Being optimistic about space???

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photojournalism

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Hi guys

Long story short, ive been pestered for a long time to take studio shots of friends/family etc and to do something with our garage space.

Am I being overly optimistic with this space

8ft 6 wide
7ft 6 high
17ft 6 long

Im looking to get a white back drop set up and take pictures of the kids + friends/families children.

Will I have adequate space with lighting set up etc to do this?
 
Tight. But you could do it with a Lastolite HiLite as background.
 
Lack of width means you'll struggle to get a good result (ie even background coverage) for anything more than solo head and shoulders or couples at most.

You'll also need three heads, two for the background, whichever way you go. From both a cost perspective and also technical difficultly, pure white is testing. But drop the white idea and go for maybe off-white or light grey background, and everything gets much easier. You can do that and get excellent results in a much smaller space and just one light.
 
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You could hire a complete studio for a few hours. Prices vary widely and may depend on time and location. That would be the best way forward if you know how to make the most of it. Alternatively explore a local park, woods and other outdoor locations.

The garage would be ideal for product shots, macros, etc. Portraits need more space.
 
daugirdas said:
You could hire a complete studio for a few hours. Prices vary widely and may depend on time and location. That would be the best way forward if you know how to make the most of it. Alternatively explore a local park, woods and other outdoor locations.

The garage would be ideal for product shots, macros, etc. Portraits need more space.
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The garage is already kitted out with electricity, lights,internet, painted etc. So all that needs doing is putting in photography equipment/lighting etc

It's something ive thought about for some time but just never got around to doing it

Do you really think it's not possible to do? what do you think would be the main issues with the available space?
 
photojournalism said:
The garage is already kitted out with electricity, lights,internet, painted etc. So all that needs doing is putting in photography equipment/lighting etc

It's something ive thought about for some time but just never got around to doing it

Do you really think it's not possible to do? what do you think would be the main issues with the available space?
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height - 2.2m - your lights will be right against the ceiling and spilling all over place. (living room is at least 2.50m ish so a bit better)

2.6m wide - this will limit how far you can spread your lights - about 0.5-0.7m each side from your subject. It can work but not convenient / limiting.

5.3m long (sorry hate imperial!) - 0.3m - background; subject - 1.5-2m away. Really you need that or you are limited to Lastolite hilite and pure white backgrounds. then you have 3m left to yourself and you don't want to shoot wide. Headshots will work, wider shots maybe by standing in the doorway.

Your biggest issue is the ceiling height for standing up shots, except children. Not a problem if you get a posing chair(s) and OK with that limitation.

Just trying to be realistic so if you go ahead you already know the limits
 
I think if you're just taking photos of babies crawling around the floor, or doing head shots, your space will be just fine. Yes it's a little on the small side, but you'd be surprised what can be achieved in a very small space.

I think your biggest limiting factor will be height, as there's no way to get an overhead light, or a light hitting the background from above, which will be a a problem if you want to use hair lights or blow the background to white (unless as previously suggested you use a HiLite or similar).

I went to see a photographer to give some advice on her set up not that long ago and she was using a space smaller than yours, but her style was very elegant black and white portraits, never more than 3/4 length, so a single grey painted wall was all she had and a couple of controlled lights on the front and her work was stunning. But that was pretty much all she could do in it.
 
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