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Studio Dimensions
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I am in the process of setting up my own studio, need to build or buy in back garden. Just looking for advice on size. Obviously the bigger you can build the better but then it will be more costly. Is there a minimum size you need. Also I have seen some recommended sizes on other websites but they never seem to mention a recommended height. So what I am looking for is some recommendations from experienced photographers who have their own studio on their experiences of the sizes of studios they are coping with (including height). Look forward to some interseting discussion on this. Thanks in anticipation.
Pat
If I were building again I’d do something about 20ft wide and about 25 to 30 ft long with a 12ft ceiling height. This is just for camera studio only. Mine is a bit small …….. only 22 x 10 and 8.5 high. Would love to start again.
You might get some ideas at one of my favourite FredMiranda threads Show us your studio! Aside from that, I can only suggest that the best thing to do would be to calculate what size you need, taking into account some basic measurements as follows. Although I’m a metric person, I’ll try and work with feet here, just in case :wink:
If you’re going to use background paper, then the widest roll of that you can get is 9′ so you’re studio needs to be that wide at the very least. Then you need to add some extra width in order to fit in lights to the side of this, for example if you wish to light the background separately. Perhaps allow yourself 3′ each side? So we’re now looking at a minimum of 15′ wide. For the length, allow at least 6′ of space between your subject and the background. Allow another 3′ for a “shooting zone”, in which your subject can back and forth and then allow at least 6′ between you and the subject. So you’re looking at an absolute minimum of 15′ depth as well. As for height, I would think anything less than 9′ high is going to be a real pain to work with.
These are just absolute minimum measurements below which I would think it would be very difficult to work with. Clearly more is better. Use the various criteria I’ve outlined above to work out what you think you might need and then maybe add another 20%-30% on to those.
Hope that helps.
Hi Pat,
With regard to the width of your studio, go with GCP’s dimensions. Alot of new cloth’s are 10 feet wide and you can get superwide paper backgrounds from Lastolite that are 140 inches wide, 11.66 feet. If I had the chance to rebuild my studio it would be AT LEAST 20 feet wide, 30 feet long and 12 feet high with no clutter! The new white vinyl backgrounds are ten feet wide, so in my studio of 12 feet by 25 I would find it hard to fit it in and light it.
A bit more expense now will stop you wishing in a couple of years time that you had gone bigger.Phil
Hi Pat, This may already be too late, but Thorsten is pretty much spot on. Your standard backdrop is in fact 9′, but with a Chain pulley kit you are looking at about 10.5′. I have seen smaller ( The paper width can be cut with a regular saw!) and seen a family group of about 20 shot in a really tiny studio ( about 9×12′)! A standard ceiling height is about 8′, but if you have a few backdrops on a wall bracket the lower rolls can start to become a problem with tall subjects, so an ideal ceiling height for me would be about 9 – 10.5′. If you think you might add a High Glide track system in the future to support your lights from the ceiling it is important not to go too high.
Hi Barkerphotographic, Never too late for this kind of useful info. Many thanks.
Pat
Hi all, well Ryan, my studio is 12′ wide 25′ long and about 8′ high. As most of the other guys have said, if I had it to do again I would go wider and higher. Don’t get me wrong, for the majority of work it’s great. On a few occassions I have had an issue with height. Apart from that no probs and I’m reasonably happy with my set up
Paddy is on the money as regards allowing for the pulley systems,i would allow as much as possible on either side of the 9 ft backdrop as you dont want to be walking with your shoes on your lovely white paper just to change backdrops etc. Also consider where your rim lights are going to be positioned for a high key set up if your blowing out your backdrop. The high glide is just the job here as you will then have a safe workspace and clutter free for kids crawling arounnd etc.
My ceiling is around 16 ft high and the track sits a a drop of 2-4ft below this on a girder then allowing the booms to drop to around 4ft off the floor. At the starting point they sit at around head height.Were you also considering a worksation and viewing area,toilet,changing area etc so these might account for another 200sq feet alsoI have to chop a foot of my rolls to get them to fit my space :(
Gerry’s dimensions sound great!
seanmcfoto wrote:
I have to chop a foot of my rolls to get them to fit my space :(
Gerry’s dimensions sound great!
I’d really love to change mine. Only last Sunday, Martin that used to work for me here when I did Video as well called in and almost talked me into building an extension to the diamentions I really want ……… but I dont know if my market place would bear the extra investment. My problem right now is that I really need to build up my pension fund as I’m on the wrong side of 50 and while I’ve been funding it for many years now, I really should have been putting in more.
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