Hey Folks, here to pick some brains and maybe some noses!
I am contemplating building a studio in my basement. The dimensions would be 12x16 with an 8 ceiling. What I am not sure about is what is the best color to paint the walls...should there be carpet on the floor...what kind of lighting and should I scrap the flourescents that are in there now...what color seamless paper(s) seem to work best and props.
I have been doing natural light stuff and nature/landscape but I have an interest to dive in to this as well.
I am sure some of you have built your own studios and can shed some light on it for me and point me in the right direction.
I am also going to be looking for lighting...preferably good used equipment

Thank you in advance for your wisdom!

Ron

Your 8ft ceiling height will be a substantial limitation in what you can shoot.

It is very difficult to put a hair light/kicker (especially in a softbox) over a standing subject when you have only 8' of height.

Limit yourself to seated head & shoulders portraits and kids and you'll be fine.

I shoot in a very small space with an 8-1/2' ceiling, but my subjects (stringed instruments) are not very big, and I have trouble with any instrument larger than a cello.

Paint your walls dark neutral gray, but not black. Black is ideal to control light bounce, but makes your space a cave that's very uninviting to work in.

As for seamless, it comes in lots of colors. Get a white one, a black one, and a gray one for starters. Then you can decide on other colors as you learn your way around.

For lighting, I use Alien Bees, and suggest you buy one AB800, a medium softbox, an umbrella, a couple of stands, and a reflector, and learn how lighting works before spending a bunch of bucks on gear.

Also get the book "Light -- Science & Magic" it explains how light works through examples and exercises. Work your way through that and you'll be ready for a paying client.

Remember the photography business is 80% business and only 20% photography. Get some photo business reference books along the way also.

<Chas>

Thanks Chas, that is the kind of info I am looking for...I will see if I can squeeze a little more room out of the ceiling.
So a neutral dark gray instead of white? I guess in my ignorance I thought white would have been the best color
I will do a search for that book, do you by chance know who the author is?

Thanks again, Ron

There was huge, long link on home studios in one of the other forums. It was either Lighting or People. Folks had dozens of photos of thier studios, both in home and commerical. They showed lights, mods, stands, backgrounds...all of that. You should try to find that thread, great stuff. It would be a good candidate for a sticky too.

I would not paint the room walls white, you will have difficulty controlling stray light bouncing about.

Studio lighting is all about light control, and stray light bouncing off walls and ceiling isn't controlled (or even controllable).

<Chas>

I just ordered the mentioned book about lighting from amazon.com for around $30. Thanks for posting your question because there are many others who most likely had the same questions, including me . Also thanks to all those who added in the knowledge building on this forum.

Ed

I read an article about Phillip Stewart Charis once which said his walls were all dark grey except the one behind him. That was white and he pointed one strobe into it and it was a VERY BIG fill light. Interesting idea, particularly if space is limited.

Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

After doing quite a bit of reading and the awesome advice I have recieved here, I am going to do the walls in a gray and the ceiling in black to control the light bounce. Unfortunately I will not have enough space to do a white wall behind me, I will just be using a curtain for privacy and to keep out refractive light. I have found a lot of great sites with tons of info on how to set it up and think I will have a pretty good set-up considering my budget is even smaller than my space. I guess I will find out and tweak it when I get it done and start snapping some pics!
Thanks to all of you for the input...now lets go create some images and freeze a moment in time!

Take a look at the "Show us your setup" thread in the lighting forum.