Turning a room into a studio?

What is the bare minimum that I can get away with purchasing in order to turn my

sunroom into a studio? I prefer natural light, and I have a lot of large windows in the room

on three sides to help me out, but would like to have the versatility of shooting into

evening hours if I need too. I would like to use this room for headshots and basic

portraits. The floor is berber style carpeting- would it be better to use muslim rather than

paper backdrop? Any resources you can provide for getting started in this area would be

wonderful!!<br>

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<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/annetics/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/

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<i>Good potential for a naturally lit studio?</i>

I'd get a couple of slide projector screens, use them as fill reflectors . I'd add some foamcore, that assistants can hold. I personally don't like muslin backdrops, preferring seemless paper, which I hang from some wooden brackets on my wall, but you may want to make a background stand out of PVC or buy one for about $80-120. Before you buy lots of studio flashes for nighttime work, I'd try bouncing a manual flash (or two) off of one or both of the slide projector screens. If you have a digital camera, testing becomes soo much easier. For a headshot background, you can get away with draping a cloth over one of the slide projector screens. if you want a very white background, place a slide projector screen behind the person and light it with manual flash between the back of the head and the screen a few feet away. You'll have to try lots of flash ratios to get things working well.

Anne, I'm drooling over that room! I wish I had an extra room with all that natural light!

 

I've been creating some nice shots with 1 Alien Bee(800) in a 60" Softliter, a reflector for fill, and a slaved flash for a hair/backlight. I really want a second Bee for that, but it has gotten me by as I get started.<div></div>

The Berber carpeting will ruin seamless paper backdrops even if your subjects arent wearing spiky heels. Maybe you're able to put some wooden panels between backdrop and carpet. On the other hand there's no reason to stand on the backdrop for a headshot.

Great room - the windows, the space, the neutral colors... You got half your work done already.

 

One suggestion I'd make is to get some curtains for the windows, since you're going to be wanting to block one or the other at times. If there's direct sunlight at times, two curtains would be great - one translucent, for a soft, even light, and the other to block the light.