studio set ups..

[Al_Nowak]

In looking at your seamless paper roll hanging from the ceiling, I see nothing to keep it from unspooling.

You got some magic keeping the paper from unspooling up there? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Andy_Pearlman]

Would you believe "sky hooks"? No? Ok, well its so simple I don't even have a photo to show. We use A-clamps, you know, those spring loaded clamps that come in various sizes at the hardware store for holding plywood together and stuff like that. Once the paper is unrolled to proper length, I just take the clamp & sort of stick it into one end of the roll, with one side (prong?) of the clamp on the outside (usually the top) of the roll, and the other prong on the underside of the wooden pole the paper is hanging on. You could use one on the other end as well, but I normally don't. Wanna hear how I do it without a rope to suspend the pole from? Also without buying fancy extending vertical pole-cat supports? Well, I just use a "C" stand without the arm, and take another A-clamp, and attach it business-end down on the top of the C-stand, that forms a "V" on top of the stand and is pretty sturdy. Make another stand just like it, and put it 10' away and you have a pair of "V"s to lay the wooden pole between, like an old-fashioned BBQ pit. Put a sandbag on the bases for protection. You can do this with regular light stands too. Next time I have this setup I'll remember to shoot it.

Regards,
Andy Pearlman
Andy Pearlman Studio

[Al_Nowak]

I thought it might be a clamp on the end of the roll not shown, but ya never know...

The trick with the stands and "A" clamps will come in handy. I broke off the vertical stud that holds the crossbar at the top of one of my cheapy Da-Lite background stands last time I used it and haven't found anything to repair it with. I do have a bunch of "A" clamps and it should be an easy temporary fix.

I used to have some Timber Toppers, the spring-loaded tops that fit over 2 by 2's or 2 by 4's to hold them jammed between the floor and ceiling. I believe Peter Gowland used to do ads for them. I've lost track of where I stored them, and don't see them advertised anymore. For the few bucks they cost, they sure were a cheap and easy way to support lights and backdrops using minimal floor space. A search on Google only turned up a bunch of tall folks clubs under Timber Toppers...

[Andy_Pearlman]

Sorry, not a clue. We really do it by measuring with a hand-held incident meter. In this setup, I set the front lights to read about f11 on the model (just plain old flat light), and the backround almost to f16 (also flat light to get it evenly exposed). That makes the white go really white, without too much flare bouncing back into the camera. We also use black flags to try and keep the bounce (what we call "blow-back" from hitting the camera. Some guys build a black flag wall around where the model stands to frame her so they as little white background as possible, but I don't think its necessary most of the time.

Regards,
Andy Pearlman
Andy Pearlman Studio

[Shadow]

Thanks

[bchan3rdi]

Hey Michael,
Dunno if you've been there or if anyones mentioned it. Head over to FredMirandas forums and search "show us your studio" or just click this here link =) http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/144181/0 . You will find a VERY VERY VERY long thread on many different setups. Pretty neat to see how little or how much some peeps have access too. Good luck

~Bri [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Olli]

Take two C stands. Set the arms horizontal and stick in the ends of the tube. Unroll what you need and stick a clamp in the end of the roll to stop it from unrolling further.

What to do with all of those left over designer lables.

[JaysonFromMaine]

http://www.shippers-mall.com/detail.aspx?ID=76 as a poor mans autopole....

[Al_Nowak]

Those load locks are cool...

I've seen movers using them and never made the mental jump to using them vertically for light and background supports. The price ain't too bad at all at $25 each. They are a bit heavier than the aluminum autopoles, but not bad at 11.5 pounds each. The big limitation is that they only go to 8.75 feet maximum.

I'd like to get a close look at one... may have to stop by the local moving company.

[Andy_Pearlman]

That works too, but it always seems a bit shakey, and trickey trying to get them up high enough with one person. You can't move one side up too far, so you have to keep alternating. Plus if you don't have the arms set to tigheten the lock with downward pressure, you can lose a side at the worst moment. Also, most if the time my paper is not on a core, its just the paper, and as it gets closer to the end, its hard to do it that way. It works, I've done it, but given a choice, I prefer the pole & A-clamps.

Regards,
Andy Pearlman
Andy Pearlman Studio