How can I stage a realistic-seeming jungle shoot without an actual jungle?

Question

How can I take photos of a model in a jungle or tropical setting, in my own "backyard"? I want the effect to look real, not like a fake backdrop.

Answer

• Find a stock background image that has the look you're after.

• Shoot your model on a plain background. Make sure the direction and color of the light matches as closely as possible

• extract the model from the background. Using a dark green background might make the masking easier.

-or-

• shoot in a park or backyard with lots of greenery, using a shallow DOF to hide the fact it isn't a real jungle (or as Imre suggested, shoot at night)

• hire or borrow some palms or ferns to use in the foreground. I think this would "sell" the idea it's a jungle, with the background too fuzzy to give away it's not.

or a long shot, but if you have a local zoo, they may have some areas you could use that have ferns, bamboo or other "jungle" looking greenery.

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How wide a backdrop do I need?

Question

I'm setting up a simple home studio to do portrait shots. I thought I could get away with shooting against a white wall and using shallow depth of field/umbrellas up close to isolate the brightness of the background, but as it's a relatively small room for the purpose and with all white walls this wasn't enough, so I'm now looking at background papers.

How wide do I need the background to be when using a 50mm lens (on a DX body) to shoot headshot portraits, full length portraits, and couples respectively?

Answer

With a 50mm lens on a DX (1.5x crop factor) body, at 20 feet/6 meters you can just barely get away with a standard 53" roll with the camera oriented vertically. There's not a lot of room to manoeuver at that distance; the paper edges are just barely outside of the frame. It is just adequate for a single full-length subject or a close couple, but with a 50mm lens, they're going to be pretty tight to the wall (3-4 feet max) for a full-length shot in that kind of space anyway. For a head shot, you then have your choice between bringing the subject closer to you or moving closer to the far wall yourself. Somewhere in the middle, you'll find a sweet spot compromise between your ability to control the lighting and versatility with framing (it's always easier to get the picture if you can move around the subject rather than having the subject move).

53" will not be enough for a horizontally-oriented camera unless you keep the subject tight to the wall and move considerably closer; you'd need to step up to the next standard size (107"). You don't actually need more than 80", but you're stuck buying what people sell, and the extra couple of feet gives you some fiddle room for framing.

If you have the room, the 107" option is probably better. The problem is that the rolls need to be stored vertically when they're not on the stand in order to avoid forming visible horizontal stripes -- the paper doesn't actually crease, but it does sort of get a "set" to the diameter at which it is bent, and horizontal storage creates two tighter-radius bends on every wrap of the core. Storing the paper vertically means that you need a 9-foot ceiling somewhere, and not everybody has them. If you want to frame your pictures horizontally and need to work in a small space, you may find a fabric backdrop to be a far more practical solution.

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What are the best resources for Indoor Product Photography?

Question

I would like to know if there any good online resources for indoor product photography ?

Preferably with a Table Top setup.

Im looking for commercial grade product photography tutorials/resources.

I would like to add that I already own a Tabletop setup. It includes 3 Lights, a Cube box where the product is placed etc. I would be using a Nikon D90 camera.

Answer

The book Light Science and Magic is just about the best resource on product photography for beginners. It's about lighting in general but it's written by a product photographer and most of the material and importantly the examples relates to indoor small product photography (there's a bit on portraits later on).

It's very easy to read yet in covers the vast majority of product shoots you're likely to come across, starting from basic principals (inverse square law, hard and soft light, specular and diffuse reflections) and then goes through each type of material (metal, glass, etc.) in turn, including a section on troubleshooting and emergency techniques for really difficult subjects.

The second edition is available on Google books so you can get a taste:

http://books.google.com/books?id=7NKCEt0-qlUC&dq=light+science+and+magic&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=qxwqp00iGE&sig=UkfVy9dJeJwIc3YiijdhD0pRAis#v=onepage&q&f=false

If you've got a spare $30 I'd highly recommend picking up a hard copy of the third edition.

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What equipment is required for a home studio?

Question

I'd like to convert a room downstairs into a home studio to do mostly portrait/fashion/pet photography. I have a few strobes, softboxes, and stands, but that's it. What are the bare basics needed to get started?

Answer

Start with What You Have

"What kit do I need?" It's our eternal question, isn't it?

Most of the time, I tell people to just pick up their camera and get on with it.
However: this is one of the few times when, realistically, you do need a couple of bits of kit.

In a studio, the most important additional thing is a background. This can be a plain whitewashed wall (and you'd be surprised how small an area you actually need) or a muslin, paper, etc.

As for light: a window (in the right weather) gives a lovely light, and a reflector positionned opposite the window can do a nice job as a fill.

If you've already got multiple lights and modifiers then I reckon you're more than well-enough equipped to get going. Once you've done one or two shoots, you'll soon work out if some additional kit would help.

For info: I have been working in an occasional "home studio" for a while, with a muslin background, 2 strobes on stands with umbrellas. Sometimes I'll add one or two reflectors. I've had some nice results, but I could really make good use of a couple more strobes.

Scott Kelby has some nice tips for a small studio in his Digital Photography series.

This may be relevant: Strobist.com has a great series of tutorials on getting started with small-flash photography.

PS. I'm happy to talk makes and models, but you didn't ask for that so I've left out all the gory details for now. :)

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