How to Make a Poor Man's Photography Studio

Select a room for your home studio that has white walls and fairly high ceilings, advises Scott Bourne on the Better Digital Photography website. White walls make it easier to work because they don't cast strange colors onto the pictures and they can brighten pictures that require a lot of light. The ceiling should be at least two feet higher than the tallest subject you plan to shoot, Bourne says.

Determine whether you will need a dressing room. If you do a lot of portraits, head shots or fashion shots, you may need an area close by for your models and clients to change clothes, touch up hair and makeup and wait while you work, Bourne says. Set up a place in the studio or nearby, such as a coffee room, a large bathroom or a large walk-in closet. Install flattering lighting and enough mirrors and hangers for your models and clients to change and touch up comfortably. Include a makeup table as well.

Set up your studio lighting. You may use strobe lights and if you have a window, purchase or make curtains or blinds so that you can use natural light when you want to, Bourne says. Position the lights and camera equipment so that they do not obstruct the picture or make the room so cluttered that clients cannot come in and out. Use equipment with wheels that you can easily move in and out of the room. Devote an empty wall in your studio to photo backdrops.

Set up storage space in or near your studio where you can keep equipment that would otherwise clutter the studio when you are not using it. Do not expose your studio to the elements via leaking roofs or faulty plumbing. Use surge protectors to prevent electrical surges from damaging your equipment.

Set up a work desk in your studio so that you can lay out photos and organize your work. If using a computer and printer, make sure that your desk is sturdy enough that it will not wobble or topple, causing your computer and printer to fall.