Opening a portrait studio. Any suggestions on what to get?

[a_zeitler]

Hello, I will be opening a small portrait studio in the near furture, hopefully within a few weeks. I already have 2 White Lightning Ultrazap 800's and 1 Ultrazap 1600. I also have three light stands with casters, a background light stand, white lightning control RC-1 with cables, cameras nikon d200 & mamiya rb67 ( with appropriate lenses), an acceptable tripod/head for now.

Here is a list of the other items I will be getting in the very near future:

- 2 36"x48" soft boxes
- 1 16"x22" soft box for hair light
- 1 36"x50" softbox with grid
- Boom arm
- reflector (7 in 1 collapsable)
- Shovel background reflector
- assorted honeycomb grid light mods with holder for gels
- assorted backdrops (black, white, and assorted patterns/scenes - 10'x12' minimum)
- Pocket Wizards
- sekonic wireless module chip for light meter
- photo shooting tent for object photography


The studio will be in the basement of another business that a friend owns. It is small at only 16' wide but is very long at approx. 50' long. and right around 8' ceilings. It is not the greatest, but the price is right and it will do wonders for me while I build a portfolio and learn what I need to.

The walls are cinder blocks that will get painted in a satin black, the ceiling rafters will be covered in black fabric or particle board painted black.


If anyone out there can try to fill me in on what else I may need that I am forgetting about. I would greatly appreciate it. I am new to the portrait/studio scene but want to dive in head first. I have been in a studio and worked with lights before, but never working with models or people. Again, if there is ANYTHING that anyone can think of, I would greatly appreciate the feedback and help.

Feel free to PM about your suggestions.

[dang]

There's several people around that can give you some great advice on this. Sean, and Ben among them. Sean will probably answer, since he's in the forums a lot. You might also check these links where Ben answered some questions for me, that gives a good insight into working with models, and building a portfolio:
http://forum.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?t=31346&highlight=
http://forum.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?t=31348&highlight=
http://forum.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?t=31361&highlight=

Good luck, and hope you're a great success!

[a_zeitler]

WOW, all I wanted to know was what some of the products are that experienced people with a studio have, and some things that would be helpful or that I overlooked. I guess no one has a studio or cares to share their experiences. What a dead forum!

dang, thanks for th input. I checked over it and bookmarked the pages.