turning the garage into a studio? anyone done it?

[leeb]

hi all,

i am currently going thru the stages of moving house, with a garage. as i only have a company dog and sprog waggon, i am planning to turn the garage into a studio to do family/portrait work. i plan to get the walls and floor skimmed, and painted white, i also plan to put a thin stud wall in right where the up and over door is (easily taken down when we move)

has anyone done anything similar, and if so, any chance you could post a couple of photos of your garage setup?

much appreciated, as i cant have the sports car or quad, i may as well make the most of the space.

lee

[_dobbo_]

Hello!

I've done exactly this. Here's a before picture, I'll take an after picture tomorrow and whack it up here, along with some more details. Luckily I know a plasterer so I did a deal, he plastered my garage and I took a whole load of pictures of his kids and did him some prints.

Edited by _dobbo_ on Wednesday 17th January 22:35

[nick francis]

I just `in thr process of geting architect drawings for this,

remit is to keep a viewing platform for the noble, a section for our home theatre and a work study for my photshop

[leeb]

excellent look forward to seeing the pictures soon, thanks

[robbin'b]

Leeb,

as a thought, don't paint it white; a battleship grey is better. It may look a bit gloomy but it will help control light spill and reflections, after all the point of a studio is to give you control over the lighting.

Keep us informed as to how you get on, I wish I still had the space to do the same!

Rob

[_dobbo_]

Interesting comment about painting it grey. I chose white so that the walls could be the backdrop, ultimately I intend to try to get some different coloured backdrops but as with every other aspect of photography, it costs loads.

Here's a picture I just went out and took, couldn't get the whole garage as the weather here is diabolical at the moment so I had to close the door. Plus I've just had to give the taxman all my money so I'm in a bad mood generally.



Plain old white paint on the walls/ceiling, and white floor paint used on the floor. The floorpaint took 4 coats and could have done with another but I ran out. It's hard to keep clean as well, which is worth bearing in mind. I have real problems with the window if I'm honest and I don't know what to do with it. Some sort of removable cover I guess would work.

Anyway, got some stuff I'm happy with from it:

[robbin'b]

Good stuff that, I think my 'paint it grey comment' comes from my habit of using black backgrounds and very directional lighting.

What you do does depend on how you intend to use the resulting space. I have built three studios over the years and found that grey worked best for me. The first one had white walls and I ended up with large quantities of black drapes to cut down stray light - used 'Womble fur' in the main. The other two had grey walls and reduced the problem but it also meant I had to build light-tents whenever I needed to flatten the contrast.

Rob

[andybuk99]

The walls in my studio are painted white with a white apex ceiling. I wouldnt of worried about the floor, mine is painted just with hard wearing floor paint and any room sets are built straight on top and when the floor gets grubby we just repaint.

I like the white ceiling as I can just bounce a light to give general fill. I also have 2 double garage doors to the right if I need available light. will post a pic when I can find one.

Edited by andybuk99 on Thursday 25th January 12:37

[leeb]

nice one,

interesting point about the grey, i can see where you are coming from.

my reason for white, was due to wanting a totally plain white backdrop to use, and rather than having paper/fabric i would rather use the white, and colour that with light as and when required. (including cheating with photoshop)

i will be using a door at the back for access, and probably shooting at the main garage door, with some form of wall built in front of it.

one other thing, and i am sure there are a load of posts on here about this, but im on a typing roll. What do you generally use for the lighting setup, i was planning one main soft box, and 2 lights, about 1 stop over exp, either side of the backdrop. this is to give me a basic starter to give a good overall lighting over the whole area? any advances, i will have 3 bowens 500 geminis tops.

lee

[_dobbo_]

I use no "proper" lighting at all, just the overhead flourescent tube and an SB-600 flash.

Where possible I put it on the floor behind the subject pointing away from the subject to overexpose the background.

If you have a subject that moves around a lot this is much harder!

[andybuk99]

If you want to really progress with your photography, do not just use one lighting arrangement, you will get a good shot and wont want to improve it., lighting changes with every subject you shoot. If its portraiture one persons face will have more features that you may want to express/reduce than the next. Sorry about the drivel but what I am trying to say is experiment each time you take a shot.

People seem to be more of a computer expert nowadays rather than a photographer, be different get the shot right in camera! You will be more chuffed!

[_dobbo_]

Andy you are of course correct! Problem is in the last 12 months I've speny somewhere north of £3k on camera gear, and even half decent lighting is not cheap. I had to draw the line somewhere and it's there, for now anyway...

[leeb]

good advice andy, it is certinally true that there is more satisfaction getting it right first time before it is put onto the computer. i think its a confidence in my own knowledge problem, no matter how much i read it doesnt go in, once i can actively practice things will change.

[andybuk99]

Here are the happy snaps, the studio is a mess as I am taking delivery of products for a shoot for a diy store.

Edited by andybuk99 on Thursday 25th January 15:23

[_dobbo_]

Thanks for posting these Andy! That's bigger than the usual garage people would think of converting.

Regarding the backdrops - are those just rolls of fabric which you put onto a pole and pull off a length? And could there be more double entendres in that sentence?

[andybuk99]

They are rolls of colorama, I did have rolls of material but I dont think they have been used since the early 90' when I used to shoot a lot of chocolate and on the other end of the scale cigar/cigarette packaging.