Basic headshots can be made in the smallest of studios, and look quite professional.

What avid fan of photography doesn't aspire to have her or his own studio - a workshop where you can spend hours making great pictures under controlled conditions?

Most of us tend to think of a studio in the commercial sense, as a well-equipped facility that professional photographers alone can afford. Yet, setting up a home studio is not that big a deal. You can start with the absolute basics, and build up from them over time, adding an improvement here and a new piece of equipment there, as your budget permits. We give you hints and tips in this section for just how to do that. Sure, you probably won't ever have the huge assortment of equipment and lights that top pro studios have, but you can still make professional-looking portraits and pictures without breaking the bank.

We also give you techniques for lighting that apply if you are using a studio electronic flash system or incandescent lighting (commonly called "hot lights" because they are always on and produce a good deal more heat than does electronic flash.)

You will come across some new terms here, too, like "butterfly lighting," "snoot," "hair light," and "catch lights." All of these terms relate to things that come under the explicit control of the photographer when working in a studio. That is what a studio is all about - control. And, that's what you will find out about in this section.

We suggest you start with Simple home studio to see how you can set up the most basic of studios in your own home, provided there is bright window lighting and enough space in one of its rooms.

Then, you might want to move onto Basic studio lighting to learn the fundamentals of setting up studio lighting for the first time.

How big should your home studio be? At least big enough to photograph a person full length using a normal lens - hopefully roomier.

Learning to control studio lighting opens the door to creative photography where you call the shots.

Studio photography can be enormously complex, although it doesn't have to be for the creation of many beautiful pictures. Sometimes all it takes is a single light, properly positioned, to create the appropriate mood for a fabulous picture.

We will continue to add to this section as new and informative material becomes available, and recommend you return every now and then to see what's new and what else you can do to improve your studio photography.