A still life studio setup - photo by THOR

If you have some extra space, the logical course is to build your own.  A lot of people suggest renting, which is fine if you live somewhere rental studios are available.  If you live outside a major market, chances are slim of finding one advertised.

That means building one.  Unless you’re a professional and need to front the money to build a studio from scratch, I’d suggest starting small and working your way up.  Adding a little at a time as you can afford it.

The minimum you’ll need to get started is a room at least 20 x 20 with high ceilings and a lot of power outlets.  Paint the walls white or 18 percent gray.  No matter what type of lighting you use, there will be back-scatter.  You don’t want reflected color from the walls creeping into your skin tones.

The first three things you’ll want to buy are a background holder, at least one roll of background material and a ring flash.  Now the last one you’ll find quite a bit of disagreement over.  More often photographers are going to suggest a three-point light system of either studio flash or fixed lights.

I go with the ring flash for versatility.  With a good one, like this model from Alien Bees,  you can shoot portraits, fashion, glamour, and macro photography with the same flash.  You can also use a ring flash off the camera as a flash unit or bounce it into an umbrella or reflector.  To me there are few lighting options better than a quality ring flash.

Background holders can run from the inexpensive and simple to the wildly complex and expensive. I would suggest starting simple and add the more complex if you find yourself changing backgrounds a lot.

The backdrops themselves, there you have an almost infinite number of choices.  Solid colors, patterns, chroma screens.  I’d suggest starting with at least one slate grey or neutral Muslin and a green screen.  With a green screen you can chroma in almost any background in post processing.  The next color to add is white.

That’s really all you need to get going.  After that you’ll want some modeling lights, like this Alien Bees Octabox.  Umbrella lights, and a light on taller stand or a snoot for highlights.

From there you can start building your prop collection.  Stools, chairs, mini-tramps, whatever you think will make a good prop in a portrait.

Disclaimer:  You may notice I mention Alien Bees a lot.  Just so you know, I don’t get a dime of endorsements from them or any other equipment manufacturer.  Anything I recommend is because I like it and use it.