? Constructing a Portrait Studio - is 10 feet wide enough ?
Sandy
I'm considering constructing a "shed" in my back yard for use as a
portrait studio where I can learn & practice taking family images.
Unfortunately, it can't be any wider that 10 feet. It's length will be
approximately 15 feet. I'm concerned that the light stands will take
up a lot of floor width, and I won't have enough room to work.
What is your opinion? I don't want to incur this expense if it only
leads to frustration.
Thanks!
~Sandy
David Meiland
> I'm considering constructing a "shed" in my back yard for use as a
>portrait studio where I can learn & practice taking family images.
>Unfortunately, it can't be any wider that 10 feet. It's length will be
>approximately 15 feet. I'm concerned that the light stands will take
>up a lot of floor width, and I won't have enough room to work.
That will be the problem... 20 feet wide, 30 feet deep, 10-11 ft.
headroom, that's more what you'll need. You need room for lights on
stands (and possibly booms) on the sides, a boom overhead, and a
minimum of maybe 6 feet (preferably more) to get the subject away from
the background. 10x15 will be frustrating.
---
David Meiland
Friday Harbor, WA
http://davidmeiland.com/
**Check the reply address before sending mail
Randall Ainsworth
it's not wide enough. Back when I was in business I didn't do any
groups larger than 3 people. Tolerable for individuals, but more width
would have definitely been better. Fortunately I used front-projection
so storing backdrops wasn't a problem. But by the time you get a
couple Soffboxes in there and a few additional lights for occasional
use...the camera on a studio stand, posing table, and the other crap
you need...you run out of space real quick.
Stefan Patric
The solution is a ceiling lighting grid. No floor stands, except short
ones for background or other low "accent" lights. It needn't be a
fancy, expensive commercial one either. Just a few long pipes
"strapped" to the ceiling at strategic areas. Manfrotto/Bogen make
clamps and other accessories specifically for such a setup.
Also, you should have at least a 10' ceiling, 12' would be a LOT better.
Other suggestions:
1. If you can, design you studio so that you can shoot toward the 15'
wall from outside. This "feature" will come in handy when you need
more width or greater shooting distances like for group shots.
2. Make it a daylight studio, too, with large strategically placed
windows, skylights or clerestories, that you can cover when not wanted
For example, you could make one 15' wall mostly out of tracked, sliding
glass doors, so when needed (like the first suggestion) you can open
the whole wall to the outside.
3. Don't think 4 wall, rectangular studio. If circumstances permit,
an irregular polygonal studio can work, too; and give you more shooting
area options.
4. Before you build your studio read every book you can find on studio
design, artificial and natural light photography, and how photographers
designed their studios to fit their needs and lighting requirements.
Oh, and, yes. 10' can be wide enough. Just wide enough for 9' seamless
paper. For about 6 years, I used a 10' x 13' bedroom with 8' ceilings
as a studio WITH floor stand lighting. (8' is not high enough for a
ceiling grid setup.) It was tight, but with some concessions, it
worked: head shots, products, architectural models, even full length
portraits and groups. I used wide angle lenses for the latter, and
tight, creative compositions for the groups.
--
Stefan Patric
NoLife Polymath Group
too...@yahoo.com
zeitgeist
as long as you don't photograph anything more than small kids, only a couple
at time, or just head and shoulders close up of adults. In my mind, 10 wide
is possible but limits your lighting style (but in a way that wouldn't
bother me.) the major problem is length, even for kids, and height. I
don't know too many sheds that are tall enough.
as for the width and light stands, (regular readers of my BS cover your
ears) you can take a flash and bounce it off a side wall, mount it on the
ceiling above your head, paint the walls white and you have a near perfect
soft light with probably enough fill.
weird idea. build a greenhouse, with a dark scrim on the south side (yup,
ass backwards from the usual windows to the south), now you have a wonderful
soft, forgiving (of ugly faces and lack of photographer's skills in lighting
and posing) blanket of beautiful light and all you need is a light meter.
(of course if you live in the artic circle you will be out of business a
couple months of the year) but the costs can be astonishing minimal.
Look at some college agriculture sites, search for hoop or pvc pipe green
houses they say you can build yourself for less than a hundred bucks, now
make it taller and wider and triple your budget, no, wait, you'll probably
want a floor too, so five times that budget, less than the cost of almost
any desired studio 'thing' like good monoflash, etc.
but you can't substitute a wide angle lens for length. sorry but you need
some distance.
why are you limited to 10 x 15? was there a tool shed or green house there
before? are you limited in size by zoning for 'out buildings" (one work
around is temporary structures, IE: if it ain't bolted to the ground) Of
course if that's all the space you got in your San Francisco 'backyard' or
that's the space between trailers in the Mobilehome Ranchero...
this reply is echoed to the z-prophoto mailing list for professional
photographers at yahoogroups.com
Matthew H.
10 feet is going to be tough. My basement studio is only 12x12, by 8'
high, and I can tell you it's very tight. If I had to give up 2 of the
12 feet I have, it'd be a real crunch.
Everything you see on my web site (link below) was done in this small
space, so I can tell you it's possible to do portraiture in small
spaces, but there are things I can't do that I'd like to do.
Matthew
----------------------
Erochron
Intimate Portraiture
http://www.erochron.com
(Remove the "-NoCannedMeat-" from my e-mail address
if you want to reply to me via e-mail.)
David Dyer-Bennet
10x15 is small, but not hopeless. It'll be way narrow if you try to
work with *groups*, but for a single upright person it's not bad.
Make it *tall* enough. 8 feet is not tall enough; I'd say 10
minimum.
Plan to mount your lights from the ceiling rather than on light
stands. It'll keep them (and their cords) out of the way and make the
space a lot easier to work in. A few runs of iron water pipe across
the ceiling and some clamps should do the job.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd...@dd-b.net>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/>
RKBA: <http://noguns-nomoney.com> <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/>
Photos: <dd-b.lighthunters.net> Snapshots: <www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/>
Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/>