Need ideas for a photo studio!!!

[April Colson]

Hello guys,
I have been looking for possible prospects to start a photo studio in the great Toronto region. I am unable to find one with my funds. I have a friend in the US who built a studio using a shipping container. I once visited there, and it was incredible. I checked for all the possible options to buy a shipping container in Toronto, it seems that they are relatively cheaper than renting an actual studio. They are available in different sizes too. I need some ideas on how to build a studio from a shipping container. Is there anything you like to suggest?
Any help on this is appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Derrel]

The 40 ' " high cube," type has an interior height of 8' 10", which sounds to me like a barely workable height....the other types have 7'10" interior height, which I do not think is quite high enough.

 

[TWX]

Where would you place this shipping container? If I understand correctly, Toronto is fairly high-density and expensive, even if you own the container, you'll have to keep it somewhere. Furthermore, beyond the 40' container there are shorter or shortened containers and even lengthened containers available, with sizes like 10' 20' and 53' being fairly common. The size of your subject and the distance will matter a great deal when it comes to what fits in a container.

I was going to recommend looking into a Tuff Shed or similar structure since the interior width can be wider than 7' 9", but if your intention is to rent space in a storage-lot and visit your shipping container when you want to shoot then a garden-shed-type building might not be an option, while a shipping container or van-bodied trailer might be allowed. What might work better than a shipping container would be a high-cube van trailer. In addition to the extra-long trailers, there are shorter ones like 28', which might make for less costly storage lot rentals, assuming that's enough interior space. They're also wider inside than shipping containers, and being that they're trailers first and foremost, if you ever had to have it moved it might be easier and less expensive than a shipping container. Downside, you may have to build steps or use a ladder to access the inside, because it'll be up in the air.

What do you intend to do about electrical power, heating, possibly air conditioning?

Sorry if I'm shooting-down your ideas, but it sounds like this solution would work better if someone has land on which to place it. After all, taking clients to a storage yard to do a photography shoot might not appeal that much.

 

[Designer]

TWX has listed several of the problems associated with that idea, but frankly, I don't think it would even be big enough.

What is your budget?
Do you have land available?
What about zoning regulations?
Utility connections?
Would paying clients even want to go there?
Can you think of any other possibility?

 

[vintagesnaps]

Better get some insurance.

I thought this might be spam, the OP already has a link to where to buy one, says 'she' has a friend in the US who has one that was 'incredible', so why not ask that friend how it was made into a studio?

I don't know where you'd put one that was big enough to be usable and make it professional enough and actually usable with clients. I'd suggest finding pro photography resources from sources like PPA on how to do portrait photography and figure out what to do from working pro photographers.

 

[Derrel]

I agree-- this might be spam...

 

[TWX]

Even if it isn't spam and is genuine, I don't think that the real costs associated with upfitting a bare steel box with a rough wooden floor have really been considered. Even if the thing were ghetto-upfit, gluing sheetrock directly to the corrugted steel walls and ceiling with minimal taping/mudding, and the cheapest of flooring were to be used, I could still see it costing again the price of the container itself to properly outfit it.

So some basic math, in the landscape orientation, being able to photograph a subject up to 7' tall would require the better part of 11' width, so for a full-body shot of a standing subject or a group of subjects I expect this is pretty realistic. If the background is sufficiently far from the subject then the total width and height needs to be that much greater, worse for a wide angle, so that the backdrop covers the entire background. Neither of those is especially conducive to a shipping container, or even a trailer. A shed finished into a studio might work but many municipalities have rules governing how many square feet an accessory building may occupy without requiring building permits, and often such simple structures may not be allowed to have electrical service or other utilities.

My city generously allows up to 200sqft, so a 10x20 or 12x16.6 would be allowed, but that still doesn't really get the camera back far enough. That 7' height with an APS-C camera with a 50mm lens would require about 25' between camera and subject, full-frame with an 85mm lens would need about the same, and that's just to the subject. If one wants another four to five feet behind the subject and presumably behind the photographer, you're looking at around 35' length and around 9' height and 16' width. Even if you built a triangular-shaped studio to try to meet the square-footage requirements, (35x8)x2 is still 560sqft.

If the camera were shooting portrait orientation that would reduce the distance from camera to a standing full-body-shot of the subject to around 14 feet, which could be done in a shipping container or in a 24' by 8' shed, but the height required for a backdrop around five feet back would be the better part of nine feet, stretching the limits of a high-cube shipping container.

I had considered a 20' shipping container for a woodworking shop, but concluded that the width simply wasn't enough. An 8' sheet of plywood wouldn't be able to be turned around inside, and the tablesaw is already 6' wide, so it would be excessively cramped.

 

[terri]

I agree-- this might be spam...

We're watching the thread, giving the OP a chance to return to the forum and respond.

I've removed the link, so it's less spammy at any rate.

 

[Original katomi]

Watching this thread, where I live dampness and salt air /salt spray would be a problem unless it was kept heated all the time. After a storm our windows are covered in fine grit and salt.