I've gotten a lot of questions about my mobile studio setup so today I went ahead and set it up my living room since my baby girl was NOT interested in taking an afternoon nap. Let me preface this with "I am not a studio lighting specialist" but this is as much as I know how to do.
So I usually start out putting up my background support system. I have the Impact Portable Support System. It is two stands, a cross bar made up of four bars so you can use two or more depending on the width you need, and a carry bag that it all fits into. For the setup shown in my living room below I just used two of the bars connected which I think makes about an 8 foot length. I have three backdrops: Black, Blue, and a textured blue. All are 10'x20'. I use the black one the most. I've used it a bunch for newborn sessions which are typically black and white with the black background. I've never used the bright blue (my husband wanted it to blue screen stuff). I have only used the textured blue one a few times.
Recently I added three 53" rolls of Savage Paper. The one shown is Rustic. I heard a rumor that they plan on coming out with another size that will be between the 53" roll and the 107" roll which is great because the 53" roll is okay for one kid but not much more than that. This was actually my very first time trying out the paper and I still need to fine tune my technique but it was cool to try it out.
For my lights I have the Digi Bee package from Alien Bees. Alien Bees are a good beginner lighting system because they are not super expensive and they are pretty easy to get started with. I choose not to upgrade to the B800 because I didn't think I needed the extra output since I typically shoot individuals but if you plan on doing families and larger groups you might want to opt for the higher output lights. The package included two lights, two light stands, two carry bags, a silver/white umbrella, a shoot thru umbrella, and the transmitter/receiver combination for firing off the lights.
Here's a rough diagram of my setup:
I have one light set to light the backdrop. The amount of light you have hitting the paper will alter the look of the paper. I took a few test shoots and adjusted as necessary to get the look I wanted. I probably should have pulled out more of the paper so the subject would not be as close to the background/backlight because it did create a shadow. I used the shoot thru umbrella with the second light to light my subject but with a softer light thanks to the umbrella. I used my Sekonic light meter to measure the light so I could get the amount of light I wanted. Normally you'd want your subject to be about 6 feet from the background but I didn't have quite that much room.
Here's the setup in my living room...Abby helped me out! She just started walking so she was all over the place.
And here is a picture from this setup. BTW, the yellow duck is from Michael's and it is a hand puppet that quacks. Abby thinks it is so funny so it is great to use when I need to get a quick smile from her. I also did a quick black and white conversion so you could see how the paper looks in black and white.
fantastic. thanks so much for this. seriously, you might consider a donate button on this site. i would totally donate today.
hugs.
Posted by: maya | January 29, 2008 at 06:35 AM
Thank you for sharing. I really appricate your taking the time to share with all of us. Where did you get that bowl? she was sitting on that is a great prop.
Posted by: Shannon Steffens | January 29, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Thanks for the great info! I've printed it out to keep in my files. Have you ever taken your studio setup to shoot outdoors? So you'd have natural light with the uniform colored background....do people even do this?
Posted by: Mallika Malhotra | January 29, 2008 at 11:32 AM
I have not tried to do it outdoors because I think the wind would probably be a problem, plus I'd need some sort of overhang so we wouldn't be in full sun. I have setup at some homes where they had nice INTERIOR natural light and been able to shoot without the lights which is great. This newborn shoot was all done in their nursery using only natural light and many of the photos used my black backdrop. I did have to burn in the backdrop in some where you could still see too much light since I couldn't have them as far away from the backdrop as I would have liked (I mean, it was a nursery after all). I did that session using a 50mm lens because I would not have been able do full body with my 85mm in such a small space.
Posted by: Jessica | January 29, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Do you have trouble with the seamless on carpet? I noticed you have a stool on it and I've had times where something like that would poke through the paper if it was on a soft surface like carpet.
Posted by: Derek | January 29, 2008 at 01:16 PM
I'm not sure that counts as mobile, cause you'd need a car. Let's define mobile as what you can take on the subway. Here you can view mine: http://makelightreal.com/reviews/camera-bag/
Posted by: World Wedding Photojournalist | January 31, 2008 at 01:11 PM
Neil - Subway, Ha! There is no public transportation in Katy TX and so I'm "lucky" in that I take my car with me to my shoots. Even when I go into Houston it makes more sense for me to drive since it takes FOREVER to get most places and it really wouldn't be safe for me to be hauling my equipment with me. I haven't taken the paper with me yet to a client home but I've been able to take everything else and a black fabric backdrop into a client home with one trip to my car between a wheeled cart and shoulder bag.
Derek, I think my carpet is fairly firm so even with my daughter sitting on the stool shown it did not poke through. Maybe for a bigger kid. Certainly having something firm under the paper would have been helpful. I know a lot of people use plexiglass over their paper but I didn't want something that big that I'd have to haul around with me. When the weather improves I could definitely see rolling this out in my garage instead which would be much better.
Posted by: Jessica | January 31, 2008 at 05:10 PM
Shannon, the big basket was something I got on clearance at Target in the fall for something like $8! It is super strong so sometimes I use it to stand on if I need extra height, I use it for kids and adults to sit on, and for babies to sit in. It is by far one of the best investments I've made in props!
Posted by: Jessica | February 01, 2008 at 09:30 PM
Love your bees ;-)
I see you are using a paper backdrop. How do you like that compared to muslin? obviously it works but how about durability?
Using any fill light?
I like the setup, simple as it may be it just seems to work :-)
Posted by: peter | November 03, 2008 at 02:45 PM
do you use this set up for your outdoor shoots? Not the backdrop, but the alien bees? For any fill or anything? Or your outdoor shorts are all natural lighting? Was just curious.
Posted by: Scott Webb | November 07, 2008 at 12:02 PM
This is no longer my active email address. Email sent to the account is forwarded to my new address but I encourage you to update your address book. Im using a less spam friendly email address now as this provider tends to have problems with accounts getting hacked quite frequently and I get a lot of spam on this domain too.
Posted by: Jessica Grieves | April 09, 2012 at 11:02 PM
This is no longer my active email address. Email sent to the account is forwarded to my new address but I encourage you to update your address book. Im using a less spam friendly email address now as this provider tends to have problems with accounts getting hacked quite frequently and I get a lot of spam on this domain too.
Posted by: Jessica Grieves | July 27, 2012 at 08:24 PM