Our New Home Studio for Photo and Video Shoots

Spent the day yesterday playing with my new toys. Yes I finally broke down and bought a few muslin backdrops, a backdrop support and a couple softbox lights. Had to do some rearranging of the warehouse to make room for it all but it worked out perfectly.

New Photo Studio

I spent a lot of time researching different products for our new studio. We have a frequent need to take photos of new items that we’re listing on Amazon and others to include in our wholesale catalog. I also plan on doing some “what’s in the box” video reviews to post on our YouTube channel.  So I wanted something that wasn’t going to break after its second use.  At the same time, I wouldn’t be using it like a professional photographer, so high end equipment wasn’t really necessary nor was it in the budget.

Turns out all that research was worth it. I’m pretty pleased with my purchase. The lights came from Ravelli. Each one takes five CFL bulbs which can all be independently switched on or off.  This makes it easy to quickly adjust the amount of light shining from either the main key light or the fill light.

Many of the reviews I read told horror stories about assembling softboxes, no directions, missing parts, etc.  I’m happy to report that there was only a small learning curve assembling the first softbox and the second one went together in under ten minutes.

The background support I bought is also a Ravelli and is quite simple to construct. It’s capable of expanding between a few feet to ten feet high and the width is adjustable in three foot sections up to twelve feet. This is one of the larger ones I found and I’m glad to have so much flexibility.

On the downside, I went big with the support and the muslins because one of the video tutorials I watched highly recommended it.  The muslin cloths, one white, one black and one green, all fold out to become gigantic 10’ x 20’ backdrops. Yes, I’m sure that one day I’ll be in a situation that requires a backdrop that size, but for now it’s probably overkill.  I quickly found that folding them back up requires a second person too.

Today I ordered some solid color fleece blankets to substitute for the muslins on smaller photo shoots and filming Google Hangouts in my office.  They were less than $30 which still keeps the whole studio under $300. We have hundreds of products to shoot so I’m sure that’s comparatively cheap compared to having them done professionally.

Got any insider photography tips? Please tell us about them in the comment section below.

We’ve Entered the Blogosphere. Now What?

"OPEN" Flag/Banner

 

I’ve been writing blog posts for over five years now, some for a hobby blog I have about DIY home improvement and many more for the benefit of other businesses. Hard to believe this is my first post for a business I’ve owned almost 16 years.  No excuses, it’s just good to be focusing my time and efforts on my own properties.

 

Check, 1, 2, 3… Check… Check

The purpose behind this post is twofold. First, a quick overview of what I hope to accomplish here. Second and sorry, but of no use to you, I’m testing to make sure all the background mechanics are in working order, syndication to social networks, structured data markup, and other gibberish. Hopefully it all works because I’d hate to repeatedly annoy you with worthless content strictly meant for testing.

About this Blog

So, here’s my opportunity to discuss the purpose of this blog. Truth be told, I’m just figuring that out as I write. Basically, it’s a discussion on what Tags America is up to, its successes and probably some failures too.

I’ll be writing about all the exciting new products we’re purchasing for our wholesale and retail divisions, tips on using Amazon as a fulfillment service and stories of how customers from our branding division use our products within their marketing and fundraising campaigns.

The real goal is to create a conversation here. You see, we’re actually a very small company and would prefer to keep it that way. So, I’m hoping readers will offer me ideas and constructive criticism that I don’t have to pay employees for. Yes, the world becomes my support team. Hmm… I’m not sure, does that sound like prudent frugality or the works of a tightwad?

An Apology in Advance

Every once in a while I’ll sneak in an article that’s designed purely for generating traffic to the site. You’ll know it when you see it. It will look something like this: “Blah blah blah blah blah main keyword blah blah blah.” Now, the reason for telling you this is because leaving comments on those articles have the greatest effect on our success. So if you see one, I’ll be forever grateful for your “blah blah blah” comment.

One Final Shameless Plug

I suspect you ran into this post purely by accident but if I could steal one more minute from you, I’d be honored if you would take a quick stroll through the website and tell me where it works and where you think it needs improvement.  I have many ideas that I’m working on so the site is forever evolving but as I mentioned before, we have limited resources and would truly appreciate your feedback, good or bad.

Please come back soon!