Where can I go with this studio space?...

specialman

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Pat MacInnes
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So here's the studio space I have at work - this is mid-shoot so forgive the light position and the big pile of paper in the middle:

DSC_4010.jpg


It's bijou at 3.5m wide by 4m deep (my back is to the wall on a 17mm lens taking this shot) and to the right, just out of shot, is a set of double doors for access into the studio. To the left you can see a fridge (which is being moved to de-clutter the space) and it goes off into another area that's barely 3m wide and about 4m long, but has supporting struts along the walls for a mezzanine floor upstairs so it better suited to photographing smaller things on a table I have situated there.

In the area in the photograph, I'll be shooting mainly larger objects such as sweatboxes, barrows, collections of luggage, rods and poles, plus people shots ranging from portraits to full-length.

Currently we have four Bowens esprit lights that have more than adequate power for this space, so no issues there. In terms of modifiers we have the 24" x 24" softboxes that were supplied with the heads, plus shoots, 10" diameter reflectors, plus some small barn doors.

Where I want to get the most out of the space is in choosing modifiers that will give and equal spread of light for full-body shots, plus a few opinions on how you'd improve the studio. Our last studio at the old office was totally black and really worked well.... not sure whether to do the same or go for a medium grey or just put a material covering of black cloth over the roof tiles to at least kill some of the bounce?

In terms of modifiers, for lighting the roll evenly (i.e for one or more people, full-body) I'll have to have lights tight to the left and right walls and fairly close to the BG.... will larger reflectors give me an advantage or will the fall-off be too much to create an evenly lit BG? Should I instead be looking at additional heads on short stands so I have four light on the BG?

I have a boom that I can manouvre to light foreground/subject and my preference much of the time is (for portraits) to light from one side and add in some reflected fill. Will those long, body-length soft boxes work or will the ends of the soft box just not get that much light compared to the centre, leaving me with an ineffective modifier? In the past I've used stacked softboxes and although a bit DIY looking (and cluttered) did come close to providing even, full-length lighting.

BTW, much of out shooting is on white because we do lots of cutouts - it's not my preference but I just do as I'm told.
 
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Space is tight.

Suggest white walls with black drapes that you can pull aside. That way, you can bounce off the white walls to use them as big soft light sources, or draw them over to control spill.

Reverse-firing softboxes (or brollies) make better use of space as you can position them right up against the wall/ceiling to get more distance.
 
For the backdrop lights ..why not put them on the ceiling...get rid of the stands....if you get permission off the landlord...remove the ceiling tiles to add more height and possibly you will be able to get stronger fixings for light brackets.
 
Or the Manfrotto 098b or 098shb (shorter version)

The advantage of the Wall scissor boom is that the light will go back tight against the wall at the fixing point. With the telescopic booms there is always the radius from the fixing point to the end of the first section of tube where the light will be unable to travel.

In a very tight studio that can make all the difference.
 
scissor booms can also be attached to the ceiling - or a rack..............A top system!
 
Space is tight.

Suggest white walls with black drapes that you can pull aside. That way, you can bounce off the white walls to use them as big soft light sources, or draw them over to control spill.

Reverse-firing softboxes (or brollies) make better use of space as you can position them right up against the wall/ceiling to get more distance.

Agreed. And white reflective umbrellas are a very good choice for lighting the background, although they do take up a lot of space. Special background reflectors reduce the amount of space needed but don't produce better results.

What bothers me is
Where I want to get the most out of the space is in choosing modifiers that will give and equal spread of light for full-body shots,
If you want to go that route then a large softbox like this one is ideal but personally I tend to go for hard lighting for products (and products includes people where the objective is sales) because the images just have so much punch. Today, Michael Sewell and I were shooting a dark haired model, dressed entirely in black, against a black background. Using strip softboxes with honeycombs fitted made her jump out from the background and produce very striking results - it's a great pity that the photos can't be published yet - and the images will definitely sell the products. The same principles can be used for white clothing against white, or anything between these two extremes.

Soft, flat lighting is easy. But it's also bland.
 
HiLite background will save a lot of space compared to the opening pic.
 
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