Article and photographs by Russell Smith.
Want to know what to look out for when renting a studio space or building your own? Read on.
An ideal studio space affords the flexibility to shoot a variety of subject matter under one roof. You want to have a space free of clutter where you can set up your equipment and tailor your shoot to your needs. There are the exceptions when you know you only want to shoot food for example and then you can do with a smaller space in your home near your kitchen.
A large area allows for larger productions that require multiple lighting set ups, room for clients to work and lay out their laptops. A large white-painted curve is great for fashion and portraiture. A kitchen for stylists to prep for food shoots. Parking access and facilities to store props and furniture for homeware/decor shoots and the access to transport big items to and from the road as well as your equipment in and out of your studio. Street level studios without stairs or even the need for lifts is always going to work better, as the last thing you want is for your clients or stylists to be schlepping their stuff long distances.
My rule is to always take a space that is a little bigger then you think you need. It will give you more options in what you can shoot and as time goes on and your productions get bigger, you don’t want to outgrow the space quickly. I always find myself shoved into a corner even when I have a large studio to work in. Lighting works with distance. If you have a smaller space, the chance of being able to have front and back light and control it accurately and flag the lights is going to be near impossible. If the ceiling is too low, you won’t be able to get light shooting top down onto the models heads.
Wi-Fi today is becoming a standard to offer clients.
Three phase electricity in a studio is important to handle the higher amperage in effect making it more stable to run more packs and lights.
A good sound system is important. Good tunes have an amazing influence on the flow of the shoot day and will act as a good ice breaker when you have a subject that feels uneasy in front of the camera or you need to keep the mood high after a long day of shooting.
I use both natural light and flash, depending on what I am shooting. If you can create or find a space that can serve as both then you are winning.
Daylight
I have mentioned in my post on shooting food that I prefer daylight. One of my nonnegotiables is the direction the windows face. I seek out direct north and west-facing windows that I can scrim for a good warm quality light.
I then like to scrim the windows with a silk. Often studios will have silks like these that fit over the windows acting to diffuse the bright light and give you a beautiful quality light. You may need several of these on one window to soften the window frames from leaving hard lines on your subject. Whatever area you are in, ask one of the reputable camera operators or lighting companies where you can get a silk made. I think it is my single most used piece of equipment and best investment I have ever made. You must also devise an easy way that you can easily change between one silk or two if for example the clouds come over and you have enough diffusion with one silk.
If you need to use flash in your studio and cut out the daylight, the space needs to have black-out to cover the windows. You want to make sure that at 1/125th of a second at the aperture you wish to use you are getting a black image on your view finder when you take a shot, given that you want no ambient light in your shot that is. Then all the daylight has been eradicated. Here heavy black material from any fabric store will do. But make sure it is a block out and not a thin black fabric that when held up to the light lets light through.
If you are shooting objects, food or any still life for that matter, you will need a good table to work on. One that preferably is on caster wheels that can lock. This will make life so much easier when wanting to adjust your table angle to the lights or move it from one side of the studio to another with minimal disturbance. You can also use the table in conjunction with a paper or bendable backdrop to create a mini infinity curve for small objects. Or with backdrops that hang behind the table if you want a horizon line. The table often doubles up as a good surface to place your computer and camera gear when you shooting on the curve. Get one, believe me, even if it is an extra surface to place props.






