The studio

Photography can be approached from either of two directions. One approach is the way of the photojournalist, the quick-eyed observer who catches life on the wing as it flies past the camera lens, capturing the spontaneous picture that will make the front page -- or the family album.

The studio photographer travels an entirely different route. A painstaking craftsman, he plans a picture as carefully as an architect designs a house, often taking days to arrange his composition and adjust his lighting before clicking his shutter. Rather than reporting events from the sidelines, he stages his own and exercises total control.

To acquire this control and increase his flexibility, the amateur beginning studio photography may wish to acquire a whole roomful of paraphernalia -- floodlights, spotlights, reflectors, tripods, electronic-flash units and view cameras of various sizes. He may also wish, as professionals do, to operate like the designer of a theatrical production, constructing entire sets. Professional studios are sometimes large and elaborate, with barn-size rooms, carloads of expensive equipment and big staffs of photo assistants, set builders, wardrobe mistresses and stylists. But an expensive establishment is really unnecessary for most studio work, and any amateur can set up his own studio with nothing more than a camera, a room, a few lights, and perhaps a roll of seamless photographic paper for a backdrop. And by borrowing a few techniques from professionals, he can even come close to their goal: a kind of photographic perfection reachable only through the studio photographer's unique ability to manipulate every step of the picture-taking process.