[Dave]

Can those who have experience of being mobile for shooting with studio lights, share their advice on best setup for backgrounds & any other extras to the lighting please ? It's not until you try something a couple of times do you realise what works & doesn't (eg, crowded /small room can't take large backdrop etc), so any advice is greatly appreciated.

Lighting wise I'm looking at a couple / three 300-400W lights, with mixture of softboxes & umbrella, all with stands.

[VinnyP]

Your choice of lights will be perfect. I have a couple of reversible Lastolite folding backgrounds with train and a stand for them which are getting on a bit. I have black/white which is fine for most things and like a reddy brown on one side and blue on the other with the usual cliched cloud patterns which I wouldn't recommend as the portraits tend to look very school photo.

I do recommend the Chromakey background as I said elsewhere (I know I need to do a write up but I need to shoot something and I am busy playing with new cameras and occasionally working not to mention they are in the shed and that really needs a tidy) but they are not made by Lastolite. All of them are always a bit too short for my liking and not really wide enough if you want people to move around, but they are portable if you have 3 arms and the knack to fold them. I would prefer to use rolls but they won't fit in my car.

I have a folding stool for me for lots of shooting which I love, but for portraits folding chairs could be useful. I have a couple of captains/directors chairs that I tried once but arms are a pain so go for something without. IKEA might be a good place.

In all my camera bags (in fact in most bags) I carry a credit card well not a real credit card but you know what I mean. Wrapped around that I have Gaffer tape, insulating tape and some metal wire, this comes in handy for holding trains down, balancing reflectors and gagging screaming children.