Basic Equipment to setup a Portrait studio

Basic Equipment to setup a Portrait studio

So, you’ve been toying with the idea and now you want to take the plunge and start your own portrait studio. You might have been thinking that it is something that is out of your reach. “I can’t afford the overhead on a studio or lighting equipment is too expensive.” Well, good news, fabulous photographs are possible to create from your home and you may not need as much equipment as you think you do.

A studio can easily be set up in your home or other small space. The first thing to remember when you are setting up your studio space is KEEP IT SIMPLE. When you are in a photo session you want to be able to have your mind on the customer 90% of the time rather than fussing with your equipment.
Let’s start with the camera. There are so many options when it comes to cameras. I would recommend deciding what your budget is and then read reviews by other photographers to chose the best one for you. Really, you don’t need the best or top of the line camera to do the job. There are plenty of cameras that are plenty sufficient and will do the job you need, without burning a hole in your pocket.
Really when it comes to a camera your money should really be put into the lens. Your camera is only as good as the lens that you attach to it. Again, I would recommend reading reviews on the lenses that you are looking at. There are many forums and websites that list reviews on photography equipment. Some that have been found to be very helpful are fredmiranda.com, dpreview.com, the-digital-picture.com (this website reviews are specifically for canon cameras and lenses).
When you are buying a lens the length is a very important criteria for portrait photographers. You want to be sure to have a lens that will flatter your subject. As a general rule for head and shoulder portraits the length of your lens should be double the diagonal of the film plane or in the case these days the digital sensor. For example, the diagonal measurement of a full size senor is 45mm therefore your lens should be 90mm or even longer for flattering portraits. You would probably also want a wider lens for full length or group portraits. However, if you are on a tight budget you could probably get away with buying one lens that will fit all your immediate needs. Something around the range of 28-135mm or there about, which will give you the wide angle for larger groups and also the telephoto for close-ups on individuals.
When buying any lens be sure to purchase at least a UV filter to protect the lens. There are all kinds of filters that each serves different purposes. If on a budget, other than the UV filter you don’t necessarily need any filters. You may possibly want a soft focus filter, as they are flattering in portraiture, however, you can add the effect afterwards in Photoshop if you don’t have the filter.
Next we come to the actual studio set up. You will need at least 2 lights: a main light and a background light. It is best to use a soft box on the main light, as it will create a much softer light than an umbrella. A background light or a hair light is needed to create separation between the background and the subject. Otherwise you photograph will look flat. If you can afford it having a background and a hair light is optimal, and then adding another light as a fill light would be nice to fill in some shadows, however, a reflector will do the job. You can purchase a reflector or you can make your own using a large piece of Styrofoam or white cardboard. You don’t have to spend a fortune on lights either. You can find lighting kits reasonably priced at many photography supply stores.
In addition to lights you will also need some posing stools, or at least something that you can sit your clients on for their portraits, a light meter, and backgrounds with a stand or other means of hanging it. There are all kinds of props out there, but none are immediately necessary if you are limited. They can be acquired over time.
Since proper exposure is an obvious must for good portraits you will need to purchase a light meter. There are all kinds of light meters out there and they can get pretty expensive. For studio portraits you will just need an incident meter (which measure the light that is falling on the subject. This will run you any where from $150-$800.
Next, we come to backgrounds. This is an important piece to every portrait. The background is what sets the stage and helps create the overall feeling of each portrait.
One quick tip to choosing a backdrop during a session is to choose a backdrop that is similar to the clothing of your client. This way the clothing will blend with the backdrop and the focal point will be your clients face, rather than their sweater or the backdrop. The backdrop is there to enhance your subject, not to distract from it.
There are many different kinds of backdrops. Dyed, painted, computer printed, on paper, muslin, duck, and canvas. The most economic is probably paper. However, you are very limited by paper and you have to replace it often. Dyed muslin is a great way to go when you are just starting up your studio. It is affordable, durable, portable, easily stored, and even washable. If you have the funds it is definitely worth having a few hand painted backdrops in your collection. Hand painted backgrounds on both muslin and canvas tend to have more dimension and are quite beautiful. However, they are more expensive and usually are not washable. To determine what backdrop is best for you, ask your self a few questions first. What kind of portraits will you be taking? If you photograph children more often you may want to lean towards dyed backdrops because they are washable. If you are photographing formal portraits, such as business headshots or bridals, you may want to go with hand painted for a richer look. Will you be traveling with your backdrops? The dyed travel well and also photograph well even if they are a little wrinkly. However, if you have a truck you can travel with the painted backdrops rolled.
Some basic backdrop that every studio should have: black, white for high key portraits, blue for general use, a deep brown is always good to have for formal portraits, such as a business head shot, and possibly a pastel for children and bridals. Once again, you don’t have to buy a ton all at once. Just have a solid base selection and your collection will grow over time.
Please note that there is no such thing as a bad background, just different ones for different purposes.
You will also need a background stand or some kind of system for hanging your backdrop. The most versatile choice is probably to get your self a portable background stand. They very inexpensive, are easy to set up, easy to travel with if need be, and are compact when stored if you have a temporary studio space. You could also purchase a roller system or a hanger system. It really all depends on the space and budget that you have.

In addition to your studio space you will also want a place for dealing with customers. This could be a home office or even your kitchen table.

Remember, keep it simple and take plenty of time to practice and get comfortable with your equipment and working space so that each client session can go as smoothly as possible.

Good luck and enjoy your new studio!!

By AuraBackdrops
www.aurabackdrops.com

A Brief History of Pop Art – Part 2

Pop art started in the USA during the earlier period of the 1960’s. But it was already making its presence felt in the late fifties. Pop art was basically an art movement which aimed to replace the abstract mode of artistic expression with messages that are easier to understand. The pioneers of this art movement were Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. The boom of this art movement or phenomenon mainly happened in New York City. The initiators of Pop art believed that the metaphysical complexities of abstract art are already out of tune as times and people had become different. As its followers believed in the power of easy to recognize images of common items, pop art introduced new objects such as flags, maps and targets or stuffed animals and rubber tires on paintings. Irony, sarcasm, and mockery were the favorite aspects of this art movement. Pop art in many ways was a form of rebellion to the dictates of traditional expressionism. According to pop art, confining ourselves to the old rules of the arts can make us stagnant as they fit only with the old era.

Some of the known advocates of this new artistic movement were Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. They shocked the painting world with their works that courageously introduced pop culture symbols such as comic strips, advertisements, and media images. Pop art was not just a far cry from the traditional rules on visual expression. It was in itself a slap in the face to the dictates of abstract painting style. Because the public could easily relate to its features, pop art gained the appreciation and support of many art critic groups. But in spite of that traditional abstract expressionism continued to flourish as it is the respected root of classic art. As they say, nothing beats the original. As pop art maintained its mockery activities, it did not reduce the popularity of abstract expressionism.

As abstract expressionism prevailed, pop art also continued to make its presence felt. The rivalry between these two styles resulted in the establishment of two new schools of abstraction: minimalist art and color-field painting. Minimalist art reduced art to its bare elements in reaction to the flamboyance of abstract expressionism. Frequently criticized for being too unapproachable, minimalist art has also been celebrated for its unprecedented immediacy. It attains this immediacy through abstract form, absence of decorative detail, and emphasis on geometry. On the other hand, color-field artists moved toward a more impersonal and austerely intellectual aesthetic. In their works they dealt with what they considered to be the fundamental formal elements of abstract painting. These elements are pure, unmodulated areas of color, flat and two-dimensional space, monumental scale, and the varying shape of the canvas itself.

Pop art and abstract expressionism engaged in a somewhat bitter rivalry in the American sixties. These two artistic styles struggled to get hold of the public’s support. While abstract expressionism tried to keep its old tradition and rules, pop art considered its rival an elitist approach that influenced America’s consumer society.

Where To Buy Good Oil Painting

Where To Buy Good Oil Painting?
In the previous articles we had looked at information on “How to make an Oil painting and how to buy one?” This article discusses where we could get a high quality painting.
When we think of paintings all we can think of are places like museums, art galleries and louvers. But wait a second aren’t we forgetting something? Our very own art galleries and shopping mart right in our living rooms, that’s right we could have all the goodies, packaged right into our desktop through virtual art gallery websites.
With few clicks of the mouse we could look through an entire collection of Picasso or Van Gough. It is amazing how technology brings the work of art to us instead of we having to go seeking for them.
Online art galleries provide us with a wide collection of paintings and integrate a shopping cart. You could choose your favorite paintings, which could later be sorted and bought, at your convenience.

What to look for?

What is offered: A site that offers custom as well as ready-made paintings. The Ready-Made ones are displayed as images (Thumbnails and Enlargements). The custom paintings are made out of your ideas, a mock up of the design is shown to you prior to making the final version.
The topics for paintings are cubism, abstract, landscape, women, people, self-portrait and many more.

Payment Policy: Look for secure mode of internationally accepted methods such as 2checkout.com or 2co.com.

Delivery: The mode of delivery should be through trusted delivery methods such as UPS or DHL packaged in strong tubes

Refund Policy: Look for a refund policy such as a seven-day money back guarantee due to any discrepancy in the final Oil painting that is delivered.

The online stores such as canvaz offers a wide variety of Paintings and services such as Portrait Painting, Commission a Portrait, wholesale purchase and reseller paintings. These sites provide a way to get home a genuine work of art both economically as well as safely. Selling only 1000 paintings a year never compromises the quality of painting.

The businesses covered are under categories of Popular art, Reproduction of Old Masters work, and Portrait service. The initial payment is set at a nominal 33% when you are satisfied with the work then the rest of the payment could be made. It is a very transparent and safe way of buying or reselling paintings over the internet.

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Book reviews: Loopy, by Hardie Gramatky

“Little Toot” wasn’t his only children’s character. Two years later Hardie Gramatky wrote and illustrated another story about a child-like airplane (who looks a lot like the red-cheeked tugboat). “Loopy is a small airplane,” the first page announces – “the kind that flyers cheerfully call a hedgehopper.” A picture shows the speeding airplane with big round eyes and a smile on its face. It startles the cows and donkeys on the ground as it takes off over the trees. And in one drawing, it even flies over a familiar-looking tugboat in the river!

The funny drawings are filled with broad swatches of colors – something you’d expect from a former Disney animator. But Hardie Gramatky talent had many admirers. Two years ago Andrew Wyeth was asked to make a list of the greatest American artists in watercolors, and he named Edward Hopper, George O’Keefe Winslow Homer….and Hardie Gramatky. One drawing is filled with red – the drawing that warns “One mistake, and the ground feels very hard indeed.” And another illustrates Loopy’s feeling like “something shot out of a Roman candle” by drawing his trail across the sky as a spectacular pink streak. There’s a tight pink circle as the plane dreams of soaring across the sky. One reviewer described many of the book’s colors as “nautical blues and greens and stormy blacks, painted in a dashing off-hand manner.”

Loopy flies student pilots – who sometimes fly him too close to the jets, or once, straight into a clothesline. The plane winces as he bounces along a runway, leading to a lengthy grounding and service by mechanics. What does Loopy want? To fly free across the sky, without a pilot to steer him. He writes “Loop the loop with Loopy” in fancy letters across the sky, and soars speedily in front of a flock of seagull. But instead, a showoff climbs inside the disappointed plane

“The wind blew like a hurricane” as the amateur flies directly into a storm cloud. The lightning flashes in their face. The instrument dials glare like angry faces. And then the pilot abandons Loopy altogether. But the plane realizes this is his moment, and he rises to the challenge. “Loopy’s stubby little fuselage contains a stout heart,” reads the dust jacket. The plane pulls out of a nosedive. He startles an eagle on a hillside. He even flies derisive circles around the parachuting pilot. Loopy beams, and returns to fame – and the skywriting gig that he’s always dreamed of.

And a parade of birds follows him home in triumph.

Museum reviews: The Musee dOrsay, Paris, France

The Musee d’Orsay is the second most well stocked museum in the world right next to the Louvre itself. It is an enormous museum that specializes in famous art created from the late 19th to early 20th century. It contains pieces by Van Gogh, Renoir, Manet Monet, and many other masters. As one traveller put it, “If it is not in the Louvre, it is in the Musee d’Orsay!”

The most noteworthy aspect of this museum is one that differentiates it from all others of its kind. The Museum is actually housed in an old railroad station and thus the building itself becomes half the attraction, art in and of itself.

It specifically shows art created from 1848 to 1914. The categories are vast but a sampling of them reveals emphasis on Decorative Arts, History, Literature, Furniture, Painting, Photography, and Sculpture.

As far as specific pieces it contains many that are considered the best representations of the Impressionist (Manet, Monet, Renoir) and Expressionist (Van Gogh) movements. Even someone who would not normally feel inclined to travel to a museum would find great value in something at the museum; if not the pieces, in the unique structure of the building itself. This is one of the few museums that has the potential to turn virtually anyone into an art lover!

If I had recommend one piece for the reader to check out it would be Vincent Van Gogh’s self portrait. It is a brilliant piece and one of the best of his great and storied career. “Blue Waterlillies” by Monet (1919). The museum also houses his excellent Rouen Cathedral’ series in its entirety! The highlight of the Rodin collection in the Orsay museum is the monumental composition called The Gates of Hell’ and they also contain The Thinker, which even non enthusiasts are well acquainted with. Rodin’s works are especially monumental to the point of almost overwhelming the viewer.

This is one of the best museums on the planet and should be recommend to everyone. It’s common to hear people sigh about the Musee d’Orsay, saying they preferred it even to the Louvre. Although much smaller than the Louvre, those comments are understandable, given the concentration of beautiful 18th and 19th century artwork and the variety of the pieces. It is really a matter of preference, but everyone who knows art knows this was one of the best periods on the timeline, and this museum captures the era in epic fashion. You have to see it at least once in your lifetime.

Biography: Vincent Van Gogh – Part 10

Today as a great artist Vincent Van Gogh is memorialized for his paintings, but in his day he suffered greatly from manic depression, a form of mental illness that is now treatable with medication.

Some think the major influence on Van Gogh’s art was from manic depression that gave him a different view of the world around him.

Viewing his major work in museums, the paintings show expression about a different world aside from the ordinary world.

In some ways, Van Gogh’s work seems to be primitive for the landscapes, and because he does not show the educated styles of other artists from his day.

In today’s Van Gogh might not have led such a tortured world and with the help of medications and counseling could have led a normal life without the conflict and anguish that dominated his life. Would he still have been an artist? Maybe, maybe not.

On the other hand, he might have lived his life in a mental institution with limits on his ability to paint.

What art offered was the ability to express on canvas his views and feelings about life and the world around him.

Now manic depression has found its way into ‘pop culture,’ beginning in the 60’s with Jimmy Hendrix song line and in the 80’s, 90’s, and on by the fast paced electronic life people lead until they experience chronic sensory overload.

Van Gogh might have had a Lexus to run down the highway with a cell-phone on his ear and high tech workplace in today’s world.

In the 19th century when someone was eccentric, or mentally ill, they were often isolated from society living lives filled with despair and conflict.

One thing for certain, Vincent Van Gogh could paint without equal as seen in the many works he produced over his lifetime.

But, as some said, he gave his work away largely, and a lot of it was not appreciated, with much of his life’s work not extant because it was discarded.

Van Gogh, the artist, and as a manic depression study, all make points in his the character study, and remember, emulate the artist, not the biography.

And think about the strides that have been made in mental health since Van Gogh’s day, which at times leaves young students in Arts and Humanities to appreciate Van Gogh and the unusual lives some people lead when they have differences from the ordinary outlook on life.

Tom Mcgrath – Paintings and Exhibitions – the Saatchi Gallery

Know About Oil Painting And Its Categories

Oil paintings are considered the most versatile form among painting styles. Through the centuries, oil paintings have evolved, adopted different styles, witnessed number of genres, adopted creative influences from art forms across the world and risen in popularity. Even today, they rank among the high priced works of art and if you are planning to buy some good, original oil paintings, you better have some money in hand.

Though painters use various materials such as watercolours, charcoal, acrylic and whatever they can think of to give shape to their ideas, oil is still one of the most popular mediums, whether on canvas or on cardboard.

The four main categories of oil paintings are:

1. Landscape

Imagine an artist standing in front of a canvas perched on an easel, brush in one hand and the color plate in the other and lost in thought, you are most likely to visualise a backdrop of the mountains, sky, sea, river and forest. Since the history of landscape painting is as old as the early civilization, it has been one of the most popular subject matter for artists over the generations.

Original oil paintings of landscapes have created history, adorned museums and private collections and fetched millions of dollars and pounds in prices. Landscape paintings can be further classified into many other forms like seascapes, skycapes, moonscapes, cityscapes, etc., and is still undergoing experiments.

2. Portraiture

Well, just saying “Monalisa” should explain this I suppose. The most enigmatic portrait ever which everyone knows, even those who don’t know anything about art perhaps.

The visual appearance of people, captured in different moods and angles, in different shades of light and shadow have always been a favourite subject for artists. Moreover a portrait painting tries to highlight the inner essence of the subject rather than the physical side. Beside human beings, artists also choose animals, pets and even inanimate objects as their subjects for a portrait.

As these type of paintings are realistic in nature; great attention is paid by the artists in highlighting the minute details of facial structure, body composition, pose, mood, expression and also the backdrop.

3. Still Life

Still life oil painting is an ultimate work of art where an artist ties to depict inanimate subject matters. Close-range renditions of objects arranged on a table or other flat surface is the most common subject in this type of oil paintings.

Though each artist has his own creative ideas, typically you will find her giving importance to realistic details rather than impressionistic techniques. Since the 17th century, still life paintings have been quite popular amongst western painters and especially South African artists who have created amazing work of art on this subject.

Abstract

These types of oil paintings are simply above realism. It is a form of art that in no way has any connection to the natural world. In an abstract painting, an artist tries to depict a mood or a feeling. As there are many different styles of abstract art, it is simply impossible to categorize them specifically.

To understand an abstract painting, you need to give time to study it and analyze it. The same painting can mean different things to different people. It is the way one wants to look at it or say, define it.

There is a huge demand for original oil paintings amongst buyers who want them for their private collections.

Even if you are not an art collector and simply want to add a touch of elegance and class to your living room décor, an original oil painting can do wonders. No matter, whether you are looking for original oil paintings or giclee reproductions, you will find a huge number of them at online art gallery. All you need to do is browse and pick an original oil painting to match your taste.

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