Dreaming of having your own photograph studio for a long time? Fed up with the high rental and inconvenient use of someone else’s studio? Hesitating to build your own home photograph studio for the complicated and headachy process? Here are some guides to building a home photograph studio. Having all these items clear in mind, it would be practical and affordable to have a self photograph studio.
1. Ideal Studio Space
For most people, there may not be enough space for a home photograph studio. You can choose a living room or garage which is no less than 300 square-foot. Therefore there would be enough room to mount the essential equipment for photograph and other Interior Design Matters. A room with a 20-foot deep is considered ideal for taking full body shots, which a also more versatile for various shooting scenarios. Remember to give consideration to the ceiling height. A low ceiling would bounce off too much light and limit the height of a hair light when doing a standing portrait shoot. Nearly 3 feet is recommended for the room between the shooting subject and the hair light.
Most importantly, make sure the studio has its own dedicated space. Your family members would feel free for their daily living avoiding interfering your photograph. Your customers also have a relaxed and comfortable environment for shooting. Moreover, you can isolate your photograph from external disturbing and concentrate on the customer and the technical adjustment.
2. Essential interior design matters
When imaging a home photograph studio, there must be plenty of items you want to add to your studio to make it the most unique and functional one. Step by step! Firstly set up the room into a home studio. Do the necessary ones and determine what else to add when using it for a while, which would turn out to be more functional and economical.
Below are some essential interior parts for a home photograph studio:
- Painting the studio. Giving the room some fresh paint will result in stunning effects. Choose soft colors that support the photograph effects for your preference. To keep the glare in control , we recommend a standard matte white back wall than glossy ones which is used for the main shooting background. The other sides can be appropriately light gray or dove gray to add some design elements.
- Floors. Smooth wooden or marble flooringare excellent choice for elegant look, which is also durable for frequently stand-movement. You can also use a Fox vinyl floor mat to cover the original floor due to limit budget. The floor mat can match up with various backdrops perfectly, which can serve as both the floor and the background.
- Storage closet. A studio always has many accessories to support the shooting. To make everything in organization and keep the studio tide, a storage closet is an indispensable part of the interior design. You can put your shooting facilities, light modifiers, costumes, prints, props, clips and many other things all in it.
- Vanity. For most photograph studio, portrait shoot is the most frequent shooting type. Therefore a vanity is required to do some make-up and keep the clients in perfect state. To make the vanity nicely functional, you also need a chair, tabletop brackets and some vanity lights.
- Decoration. The easiest but most valuable one is to hang your best work on the wall. You can choose a part of the room which is convenient. Watching the printed photos is a special and magic experience for the customers, which makes a good impression and enhances their confidence in the further shooting.
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Others. Install a few power sockets in your studio. You may need to plug in gear during the whole shooting process. If condition permits, you can also install simple changing facilities and a comfy waiting space for the customers and their relatives.
With all the foundation work done, let’s go to the most exciting part of the studio: the photograph! What are the necessary parts for a home photograph studio? Totally surprising, there are not too many necessities for a studio. Let me show you one by one.
- Camera and lens. Self-evidently, a camera is the top one must-have for a photographer. As a professional photographer, you surely have your own highly specialized camera equipment. But for the new entrants, it must be confusing to pick the most suitable one from tens of the advanced equipment. Canon 5D Mark II is a good choice to start with. As the studio is space-limited , it’s better to choose the lenses with short focal lengths, a 50mm for headshots and 80-100mm for larger portrait.
- Light. For portrait shooting, the light and dark patches are critical to enhance the power in the photo, which is decided by the source of the light. If your studio has a window facing north and south, you can use the natural sunlight. However, an artificial light is also required to provide continuous light for more flexible and versatile shooting. LED lamps with color filters are the most economical choice for wide range of colors. Speedlights are necessary for flash photograph, which endow character to your subject. The one with a wireless trigger is recommended for more flexibility. If you want your photograph up to next level ,you can also choose strobe lights depending on the budget.
- Modifiers. To control the effect of the light from the flash, a light modifier is critical. And there are various options. To be well-focused on the space-limited home studio, we choose two major ones that can be use with the lights mentioned above. A white shoot-through umbrella is proper for a home studio, which helps to spread light for family sessions in a large area. However, there is little control over the reach of the light. With a softbox, you can have greater control over the light direction. The softbox is less portable and more expensive than umbrella, but greater for small studio to avoid light going everywhere.
- Backdrops. Photograph backdrops not only serve as a background for the setting, but also avoid distraction and enhance professionalism and elegance. Moreover, the proper backdrop enables the reflection of light and exposure under control. Backdrops with plain solid colors are more versatile, you can use proper lighting setupsto change the color of the images. Besides, there are also many topic backdrops, you can choose the one you like for festival shooting , event shooting or newborns. As for the different materials, we recommend a FOX vinyl backdrop for its portability, durability and high-definition printed image. Vinyl backdrop is winkle-free and needs no ironing. You can use it once you receive one. Besides, it’s easy to wipe off the dirty mark with a slightly damp sponge. For more information, you can read another blog: How to Store and Clean Your Vinyl Backdrops.
- Backdrop stand. To achieve a perfect display of the backdrop, you need a backdrop stand for better performance. If your space is limited, we recommend a Roller Wall Mounting. It can be installed on the shooting side wall. Besides, you can put several backdrops on and switch in and out efficiently. You can also use a Telescopic Stand or T-Shape Stand depending on your own demands.
- Others. Backdrop holders are perfect for effective utilization of the limited space. You can roll up the backdrops and put it into the holder on the wall. It would be a nice place to show off the backdrops and keep everything in organization. Do remember to buy some clamps and clips to keep the backdrops in ideal shooting place.
Now we have set up a home photograph studio in mind. Hopefully this article will give you some inspirations for your studio.
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