[maxwell1295]

Just wondering how many people here have studios. Home, basement, garage, commercial....it doesn't matter.

If you have a studio, how is it equipped? How big is it? How often do you use it?

What lighting are you using? Monolight? Pack/head units? Strobing with hotshoe flashes? Let's hear it!

How about modifiers? There are way too many to list, but what do you rely on most? Is there a reason you prefer one type of modifier over another?

Do you have any pics of your setup?

[MRRiley]

I have a studio under construction... It is a 12.5'x19.5' shed in my back yard with 10' side walls and almost 12' to the center horizontal rafters. I am in the process of insulating it and installng drywall at this point.





The 2x6" horizontal boards were used by the previous owner to store lumber and molding supplies and have been taken down. The thing hanging from the ceiling is coming down too.

Once completed I will have a hanger on the end wall for 5 rolls of seamless. Lighting is a set of 3 Alien Bee AB800s. I havn't figured out modifiers yet, but i do have a small fog machine.

I'll post photos once it's complete (later this spring).

Mike

[maxwell1295]

Good stuff, Mike. Make sure you keep us up to date on your progress. The weather is turning so you have no excuses.....other than time and maybe money.

I should be closing on a house within the next month or so. One of the stipulations was that I had to have a basement with high enough ceilings or a garage that I could convert into a studio. Well, the basement ceiling are pretty low, making it unusable as a recreation space but great for storage. That frees up the garage. I'll be starting pretty much at the same point you are with the shed. It's just a frame, but does have a breaker box and a few outlets. I plan to insulate, run electrical, and install some inexpensive Pergo type flooring. The space I'm working with is about 22x12 or so with pretty good overhead space.

[mel]

I'm doing a little something in my basement. The ceilings are kinda low and unfinished but I guess that means I'll just have to find a way to deal with it, as I'm the queen of making do with less than the ideal. I just took a pilgrimage to NYC to shop for lights, doing so because I have no idea what the heck I'm looking at online.

The background wall is concrete stamped with a brick pattern that's kind of stained and nasty looking but I think has potential. And I can always cover it.

Obviously I haven't a clue what I'm doing.

[maxwell1295]

I like the concrete wall idea. My plan is to have a few different 4'x8' wall sections that have different looks (brick, corrugated aluminum, ceramic tile, hardwood, peeling paint). I can always cover them with backdrops when they're not in use.

[MRRiley]

Soooo, come on folks. There have to be more folks with or building studios.

[Venturi]

I'm fully portable. (that's code for the wife says I can't takeover the boy's room)

We're actually considering converting the house from 1-1/2 story to a full 2-story. If that happens then I will definitely have a nice space I can dedicate to photography. For now though, my studio lives in several bags and I either pull the Jeep out and setup in the garage or take over the sun room.

[Tommy]

I have a spare room in my house that only I use. It has been blocked by different things as we used it for storage when we redid other rooms in the house but now it's shaping up. I have no experience in studio photography but I have plans to start using this room partly as a studio, adding pieces bit by bit and have a creative learning process along the way. I'm on a tight budget (photography-wise) for a while now but I plan on starting with a flash and a softbox and when I redo the ceiling I will make arrangements for hanging different backdrops in a cheap and flexible way.

It'll be so much fun, I know that....and I'll be back with a lot more questions then

Oh well, maybe next winter.....

/Tommy

[George Lama]

Started with a spare room in my home, then a small rental space "downtown".

Once the baby was born, we cut back on the studio (couldn't justify the rental costs due to +95% of all our work being on location), and we lost the spare room too.

Our car garage is barely large enough to fit a car in but a good size for a small studio.

Fun times ahead!

[SA Photo]

I went in with a group and we are renting a studio in a gallery. So far it's working out pretty good because most of my photography is on location but every now and then I need a studio plus it gives me a place to practice studio lighting which
I know very little about. We have an online calendar we reserve time on and sometimes we just get together and shoot. They also have a show every month and we open up our studio and hang out and show off our work.

[ajtour]

I love the idea of going in with a group to rent space. I really prefer to do landscapes, editorial type event shots, pro sports, etc. Studio portraiture per se isn't really my thing. However, I have a great situation where one of my best friends opened a photography studio in my town. Luckily, her loft studio is in a gorgeous old 1800's building with other retail shops. A space opened up next door, and I use that as my stationery studio and office. When I have a good friend or family member who wants studio shots, or if I need the strobes for a product shot, I walk next door and borrow my friend's studio in her down time. It works really well, as I've done a lot to promote her and introduce her around town (she lives in a nearby suburb and isn't as familiar with the old school families in town). And, vice versa, as she sends me clients who need invitations and announcements.

I'd give anything for that studio, though! The front part is big enough for her office area, a small bathroom, and a waiting room. You go down a hallway and find a storage closet, a small room she filled with toys for kids to hang out in while waiting for siblings, and a dressing room. Then, you walk into the actual studio, and the ceiling goes up to about 15 - 18 feet with huge windows along the back wall. Some of the walls still have brick exposed. Hardwood floors. Heaven. If I told you what she's paying to rent this space, you'd surely fall off your chair. A similar space in LA would easily go for $3,000 / month. She pays . . . well . . . let's just say a very small fraction of that. Benefit to living in a tiny town with friends who own the building.

[stewart_photo]

We've just moved. Our new house (great location) once contained two full apartments, each with two bedrooms and two baths, but was very recently renovated into a large single dwelling. We're splitting it up once again. The previous apartment upstairs will be used as our living area (newer carpets, kitchen, etc), with the apartment downstairs used as the studio (studio currently under construction). The house is built on a slight incline, so upstairs is ground floor towards the front of house, with downstairs ground floor at rear.

The former living room downstairs (roughly 15x25-ft) will be the primary studio, with adjacent rooms for a makeup area (8x12-ft), dressing room (6x8-ft), and space for small product photography (10x15-ft). Small bedroom (8x10-ft) will be used for equipment storage and large bedroom (10x18-ft) used for shipping center (printers, print drying, shipping tubes, etc). My only concern is the low (8-ft) ceiling, but I've dealt with that before and can do so again.

As for esthetics, the overall color scheme will be white walls & furniture with dark red accents. For example, the makeup table will be white (legs & top) with red objects placed on it (such as red glazed ceramic bowl holding water to remove makeup, towels, lamps, etc). Dark red curtains are currently being sewn, full length (ceiling to floor) for the main windows & dressing room entrance, with half length (ceiling to just below window) for the smaller windows.

Below are quick snapshots of the work in progress. The first three images show the main studio area. Muslin backgrounds (new ones on order), rolled onto tubes to prevent wrinkles, will go on the far wall (behind strobe boxes and small stepladder) shown in the first image. There are actually four strobes, but only two are unpacked in these images (cloth covers sewn by wife). Additional rolled muslin backgrounds (not currently being used during a session) will be mounted horizontally on the large empty wall area to the right in same first image. Notice the roll down exterior blinds (good security) on all the windows, very common here.

The room with the mannequin will be the makeup room. The smaller room to the mannequin's right (her right) will be the dressing room. The open door in the fifth image (room with mannequin) leads to the hallway, kitchen, bedrooms, and baths. Nothing in those at the moment. Closed door opposite leads to room for small products photography. Nothing in there either. Final image shows main entrance with marble floors & steps.

Well, what do you think? Seriously! Did I forget anything? Any ideas or suggestions to improve any part of this?

stewart

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[George Lama]

Our ex-garage is finally nearing Stage 1 completion. A month and a half ago it all kicked in high gear with the repouring of the floor, rebracing of the roof, insulation, and electric. The 12x17 space is being drywalled this week so hopefully we'll be ready for paint by this weekend.

It's been a chore, and expensive, but well worth it when considering it's probably half the cost of one year's rent downtown.

[stewart_photo]

I hope all those (Mike, Alan, Mel, Tommy, Frog, etc) reporting a studio under construction or soon under construction will post some images, both during the various stages and at the completion. Certainly don't have to be fancy pictures (not judging photo esthetics), just something to give us an idea of what it looks like - and perhaps some ideas we might also use in our own studios.

stewart

[George Lama]

I will, though I have to tell you, I envy your sprawling setup. I'm thrilled I have an 8ft ceiling and new dry-wall