JohnReid:Photography on the cheap.
Lights,Camera,Action !
All of the pics that I have taken over the last five years or so and published in my photobucket ,were taken for the cost of the camera alone and that I got on sale ! The rest is just stuff that I had laying around the house.No expensive tripods,special lighting or other equipment is required.The modern day camera does it all for you,the only thing that you have to do is a simple setup.Put it on "Auto" and off you go ! You can experiment to your hearts content (no more film cost to worry about) If only one pic in fifty turns out so what ! Have fun.
First the camera. I will take a pic of it in the mirror for your info.Point and shot,how simple can it be.Prior to the digital era I knew nothing about cameras and it is still that way today.
All the technical stuff leaves me cold and I haven't even read the manual for the digital I am using now ! (some would say it shows LOL) If I can take reasonable pics anyone can do it.
The only real secret to good pic taking is using your creativity to set the scene up, in other words, arranging the stuff in a nice way (composition).This will come with experience.Just start shooting ! Here's how I do it....
I'm going to disagree somewhat.
Yes, you can certainly set up a photo booth on the cheap, and there's no need to throw down on spendy lights, light tents, etc. My lights are simple shop lights (the metal reflector/spring clamp type) - about $6 each. My backdrops are posterboard. My tripod is a $20 Target special.
Personally, because I shoot a lot more than just models, and shoot a lot of pictures of the kids, I hate point-and-shoots. Small sensors, ridiculous noise at even moderate ISOs, long depth of field (useful in macro, granted) that makes pictures look flat, shutter lag, etc. If I want to grab a quick snapshot, I can use my iPhone. But if I'm going to specifically take a camera with me, I'll grab my DSLR.
But whatever. Point-and-shoots can work great for model photography.
BUT leaving the camera in full-bore AUTO mode can be rather limiting. In fact, I would strongly recommend three manual settings:
1 - Flash OFF. Onboard flashes are awful. They're only really useful if you're shooting a backlit subject in bright conditions. Otherwise they wash everything out. And if you already have a few lights set up, you don't need the flash anyway.
2 - Aperture - as small as possible (i.e. larger f/number). For a deeper depth of field. Nothing says "model!" like a shallow depth of field.
3 - Timer - If you're going to push the aperture, you're going to have to slow down shutter speed. Setting the timer (I set mine at 2 seconds) means you can hit the shutter, get your hands off the camera, and capture absolutely sharp images.
Apologies - but the "the modern camera does it all for you" is kind of my "Hammer moment". Modern cameras are pretty great, and even the cheapest point-and-shoots can turn out great pictures under the right conditions (of course, the same was true of cheap film cameras). And they can do a lot for you. But AUTO is basically an image sensor and a processor making guesses about what it sees and how to shoot it. And those sensors often make poor assumptions. As with any other tool, knowing your camera and how to dial it in the way you want it makes it that much more powerful.