There are definitely many advantages in setting up your own home studio, the main benefit being that you can save a lot of money, because you have your very own home studio. There are many commercial studios that will allow you to rent their studio and equipment for a certain amount of money, but if you have your own home studio then you no longer have to spend extra to rent a studio and the required lighting equipment.
If you don’t have your own studio, aside from having to pay to rent for the use of a commercial studio, you would also need to schedule your photo sessions around their schedule. When you have your own studio you don’t have to work on someone else's schedule. You never know when inspiration will strike and having a home studio ready for you to use at any time, will definitely be beneficial to your growth as a photographer.
One of the benefits of studio photography is that you are in absolute control of all the elements within that space, and this is because you control all lighting aspects in that environment. People often have this idea that working in a home studio, or other photography studio means being in a controlled and formal environment. That is not always the case since there is still a lot of room for creative situations that you can try out in your home studio. You may in fact, discover some very dramatic effects that are stunning in your studio work.
When setting up your own home photography studio, you might want to consider that some photography studios have glass areas or windows, that allow natural light to spill in. Other studios known as ‘blackout studios’ do not have any natural light coming inside the room and they rely solely on the lighting equipment being used in the studio. Whether you would choose one over the other, would depend on how you would want to work with lights, natural or artificial.
Any budding photographer knows the importance of lighting when it comes to taking photos; it is basically why we can capture images on film or in a digital sensor. Light is our means of communicating and translating what we see from our view finder to our images or photos. It directly affects the subject and the image. Without it, you'll have to raise your ISO to 1600, 3200, or even 12800, use a tripod, slow down the shutter speed, and open your aperture all the way to a decent exposure.
Lighting will give you flexibility and control in whichever area of studio photography you would like to explore. Unlike natural light, which varies depending on the time of day or weather, it changes, even during the same shoot, forcing the photographer to continually adapt to the shifts in light. Studio lighting will allow you to place the light where you want it, where you want the light to fall, and how much light you want. That is why when you are setting up your very own home studio you have to make important decisions when it comes to lighting, so that it is done correctly. It also allows for a greater degree of creative lighting in many situations.
When you have the right lighting equipment you will be able to try and experiment on a lot of different photographic techniques and experiments. This is especially good for the creative photographer that gets bored easily; the possibilities are endless!
The choice of what equipment to start buying for your home photography studio will be like mapping out your journey before you take the trip. Before laying out the path, we have to find out what we need, to travel in order to get from point A to point B.
A few things that will cross your mind will be whether it would be advisable to splurge or be thrifty with your investment for lighting equipment for your studio. It's all going to depend on the budget that you are working with, what type of photography you plan to shoot, and what your future plan with the equipment is.
If you look around the internet, you might read a lot suggesting investing more on expensive equipment. This may set you back and have you thinking twice about setting up your own photography studio at home. But you must consider in the long run whether you'd be benefiting from the better performing equipment. Sometimes the saying, "you get what you pay for" is very true in photography lighting equipment.
It may be wise and advisable to invest in more expensive lighting and photography equipment if you can, but it is not necessarily required. Now if you don't have the budget at the moment, to purchase expensive lighting equipment, you should not lose hope and give up on setting up your own home photography studio. It is still possible to have your own studio, even while working on a tight budget. You can purchase less expensive starter equipment to begin with and upgrade as soon as you can. Sometimes you can also find good quality lighting that is used, from a photographer who is upgrading their equipment.
You have to remember that whether you will be purchasing expensive equipment or looking at cheaper models, it is important that you do the necessary research in order to ensure that you buy equipment that is stable enough, and made of good quality to meet your basic photographic needs. If it doesn't, no price is a good one, and it will hurt your work. If clients aren't happy with the work, your studio won't grow.
Now going back to working on a budget for your home photography studio, you can start with a one light set up at first. There is no need to go crazy and buy a whole photography store if you are working on a tight budget. Even if you are purchasing photography lighting equipment one piece at a time, you can still get the most out of it by mastering all possible photography & lighting techniques, exploring the possibilities, and studying the limitations with your one light set up.
After you have mastered your one light set up you can then move on to purchasing your next piece of photography and lighting equipment, which might be a two light set up. From there, acquire the same mastery before moving on to your next lighting purchase.
Whether you are looking at using your home photography studio as a place to practice and perfect your craft in studio photography, or are considering using your studio in your own business, you have to be realistic and look into the business side of having your own home photography studio.
In the long run, you would definitely want to start earning with the photos that you produce from your home studio, but while you are still learning the ropes of lighting and studio photography you can actually start earning income from your studio by renting it out to other budding photographers. Keep in mind however, that renting out your home photography studio to other photographers also means renting out your studio equipment. That is why it is important to make sure that you invest in studio equipment that will also be good enough for other photographers to use. This is another reason why it is ideal that you invest in equipment that would be enticing for other photographers as well.
By renting out your home photography studio to other photographers you can start getting a return on investment with the lighting and photography equipment you have purchased immediately. Just make sure to have procedures and policies in place to ensure that your equipment is handled with care.