I need to see your studio!!

[Chris Purves]

Okay - so here goes. Adam, Tabi, Brett, everyone. I am going to start this hopefully exciting thread.
I am building a studio.

http://buildmystudio.blogspot.com/

I've been posting as new stuff happens. I'll post another update tonight because the windows and doors are all in and it is insulated now.

Right now our studio is portable. We set it up at the beginning of a dog show and shoot like crazy for three days and then go home and process everything.

here's the setup

http://www3.telus.net/photos-now/studio1.jpg

We shoot teathered to the computer with a 19" lcd facing the customers so they can see their photo right away. As soon as all the shots from one dog are done they are tansferred to the viewing stations so the customers can see all the shots and pick out the ones they want.


http://www3.telus.net/photos-now/studio2.jpg

Check out my blog. Be patient I am updating it as things happen. The timeline is to be in it and setting it up by the middle of August.

So come on everyone show us your shooting area, inside outside what ever. maybe take some shots of you at work as well.


Cheers
Chris

[Chris Purves]

I have been at the mercy of the students and their class time to get the studio done.
I updated the blog tonight
I am really excited about this project and have a million things going through my head that I want to try. I can't wait to start with some photos and post them for you to see.


Cheers
Chris
http://buildmystudio.blogspot.com/

[Adam Schmidt]

Chris, That's a pretty nice portable setup station you've got there.

By all means, show us more photos!!

I hope we'll have lots of studios here sharing images of their studio space. You can get a lot of good ideas by looking at another photographers camera room!!!

Give me a day or two and I'll show you my current camera room so you can laugh. :)

[Brett Jarnagin]

Looks like a nice setup! I'm in the process of building my studio as well! As soon as I have some photos worth posting I'll do so! We can share our experience together, haha. I have a ton of work that is going to go into mine... I don't know where to start. New lights, new walls, new floors, new paint, and I'm completely gutting the back and starting over... should be interesting, haha. Luckily as photographers we are blessed with vision so I can already see what it is now and what it will be when I am finished.

[Tammy Bates]

That is really great! I am really interested in seeing what others have. How do you set up to have live viewing? I want that!!!!! :)

[Chris Purves]

Brett:- What color are you painting the studio?
I am leaning toward a light gray for walls and black for the ceiling. But I don't know for sure.

What colors are others using?

Cheers
Chris

[Brett Jarnagin]

I stressed out about the colors a lot. There are so many things that work better for different reasons... I decided that in my gallery and selling room it is going to be a deep red with dark wood floors. I have an old tin ceiling with like a victorian design on it and it is currently white... I'm thinking of painting it but that would be the most time consuming, back breaking thing possible since it covers about 1,000 sq feet of the studio and is 12 feet high...

I want people to come in and completely feel at home and at ease. If they are relaxed I think they will relax their wallets more too. A really light blue (almost white) or light grey would work best to show off your work because it won't contrast with it but I guess you just have to decide what works for you. You can also try really loud and fun colors.

For my actual studio I'm putting in bamboo floors because they are very bright and I'm painting the walls a very light blue color. I just want as much light bouncing around in there for catchlights as possible.

[Tammy Bates]

We just painted the lobby a very elegant purple color on two of the walls, textured another, and left the last one white. We brought in lots of fun oranges and reds to make it modern. I LOVE IT. Pier 1 is amazing hehe.

[Adam Schmidt]

Be careful painting the actual camera room a COLOR! The color can bounce around and cause a color cast on the subject or background. In Ohio, I started with white ceilings, white floors and white walls. After a while, I changed the white walls to a medium gray and the floor to gray carpeting. Worked well.

Brett, I'm looking at putting down a bamboo floor too, but I see one major issue. Put a muslin on the floor and let a person stand on it. They SLIDE and SLIP all over the place and will fall down. I'm still working on what I can do to keep this from happening. What are your thoughts on how you're going to deal with that?

[Chris Purves]

II decided that in my gallery and selling room it is going to be a deep red with dark wood floors. I have an old tin ceiling with like a victorian design on it and it is currently white... I'm thinking of painting it but that would be the most time consuming, back breaking thing possible since it covers about 1,000 sq feet of the studio and is 12 feet high...



If you paint the tin ceiling try a metalic colour like copper or silver.


The studio is basically one large room with the washroom/change room in the corner. I am going to paint the shooting area medium gray and the sitting area a taupe colour to differentiate the areas. I agree with Adam you run the risk of colour casts by painting the walls blue.
We bought a vinyl flooring product the sticks together and floats on the floor. It is wood grain and light. I am hoping that the seamless won't be too slippery on it.

I still don't know about painting the ceilings black or the same gray as the rest of the studio. We have a while yet to make that decision.

Cheers
Chris

[Chris Purves]

Okay everyone else. Take a picture of your shooting area and let us see it !!!!!

[Adam Schmidt]

Hee heee, are you ready? These aren't photo's I took today, but rather the day we bought this house, so everything looks quite different.

My camera room is currently right inside the front door on the first floor. It's a temporary thing until I get the 3 car garage converted over into my camera room/sales area.

[Donna Baudoin]

I also plan on adding on to my house for my camera room.... what size studios does everyone have / recommend? I'm also trying to figure out if I want to close in the carport (roof and slab are already there... just need walls) or add on a completely seperate building. My carport is 18'x18' Is that large enough?

[Tabitha Davis]

Chris, I just finished repainting my studio, so as soon as I can I will take pics and post them! Just moved my stuff in last night! lol.

[Nicole Hate]

Share more, share more please! I love seeing photos of other people's studios. I have an idea of what I want mine to be someday when we add onto our house. I have the visions in my head, just need more $$$ to make it reality.

[John Haldane]

Aw, shucks. No studio here - just a nice big office with three windows, lots of oak furniture, computers, scanners, printers, monitors, WACOM, etc.

http://www.grandmemories.com/House/BR4-sw.jpg

[Paul Johnson]

My Studio....

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s204/jpimages/earth11.jpg

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

[tonia breeding]

Paul!!! love it!!

i have a bar/dance room by night (if we have aparty here at the house) and a studio when ever i need to set it up!! KINDA

[Stephanie Sanchez]

I'm going back a few posts about the floors and using seamless back rounds. Mind you please I have absolutely NO experience whatsoever in a "studio type setting". It's just something that made me think. What if you had a very thin area rug to place down under the backdrops the floor is no longer slick. Did this make much sense? Sorry I'm sleep deprived, I'm in the process of moving, ugh! :pullhair:

[Sadonna Lingnau]

I don't really have a studio just yet. Still learning on what type of lights are best to buy but on a budget. Right now I have a black and white back drop that I use and have 27 windows in my house. There are 5 in the living room 3 of them are big ones where most of the light comes in and in the dinning room there are 5 more. So I open up pretty much all of them to let in as much light as I can. For a while I did not have a flash that worked fast enough for my Canon 40D. But that has all changed since I purchased the 430Ex Speedlite. I have tested it out against the back drop and at night with just my lights on. It worked great but I want a studio that I can take with me and also set up in my fairly large living room. Any ideas what would be the best lighting equipment to buy at a decent price? I think I can get away with one light and maybe a soft box or is two umbrellas best? When it comes this type of lighting it just baffles me. Considering taking a studio class so I can get more info and know more on what to do!

[Carri Buchanan]

I know this post is kinda old but wow has it been helpful! My husband and I are in the process of buying our first home! WOO HOO! Anyway, the house already has a large attachment built on it which is going to be perfect for a studio. Since the studio room and display will all be together what color should i paint? I want it to feel homey but I don't want to jack the lighting up! Any other suggestions?

[Keely Deuschle]

Carri, congrats on buying your first home! The area you'll have to work with is similar to mine - the studio, gallery and projection/sales area are all within the same room. While it's not exactly what I wanted to do, the entire room is painted in "bone" colored paint with light maple wood floors and white ceilings. The interior designer I had giving me some guidance suggested keeping it neutral and then adding some accent pieces which can give it some color and coordinate with your branding. Nothing over the top, but having the neutral colored room will keep those color casts down. I don't have any real color problems with the bone color. Hope this helps!