Building Your Own Photography Studio
by Simon Everett
Recently I had the very unique opportunity to build and own my very own studio, my business partner had a unused internal garage which was just full of odds and ends, so we thought of a plan, made some calculations of what we needed and what we already owned in order to make a studio work.
Currently at the time we had the right equipment to carry out studio work either at a hired studio or a home location, however we did not have the room to set up our own that is until now, so with an average budget in mind we set to work, to convert the once garage area to a fully working photography studio.
Fortunately we knew a builder who would carry out some work for us which involved blocking the main garage door adding plaster board insulation and plaster to the wall for sound proof and weather ceiling, we asked around and managed to find my very own neighbor who had some new wood floor tiles perfect for covering the rough solid concrete garage floor.
So far so good.
So we are set, The build would take approx.: 2-3 weeks but odd weekend days to clear rubbish lay some floor and plaster walls, and of course a lick of paint.
For anyone who is dedicated to photography and especially portraits shoots this is an ideal way to start, of course you can use a spare room if you have one available this would equally be just as good, for us the garage conversion was the perfect choice as the garage was situated within the house structure so entering the house and having access through a door to the garage was a nice touch, The garage area was approx: 3metres wide and almost 7metres long as I wanted plenty of space to to set up a full white vinyl background.
After using and hiring studios I found that one particular studio I used had a very nice 4m wide area in which to shoot, sadly a garage or even a large room does not always measure up to being that wide, however the garage conversion measured in at n 3metres wide which is still a lot wider than most and a length of over 6metres was great for storage and equipment lightstand softboxes etc as some of you will know that having softboxes, octogon boxes and other equipment preset up already saves time on the initial set up process.
Items that would be required:
White backdrop :
There are several choices from paper, to muslin, to Vinyl depending on what your budget is and if you can go for the best I would suggest Vinyl as it lasts longer, easily cleaned, and is a solid seamless peace which is slightly reflective. Muslin backdrops need to keep washing and ironing, and paper can mark and tear easy, and you would end up using more at the end of the day at a cost. However this all depends on your budget.
Lighting:
A four light setup is best as you have greater control over the amount of light that you require using 2x back lights to light the background and 2x front lights to light the subject, in a combo mix of softboxes & reflectors etc.
Additional lights can be used for example hair/rim light etc.
Props:
Some of the fun of portrait shooting can be found in the props from using wicker chairs to retro themed items to even different backdrops can all be used and purchased at junk shops or ebay and photography stores.
The key to any studio build is space in which to shoot I have shot in some studios which did not afford a lot of space and if your looking at family shoots which you will come up against sooner or later then you would prefer plenty of room.
Some other things to think about, is facilities within the studio, to consider are the following:
A changing area, some portraits may involve a model or fashion shoot so having a small changing area is very handy, we decided to go for nice looking room divider in the corner, if however your studio is a room in the house for example then have another room in which clients can change.
Mirror, if clients are getting changed into different outfits it’s good practice to have a mirror for them to use, a good full size mirror works well.
Good lighting and a chair provided for clients to is also an advantage.
Other ideas in connection with having your own studio.
In the line of photography work it is handy to know people in the hair and make up business, why simple put they can help your business as you can help them, if you come up with a small business package lets say a hair-makeup Photoshoot at a set price it becomes a all round winner for all concerned as well as getting them noticed and word and mouth is passed one as long as great experience is had by all.
Conclusion:
Whether your looking for a budget or an average cost studio build in a garage or spare room there are plenty of options to consider, and in time you studio work will grow through marketing and word and mouth.
Start promoting your venture through ads and self marketing, through hair salons, and makeup artists, local papers, facebook, twitter pinterest, as well as using your own website to promote yourself.
I hope this small blog helps you in your decision to start a studio photography of your own.
I’m Simon Everett you can find out more about me at
www.simoneverettphotographykent.co.uk
or Facebook
Thanks for reading.
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Hello Simon,
Congrats on your new photography studio. I’m sure that you must have put a lot of hard work towards this venture. I wish you the best of luck.
Regards,
Robert
Hi Robert, Many thanks for your kind comments , it took some time and we are still tweaking it a little but the testing was full and it’s great having all the free time to use it, other than having a hired studio and alotted time 🙂
Best wishes
Simon.
Hi Simon congra! your’e a great professional . I just have a question for you, if my camera is de 60 D may also use one lens 70-200 mm to do wedding photos? and what other lens do you recomended to me on this camera? thank you for help and share with us more technicies to learn.
Hi Fernando,
thanks for the kind comments, Great question for weddings the 70-200mm is a must there are a couple of others that also are great for weddings, my second choice would be canon 24-17 f/2.8 its a good wide angle lens and having the wide aperture f/2.8 is great for low light conditons such and the wedding reception of church ceremony. Another good lens is the canon 17-40mm f/4 a excellent wide angle lens for group shots and photos with a lot of negitive space in them, and finally I would say maybe something highend like a 85mm f/1.2 or 50mm f/1.8 these are great for capturing the bride as beauty shots, but not always handy for general use in weddings. I hope this answers your questions please feel free to submit any questions that you may have in the future
best wishes
Simon
Simoneverettphotographykent.co.uk
Hello Simon,
referring back to your topic about building your own studio – what studio light setup would you recommend for shooting newborn babies? There’re so-called tricolor day light bulbs which are used as continuous light for shooting babies and portraits alike. Do you have any experience with them? My wife and me we are setting up our own new photo studio and the problem we’ve recent faced is that some parents are afraid of letting us to use flash lights when shooting their babies since flash can have an adverse impact on the babies’ eyes. Do you have any experience with this domain of photography? There’re quite some vids on youtube about newborns photography, however, every author seems to choose different techniques and equipment (some people use daylight and no studio light at all, whereas some use exclusively flash lights). I have a Godox 1000w quartz lamp which which radiates a very nice st ofyellow light, however, when we use this lamp we often have problems with focusing (we use a Canon MK III and a Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 lens).
Thanks.
Hi Andrey,
Sorry for the long delay been hectic month here, In answer to your question newborn baby photography I currently use a bowens Gemini 500R set of strobes, they have a nice modelling light which you can turn up or down. I have had no issues with flash lighting as i am only taking a select few images in one sitting, and most of the time the clients bring other children with help so it can be split up a little so that may be a good tip. The strobe lights are very very good all round for all sorts of portraits I use 90cm softboxes on all my lights to help keep the harshness down as well as each light having two inner diffusers to also help keep the light soft.
I would feel using direct flash for new borns can be some what of an issue if you take several dozen images in one go however and I can see parents concerns with this however if you split the time up a little it will be fine, another method I use is a video light a lot of good quality video lights these days are great for this kind of photography as is it a constant light and can be softened down using the dimmer switch on them.
With having your own studio I guess it’s the tools that fit the job style having a couple of lighting options helps.
Another cheaper option if you have not got a softbox is using a reflector most 5 in 1 reflectors have a transparent white inner which you can shoot the strobe light through or any light really this will make the light soft enough if shooting a lot of newborns.
Focusing I have not had any issues with that side of things perhaps the low yellow ish light is not bright enough for your camera to focus the only time i have issues of that nature is shooting wedding receptions at night as low light will effect auto focus.so I found that using a remote trigger which has a built in infared sensor helps quite alot as its fires focusing beam in order for your camera sensor to lock on, you could use this approach for your issue the remote triggers from yongnuo are really good and very cheap just make sure you get the right model at the end of the name will have either a “C” canon or “N” for nikon
I use these all the time for night shoots. as well as there main use for off camera flash.
I hope some of this helps you.
All the best and thanks for emailing in.
Kind regards
Simon.