And here is my own studio:

That consists of:

1. A backdrop stand with a white paper roll (other colours also).
2. A main light with a softbox (on a light stand).
3. A fill light with an umbrella (on a light stand).
4. A hair light with a snoot (on a light stand).
5. A background light with a grid and yellow gel (in this case, a speedlight on a clamp).

Other necessities include:

1. Pocketwizards to fire the first flash and the speedlight (the rest can use the built-in “cell”).
2. A stool.
3. Music (so not “silence in the studio”!).
4. Lots of props.
5. Lots of extras lights and modifiers.

I used three strobes and one speedlight in the shoot a couple of days ago. That setup pictured above gave me shots like these:

Where it is easy to enhance the saturation of yellow (and to go horizontal if you wish):

Or indeed to go back to black (and white), where it’s all about the shadows:

You can use the colours you shot:

Or you can go “desaturated”:

This shot, at first, seems to shout for colour:

But the same shot in B/W gives you new possibilities – e.g. to darken the lips a little and make the face stand out extra pale and beautiful:

What I like about studio shooting is that exposure is always perfect, provided you meter or guess it right in the first shot, and further, that you have control over everything. And that means you can now concentrate on expressions and ideas, not just on aperture and shutter settings.

PS: those of you who are in LinkedIn and do not yet have a headshot: contact me and have me make one. To be taken seriously, you need a headshot, and I mean need. No blanks, and no snapshots – those are two deadly sins.

___

I recommend you learn studio-style shooting and those of you who come spend the days with me at Niagara School of Imaging will learn all this, as will those who come to me for private or planned training (as in, Sheridan College Oakville starting in September).