All language subtitles for 14. Studio space and making it work

In this chapter, I wanted to talk to
you a little bit about studio spaces.

Now, after my twenty plus years in the
business, I'm very fortunate to now

have a very large studio space.

But it didn't start off like that,
because, as a matter of fact, this is

my 4th or 5th studio now.

And they have

grown gradually

each time, as my clients and my
business has grown.

When I first started many years ago, I
worked in a much, much

smaller space.

But you can make smaller studio spaces
work for you.

And you can control the light in
smaller studio spaces if you know what

you're doing.

And later in this program, we will be
looking at a number of different

lighting demonstrations,

and I will be showing you how you could
control your lighting in smaller studio spaces.

Now, whilst we're on the subject of
smaller studio spaces, a very good

friend of mine, and fellow photographer
and colleague, David Lund, he does a

lot of large scale professional shoots,
and he actually works from quite a

small studio space.

Let's go over and listen

to what David has to say about working
from a smaller studio space.

This is my one of my studios

what's more stories in the studio at a
studio next door that's where I do all

my bashe experimentation.

Most of my work is done in London
because I'm a specious liquid.

So you saw the other studio, the
storage room, and you can see how tidy

and organized it was.

This room, I mean, no excuses is to tit
it.

It's not a big studio,

as studios go.

It is very small, but it's big enough
to experiment in, it's very cost effective,

enjoy working in it.

And it's big enough, what I do, the
nature of what I do doesn't require

masses amount of space, because I'm
often dealing with liquids,

and

those lights could sometimes be quite
close.

And also, I'm just really looking to
experiment.

So I want to have a shoot in London,
our go for the ideas, the concepts,

what I need to do.

And I'm doing it all in here, and it
suffices.

It's fine.

Now, as you could see, David was
working in a small studio space to

produce those shoots.

But like myself, if I'm working in
another city, a different location, or

if david's working elsewhere we rent
studio spaces, there are lots of studio

studios available.

To rent

these very, quite dramatically,

in prices from a few hundred dollars a
day to thousands of dollars a day,

depending on the size and the
facilities that they have to offer.

Now,

while we're on the subject of studio
space, one of the important things that

I would advise, if you can, is to try
to get the highest ceiling space you can.

If you're working in a small studio
space,

you will face extra challenges, but you
will face really big challenges if

you're working with a low ceiling.

Because with lighting, we often need to
get that lighting up higher

and come down onto our subject.

And a low ceiling obviously won't allow
you to do that.

So if you're looking for a studio, or
you're considering a studio space, then

always consider the ceiling height as a
priority.

Now

we're going to look in some of the
future chapters, the later chapters, as

I said, about how we can control

the light in smaller spaces, including
with lower ceilings.

But there is a limit with the ceilings.

One of the other things I want to talk
about is the location of your studio

here.

Very lucky to have a ground floor
studio, which gives me easy access

in and out of the studio.

However, this is the only studio that
I've ever had that had groundflord

access.

All of my other studios we're actually
on the first floor,

generally because they're cheaper to
rent when they're on the first floor,

and obviously see, when you're starting
out in business, you're looking to save

money.

So you put up with the fact of having
to carry equipment up and down the

stairs, and loading things up and down
the stairs.

It's just one of those things you put
up with to benefit from the cheaper

rent that you might get.

Now,

many of you might be working in a home
studio.

Sometimes I remember, back when I
started off in the early days, I think

the very first pictures I took were in
my dining room converted with a roll of

paper backdrops on the dining room wall.

And

I also know people that convert their
garages into a studio space.

Now, if that's what you're doing in
running some sort of home portrait

studio, or you've got a small studio
space, then obviously the space

is the priority.

There's no point cluttering up the
space that you need to shoot in with

loads of other knick knacks

when you can maybe store those in
another room in the house out of the

way.

So think about maximizing the space
that you've got, especially if you're

working in something like a garage
studio.

Other things that you need to consider

room for makeup.

If we take a look over here, I've got a
small, but dedicated area for the makeup.

And it just consists of a small table

and a mirror

with the illumination,

so that the makeup artist and the model
can sit down here and they can take

care of the makeup.

And I've got a mobile

table and wheels, so that if I need to
use this table for other purposes in

the studio, I can.

So a small area for makeup is obviously
important.

If you are doing portraiture

and beauty photography, if that's what
you're aiming to do, then you're going

to need sufficient studio space to
cater for that.

Now, in addition to that, we normally
bring out a clothes rail so that we can

hang all the clothes on and have a
clear look at the clothes.

You'll need a room, a sorry area, for
steaming the clothes, for ironing the

clothes as well.

So you'll need sufficient space for
that.

A lot of studios might have an extra
room attached that you can use for

makeup storage,

changing clothes and all that sort of
thing.

But we are often in smaller studios.

When I used to work in smaller studios,
we often just created a v shape out of,

or an l shaped corner out of
polyboards.

So by using some of the polyboards that
we use as reflectors,

we just simply created

a corner shape

where the model could hide behind to do
changing outfits, etc, those sort of

thing.

So you can get around these things.

If you don't have the right amount of
space, you can be a little bit creative

with what you come up with.

Now, the other thing that's important
for studios is organizing yourself

really well.

organization of your studio makes you a
lot more efficient.

If we take a look over here,

this wall of cupboards,

this is very important to my studio
workflow.

Now, interestingly, I've actually had
some of these cupboards for over

fifteen years, I think, because some of
these cupboards came from my very first

studio.

Because I've always tried to stay
organized with my studio.

So I have crates telling me what's in
the crate.

So make up in here, paints and
aerosols, effects, products, cleaning

products, painting products.

And in other cupboards.

I might have lighting equipment

or backgrounds or fabrics, etc.

And I use these cupboards to stay
organized and keep everything out of

the way.

And also by having them in a light gray
or a lighter color like this, when all

the Doors are closed,

they don't suck up any light.

They're not a problem for me as well.

Also when we're filming, they're not
too cluttering up the background with

loads of nasty boxes of stuff
everywhere.

Everything is kept tidy and organized.

So that is something I would advise
definitely staying organized.

Now, while we're on the subject of
being organized, a studio trolley

is very useful

because you can keep your cameras and
your lenses, your cleaning, cloths,

your bits and pieces.

Everything that you need for the
ongoing photography project is right

next to you as you're working.

So you can have your tripod or your
monostan next to you, but you can just

quickly go to your lenses without
having to pick things up off the floor

or go and walk Miles to get them.

So everything you need for the
particular shoot can be on a trolley.

Now, studio trolleys can be quite
expensive, but let me let you into a

little tip.

Studio trolleys are exactly the same as
catering trolleys.

And this is actually a catering
trolley, which I bought, I think, from IKEA

or online.

And these are a lot less expensive.

So just consider a catering trolley,
something like that, I would prefer.

And I recommend the solid ones rather
than the caged wire ones, because it's

not so easy to put small things down.

Batteries and stuff will fall through
the caged wire ones.

So get yourself a solid trolley like
that.

And you can just pull it around.

The studio follows you around while
you're working on a particular chute.

And if you're shooting on a laptop
tethered, you can even pop your laptop

on it and use it as a mobile desk.

Now, talking to mobile desks

for my mobile work station, I actually

have the imac.

Or if I've got an iso screen or

different computer setup, I've got it
on a mobile platform.

So again, this can move around the
studio with me, so that when I'm

shooting tethered, I can see what I'm
doing, but I can shift everything

around at the same time.

The manniquin.

Now you've seen us using the mannequin
already on

some of the tests that we've been doing
now.

The mannequin

is actually a great

studio tool and studio accessory for
testing your lighting.

Because there is a multitude of
lighting setops that we can come up

with.

You're going to see many of those
lighting setups, but for testing

either ahead of

your subject arriving, or simply for
practice than a mannequin.

And a number of different outfits for
humanachin and different wigs can give

you a really good insight into how the
light's going to interact off different

hair colors, different clothes, etc.

And it allows you to, in your downtime,
to practice a number of different

lighting setups.

The next thing I'd like to look at is
my monostand

we get a lot of questions about the
monostand

generally, I say generally, pretty much
all the time when I'm doing studio

photography, I use one of these instead
of a tripod, because this is a lot

easier to control.

I can get the camera down a lot lower.

I can get it down low really, really
quickly, and I can bring it up high

really quickly.

It's counterbalance so it's not even
heavy to move around.

And then by using a geared head, I can
have the camera.

I can make my adjustments, nice and
easy to tilt and turn the camera.

But I can get the camera up much higher
than I can get on a tripod easily.

And I can get the camera to look down
on my models.

Or I can quickly adjust different
heights.

And again, with it being on wheels, I
can easily move it around to find a

different position.

So using a monostand, I'd highly
recommend, if you've got the space, as

a matter of fact, you'll find it takes
up less space than a tripod, because

its actual footprint

is probably less than that of the leg
spreading out on a tripod.

And in terms of positionability,

movability, those sorts of things, it's
a lot lot more efficient way to work in

your studio.

Let's move on to

backgrounds.

Now we have the lovely big infinity
Cove here.

I think in some countries they call
them cyclorama.

We call them infinity coves or coves.

This is an l shaped Cove, as you can
see, which means it's just an l shape.

And it curves around as well as down
into the floor, up into the wall.

It also curves into the corner.

Now I've worked in studios, and of
rented studios that are u shaped coves,

or coves that come over the top as
well.

This particular Cove suits my purpose
is really well.

You can see this lovely big, large
space that we've got.

But even if you're working in a garage
studio, in a much smaller space, if you

have one flat wall that you can convert

into just a single downwards curve,

that is really useful.

If you take a look at it from the side,
you'll see what I'm talking about.

So even if you've got one flat wall

at the back of your studio, or your
garage, or your space,

and you can convert it into this,

then this is really useful.

Because having a Cove gives you a
perfect seamless background,

without the problem that you get with
paper rolls that can sometimes go

rippled and give you too much texture.

This gives you a beautiful, smooth
finish.

If you're interested in knowing how we
built the Cove and how coves are made,

or how they can be custom made, we do
have a video

showing you how we actually prepared
this Cove.

Now if you're not working with a Cove,
but you at least have a flat wall at

the back of your studio, then that is a
big advantage just having a flat wall

that then joins to the ground.

If it's flat and smooth and can be
rendered correctly, then that gives you

a lot of opportunities.

You can paint that.

All different colors use

that wall as a background.

You can also create a mobile wall that
you can have in front of that wall.

And then that wall can be spun around,
and you can use it for different colors

on either side of that wall.

Or you can bring the wall out and use
it as a white reflector instead of polyboards.

Now on top of that, obviously,
traditional paper backgrounds are

useful.

We've already looked at backgrounds in
one of the earlier chapters, but let's

just recap.

Here.

You can see I have my paper background
section over here.

So I've actually got a second shooting
area, in case we've got a filming

project going on over here, and I've
got another shooting project going on

here.

It means that I don't have to stop
working.

We can have two setups at the same
time, if you can afford the space.

I recommend the wider twelve foot
background, but they only come in the

gray, the black and the white, and I
believe also the chroma green as well.

Yet, we've got a chromo green roll
there.

And then below that, you can see I've
got the nine foot backgrounds, which

you can get in a number of different
colors.

the paper backgrounds will work ok,

but if you don't store them correctly,

you can end up getting ripples in the
backgrounds.

So if you're storing your backgrounds,
make sure you keep them vertically.

You can buy background racks that will
hold the backgrounds in a rack to keep

them nice and vertical.

If you leave backgrounds up on the
actual background holder for too long,

and they do not have a supporting
bathroom, they will bow.

And it ends up with ripples through the
paper, which obviously can cause a

problem and require a lot of retouching
to smooth that outly.

Let's have a look.

The other thing that I would consider a
sort of part of your backgrounds, or at

least as part of your props.

And your reflectors,

are your polyboards

and your phone board sheets.

Now these sort of things are obviously
all very flat

items.

And if you can find a place to store
them, you can see here we've built a

place where we can store them behind
our Cove, but they don't take up too

too much room.

So you can find one wall of your studio
that you keep clear, to keep props such

as your backgrounds, your plastics,
your polyboards and things like that,

that you're going to use over and over
again, because the polyboards

will be required

many, many times.

Other things to consider,

finally, just a few other things

is your heating.

If you're working in a studio space,
and your main priority is photographing

models or portraits or families, they
have to be warm in your studio.

If you've got a very cold studio with
no heating, then all of your subjects

are going to be uncomfortable when
you're photographing them.

And you need heating.

Here I use an infrared heating system,
which is silent, so that when we're

filming it doesn't cause us any
problems.

But you could obviously use anything
from electric fan heaters to infrared

heaters, whatever you want.

But you must make sure that your studio
is warm enough that your subjects are

not uncomfortable during the photo
shoot.

Fire extinguishers that's an important
part as well.

Obviously, we're dealing with hot
accessories, modeling lamps,

paper,

diffusion material, things like that.

Things that can catch fire.

We're also dealing with electrics.

So make sure that you have propriate
fire extinguishers

in your studio.

I think it's actually a legal
requirement, so make sure you've got

it.

You might think it'll never happen.

I've actually set fire to previous
studios, and I just set fire to the

whole studio.

But I have set fire to fabrics and
materials and papers in the studio when

they've touched the modeling, the hot
modeling lamp.

So it does and can happen.

One of the other things is blackout
blinds.

Let me just take you over to

one of the blinds here.

I'm using blinds that have a track
system.

And you can see here,

so the blinds lock into the track,

and they've got the feathered

material,

the brush, on it, so that the light is
kept completely trapped

out of the studio, even though these
are white blinds they're completely

solid opaque.

So no light's going to get through.

So we've got black outlines so that we
can make the whole studio completely

dark, if necessary.

And that actually

can be very useful, because when you're
setting up your lighting setups and

when you're

testing your lighting and trying to
look at the effect, when you're using

the modeling lamps to do that you need
to see the effect of the light.

And if you've got tons of daylight
pouring into your studio, then you

won't really see the effect of your
lighting that clearly, until you take

the test shot.

So by using the modeling lamps on your
studio lights, and having it all dark

inside the studio, you can get a much
better idea of the lighting and control

it more easily.

Finally,

displaying your work up here, we have a
large projector.

And we use this projector for mostly
for training purposes,

but we project images onto the wall so
that if we need to show clients a

shoot, we can set our clients down, and
they can look at the images large scale

on the wall, and we can run through the
shots, run through the photos.

A lot of wedding photographers and
portrait photographers like to work in

this way with a projector because it
allows them to show the images large

scale.

And they feel more emotional when you
look at them on a large scale.

And when you're showing the pictures
off in a good way.

You're more likely to make more sales
of your pictures.

If you don't have that space.

Then take a look over here.

The other thing that I've got in our
reception area

is a large high definition

four k television.

And this works really well for showing
off my work.

So when I have clients waiting here

or I want to discuss a project, I can
plug in a usb stick or use it as a

smart TV connected to an iPad.

And I can see my images in four k
resolution on this lovely 65 inch

television.

So even a television

as your method of display in your
waiting area, if you've got room for a

waiting area or somewhere in your
studio, is a great way to demonstrate

your work to your clients, or go
through the images that you've shot

with them when they come back to see
you.

So that kind of wraps it up really on
various aspects to consider

when you're working in a studio,

obviously, try to get the best space
you can.

But it doesn't mean to say, if you
don't have a large studio, that you

can't do great work is just making the
best of the space that you have.

As I said later in the program, as we
do some of the shoots and the

demonstrations, I will be showing you
exactly how you can control lighting in

smaller studio spaces.