Video Studio Tate

This page describes one way to set up a home studio without breaking your bank!

Here I will explain and describe my home studio setup. all of my portrait shots were taken with this home studio, so if your trying to find out how it performs, check out my gallery, however thats limited by my skill, better examples to look at may be Si’s work or some of Claire’s. their setups are slightly different.

Below is a shot of my home studio:





My Equipment

The Interfit ex150 kit comes with two 150 watt/sec flash heads, two lighting stands, a 60x60cm softbox, a white translucent umbrella, power cables and sync cord. I have 2 of these kits so the equipment is doubled up. If you are worried about the power from a 150w head, don’t be, I use them on half power the majority of the time.



1) 100% re-charge ready light

2) Infra red cell and flash receptor

3) Mains Plug and Fuse Holder (6.3 amp)

4) On/Off Power

5) Modelling lap control. Position I = Full power. Middle = Off. Position II = Proportional mode.

6) Test button

7) Sync lead connection between camera and flash head (connect to PC sync socket or a hotshoe adapter on your camera)



Cover is removable and washable and is an elasticated fit over the base which also doubles up as a diffuser. I’l warn you that the advertising for this product is so poor. The sample pics they use are terrible in my opinion, and i bet they lose a whole bunch of customers this way. I assure you that it performs alot better than what they show.



Above: Example of what can be achieved.





The IRX fits into the camera hotshoe, and emits a wide infrared beam which will trigger any infrared sensitive flash unit, so eliminating the need for a sync cord between the camera and flash unit and any worries about sync voltages on DSLR’s.

Lens?

I cant recommend the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM highly enough. Its a cracking lens and produces sharp and detailed results. However, you do need a little space to play with. IdeallyI have double doors that open up into my living room, this gives me the requires space. If you are really limited on space, i would go no higher than a 30mm.

I also have the EF 50 mm f/1.8II which is a great little lense and produces sharp results, considering you can pick it up for around £50 if you look in the right places.

Video tour:

Setup and Settings

First of all, I am going to say don’t just copy what write here… Experiment! thats the fun in it and you will get better results.

The lights that illuminate the front of the subject want to be around 4ft away from them and the bottom edge of the softbox at around chin height pointing down at a 45degree angle. have the lights at the back the same hight too, but experiment at which angle you tilt them.

Something to Remember:

Make sure your subject isn’t sat to near the vertical bit of the backdrop, as this will result on the rear lights flooding on to them causing a horrible misty effect like the below. If you sit them away from it and your still getting this misty effect, chances are the flash is too powerful, so just turn it down.



above: Sat to near the backdrop/flash too powerful

I shoot most of the time with my lights on half power. with these settings:



Again, experiment with your settings to achieve different results!

Below is a diagram of my home studio setup:



Now, im not saying this is the only way to setup a home studio, far from it… but this is one successful way of doing so, without going bankrupt! Please post your comments and questions and I will eagerly get back to you. Hope this helped.

Written by Shaun SnapAlley.com

With the advanced technology, the photographers can create mesmerizing videos and images. The advanced digital photography is used in movies. Spiderman climbing the walls is the result of this digital photography. One deploys this photography not only in the movies but also in the news stations. The weatherman forecasting weather against the backdrop of the moving pictures of the world map is the consequence of the advanced photography. These results are possible with a green screen technology that enables a photographer to create pictures beyond imagination. This technology involves the process of replacing the green or blue color background with another image in a photograph or video.

Green screen is a technique of photographing a subject against a green or blue color backdrop. Once you photograph the subject, one can replace the background color with any selected image. In this kind of photography, you should keep few things in mind in order to prepare a flawless and visually appealing picture. The choice of the color in the background is a crucial decision. One can deploy only blue or green color in this photography. The reason behind the choice of these two shades is that they are sensitive to image sensors in the camera. One should ensure that the subject should not wear a green or blue color used in the background. You can deploy a blue shade in the background if you want to exhibit sea behind the subject. Green color is ideal if one wants to show a green hilly area as a background of the subject. You should use a high quality camera. The good quality of the camera enables a photographer to capture high quality picture or video. You are able to collect fine quality footage with a good camera. A person can also use proper lighting while photographing the subject. Good lighting avoids any kind of shadow in the final video or photograph. After photographing the subject, you can then replace the background with the selected image.

A photographer should deploy high quality software as it can produce a perfect picture or a video. There is much such video editing software available in the market. One can also verify the information about the software from Internet.

I recently purchased the Canon HV-40 camcorder. Wow! What a big improvement over the Canon GL2. The Canon GL2 is a fantastic camera, but it is just a bit older technology and it is not High Definition quality. There is a real discernible difference in the final result.

I was disappointed by the inability to capture video using Sony Movie Studio 8. I did several Google searches and all I saw was frustration by other users. I found no readily available solutions, and that is why I wanted to make this post available to others.

I attempted to capture video on two different XP computers – one was with the XP-64 operating system and the other was the standard 32 bit XP version. The same error message showed up on each computer. Actually, the same error message kept showing:

“The Device ‘Microsoft AV/C Tape Subunit Device’ could not be opened. Please make sure that it is turned on and is not being used by another application or user.”

I tried using Movie Maker that comes installed on XP and experienced the same error. By the way, I have used the same computers for several years to capture video from the Canon GL2 without any problems.

Note: A USB cable is enclosed with the HV-40. Naturally, you would think that you coule use it to capture your videos, but no way. The instruction book doesn’t make this very clear. It is used only to upload still photos from the miniSD card that you can insert into the camcorder.

You will need an OHCI compliant IEEE1394 card for your computer and the appropriate cable. I found one for only $7.50 on the web, which includes the appropriate cable. The new IEEE1394 card didn’t solve my capture problem.

I finally found a workaround solution. I downloaded freeware called HDVSplit. Because I installed that software, the problem was solved. I was able to import m2t files into Sony Movie Studio 8.0 without any apparent loss. Unfortunately, Microsoft Movie Maker doesn’t recognize the m2t files created by HDVSplit. That didn’t present a problem since I have been using Sony Movie Studio 8 software and really like it.

To summarize, if you are using Sony Movie Studio 8 and the Canon HV-40 camcorder, you can solve your capture problem by downloading the freeware HDVSplit software. It worked for me.

P. S. I did take the Canon HV-40 over to my friend’s house to try capturing with his Sony Vegas Pro 8. It captured perfectly without having to use the HDVSplit software. Sony Vegas Pro 8 is the high end version for about $599. Actually, I just checked…it is Sony Vegas Pro 9 now, and I am confident it will capture from the HV-40.

Canon support was very responsive to my pleas for help, but they couldn’t solve my problem since it wasn’t their problem. It was the Sony software problem. My version of Sony Movie Studio 8 that didn’t recognize the HV-40. I never did contact Sony for help because I solved my problem with the freeware, and therefore, didn’t need to involve Sony.