Choosing the right accessories has always been a great concern for a studio photographer. There are a lot of accessories required for studio photography and the list is never-ending. No matter, how many accessories you get, you will still feel that something is missing. So, today I’ll be talking about the 5 most essential accessories to have in your photo studio which will increase your efficiency and workflow.
1. A-Clamps
This is the most important thing to have as a studio photographer. I ordered 10 of them, and believe me, this has proved to be one of my best investments to date. They are useful for holding reflectors, cardboards, any type of diffusion material in place. You can attach 2 of them to both sides of your paper backdrop roll to prevent it from rolling down, as shown in the image below.
And the best part about them is that they are so cheap. You can get a set of these which contains 10 of them at about Rs.600 or so. Do consider buying these if you work in a studio or a controlled lighting environment. You can find the link to buy them below-
2. Tripod
No matter if you are a studio or a landscape photographer, a tripod is the most basic accessory that every photographer should have in his/her camera bag. Talking about studio photography, when you are doing a product shoot or a food commercial for a restaurant, you would always need a tripod for the same as you’ll be controlling your camera remotely. You need a tripod to get sharper and more focused images.
OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
There are many options to choose from very basic tripods to more advanced ones. Some popular brands include Vanguard, Manfrotto, Sirui, and MeFoto. You can go with any of them if you have a budget of about Rs.10,000+. I personally use Vanguard coz one of my photographer friend recommended it to me and I really loved the quality they offer. It is so sturdy and has every single feature which a good tripod should have. The model I use is Alta 2 Pro+ 263AB 100 and it costed me about Rs.14-15k, but it’s totally worth it! Ultimately, you get what you pay for! Manfrotto is also a great choice to go for but it is quite expensive, but again, it’s totally worth it. I haven’t used Manfrotto before, so I obviously cannot review it.
Some may argue that what is the need to spend so much on a tripod, and earlier I totally agreed with this statement until I myself bought one. The branded ones obviously offer you more quality and they are a lot sturdier than the cheap local ones. If you have spent so much on a professional DSLR or a mirrorless camera, you can’t rely on a cheap local-made tripod. You literally have no idea that when your camera may fell down and get broken into pieces. So it is worth spending on a good tripod rather than paying more to the camera company;)
Here is the one that I use-
3. Diffusers and Reflectors
Another important thing which you must have in your photo studio is a reflector and diffuser. You can get a set of 5 in 1 reflector which contains a piece of diffusion material, a white side, a black side, a silver and a gold one. White and silver are usually used to bounce back light coming from a particular direction, the gold one is used to bounce back light with a touch of golden color, black is used for a negative fill or for blocking light, and diffuser is obviously used to soften the light. Once you know how to use these reflectors and diffusers, you can really boost up your skills.
You can also use some other things along with this such as a piece of white and black cardboard from the required direction to step up further. Let’s look at an image I shot a few days back.
In the above shot, as you can see in the BTS, I’ve just used a hard white sheet that bounced back light coming from the strip box on the other side, thus, acting as a fill light from the right. You can even use butter paper as diffusion material to soften the light. It’s really very cheap and one of the best things you can use!
So, you can use anything to control light. It can be a DIY thing or a specialized reflector. Combination of both works great.
4. Boom/C-Stand
Another important piece of accessory to have in your studio is (at least 1) Boom/C-Stand. They are very very useful. Other than mounting studio lights on them, you can hang anything on them. For instance, if you are shooting for a footwear company, and you want the product to be elevated in the air. You can use one of these stands and can hang the product on it using a nylon-string or so. They are also used for overhead lighting when shooting portraits. By placing the strobe overhead, butterfly lighting is achieved. Apart from this, these can be used to hang modifiers, diffusion material, backdrops, and whatnot.
If you’ll be mounting a heavy studio strobe on one of these, consider buying a C-Stand instead of a boom because they are much more durable and can take a lot more weight than a boom stand. Whereas, if you just want to mount your Speedlight or anything lightweight, you can get a boom stand. C-stands are available in various heights, so get one according to your requirements.
5. Color Gels
Your studio setup and accessories are incomplete without having a set of one of these color gels. Put it over one of your lights and BOOM, you get a completely different image instantly. Isn’t that amazing? These are often used to add color to your background, but you can use them for anything you want.
In this picture, originally the color of the backdrop was grey, but I placed a Speedlight behind the bottle with a blue color gel attached to it and turned it towards the backdrop. And, this is how you can achieve a background of your color choice. Simple, fast, and easy.
I am providing a link to this product down below, but I do not recommend buying these from Amazon because they are quite expensive here. You can get these from any local stationery shop at a lot cheaper price. I got a single piece of it for just Rs.5, which means it cost me only Rs.30 to get 6 colors. Isn’t that a crazy difference in price!
These were the Top 5 most important accessories that a studio photographer must have. Soon, I’ll be coming up with part 2 of the same article. I didn’t talk about the basic things such as lighting, stands (except that boom/c-stand), tables, glass pieces, and all that because they are very basic and I’m assuming that everyone already owns that kind of stuff.
If you have any queries regarding the same, fill out this form, and I’ll be more than happy to assist you in your photography journey:)