overcast days, having a sunny day helps to increase the brightness of everything outside the garage, thus increasing the catch light in the model’s eyes. The sunny daylight scene outside the garage essentially acts as a giant reflector, which hold under the subject’s chin to soften shadows.

The reason why a garage is great for this kind of setup is that it allows you to place your subject closer or further away from the bright, outdoor light, depending on how much light you want in your subject’s eyes or how even you want the light to appear. For example, if the subject is right at the edge of the garage, just out of the sun, the exposure will be very bright, requiring a very fast shutter speed and/or a small aperture, but they will have large catchlights in their eyes. Note that the smaller aperture will cause the image to be sharper from the front to the back. Also, the closer the subject is to the bright outside, the darker the background will be once you’ve adjusted your exposure for their skin tone.

Alternately, if the subject is placed deeper into the garage, it allows you to use a wider aperture or slower shutter speed, which can create a flattering, softer, depth of field, though the catch light and overall light quality will change.

Read the full article with example photos over at Digital Photography School

Source: Digital Photography School