The Photographic “Studio”

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC “STUDIO”

by William Lulow

The studio is essentially a place where light, as well as other elements that create a photograph can be controlled. It is a place where the photographer can set up all the tools he or she needs to create many different photographic results. I like to think of photographs as little “windows on the world,” wherein the photographer directs our view to what his or her vision is. This can be done through choice of subject, lighting, composition, materials, camera angles, lenses, and technical manipulations. When I say “windows on the world,” I have in my own mind, the real physical world, but my definition is sufficiently broad as to include things that may not actually “exist.” Photography, along with the graphic arts, has the ability to create images using not only physical materials that the camera can focus on, but also images without really making a representation of a real, physical object or person. If you look at the “canvas” (and it is called exactly that) in Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom, it almost looks like a theater proscenium with wings and all. Since this “window” can be aimed at anything or anyone at almost any time or anywhere the photographer chooses, things outside the window’s field of view can all add to the overall visual impact of what is inside. Another way to describe this is to say that the process of making a studio photograph entails presenting a facade which can suggest a real time or place or even nothing at all (blank, no-seam background paper, for example can create the illusion that the subject is floating or suspended in an empty space). The photographer builds “sets” in front of which subjects play out their roles in creating an illusion, which elicits a response on the part of the viewer, much like actors do in a theater or on screen in a movie.

Studios therefore, can be equipped in such a way as to be able to embellish these illusions. The most rudimentary studio however, should include at least a camera & lens, tripod, lights, light stands, a background, and reflector cards. Certainly, it is completely up to you to decide the extent to which you equip your studio, but you must be able to rely on your equipment to get the job of making a photograph done. But I am not limiting this application to the physical space of a studio. It’s more a state-of-mind that can serve to help the photographer get his or her messages across. So whether or not you have such a space doesn’t really matter to the concept.

Now the physical space itself can be anywhere that allows you to put on this “show.” It also does something else that is really important. It allows the viewer to participate and concentrate on what is taking place in the studio. If the photographer can assemble all these elements and make them all work together, then he or she should be able to do this given whatever physical space they have before them, even if it is not in an actual “studio.” What I am referring to here are “location” shots. Images made in the real world while traveling or just shooting outside. The same principles of control should be applicable.

If you learn the principles of good studio lighting, you should be able to take that knowledge and apply it to scenes you come across in the real world. You will be on the lookout for interesting lighting situations that copy the ones you would learn in the studio. It makes you concentrate more on the light that you see and how it affects people and objects in your daily travels.

So learning studio lighting will make you a much better “street” photographer as well as a good studio image maker. Here are some images that all have “studio lighting” qualities:

See if you can determine what makes the light special in each of the above images. They were all made by applying studio lighting procedures to objects in the real world. The difference is that when you’re not in the actual studio, you have to imagine it.