Photo studio: portrait and fashion — Better (key, rim, backdrop)

Bring your own

• a backdrop support system or a wall to hang from
• sandbags for the roller stand
• a tether cable and clamp if you shoot to a laptop

Why this kit

Two heads is the point at which the studio can separate a subject from a background, and the split here is deliberate: everything goes into the key, almost nothing into the rim. The AD600ProII in a 60 x 90 Bowens box gives a source tall enough to light a standing figure evenly, which a square 60 cm box will not do; the AD100ProII behind the subject needs almost no power because it is only drawing an edge. The SA5015 is a steel roller stand rather than a second air-cushioned stand because a 600-series head inside a 60 x 90 box is a lever, and wheels also mean the key gets repositioned between looks instead of staying where it was set at 10 am. The XPro II is chosen for the screen: when you are changing two heads' power between frames, reading the panel beats scrolling a thumbwheel. The camera is a full-frame Canon R6 Mark II: its 24–105 mm kit zoom frames full-length fashion and the RF85mm f/2 the head-and-shoulders portrait, and with two SD slots and a spare LP-E6NH a paid session does not ride on one card or one battery.