The perfect studio

[chupanhsanpham]

10 feet wide by maybe 20 feet long, very great. I love fashion moder

 

[gsgary]

White can be made gray easily on a background...but when white paint it comes right up underneath the feet, then it is white...so every single shot requires masking and knocking out the backdrop...a gray cyclorama wall could easily serve as a super-easy green screen substitute for group photos. Gray is so easy to select and knock-out that, if you have this massive space, a white cyclorama and a gray one would really be sweet! A white wall is a wall, but a cyclorama is not a wall, it's something else.

I would have some white board/teaching area with a projection screen, digital projector, laptop on stand setup, desk for presenter, desks or tables for students. Rolling cart with computer for tethered shooting. Rolling refreshment stand for beverages, glasses, drinking cups, coffee carafes, tea dispensers, ice bucket, cooler (poly, like Coleman or Thermos brand for canned beverages), napkin/silverware/plate setup.

Tons of lighting gear...boom stands, counterweights, plenty of honeycomb grids for parabolic reflectors, mylar diffusers for the parabolics + grids. V-flats and reflector boards, but also a good supply of nice panels (scrims) and fabrics. The usual assortment of other modifiers. Plenty of lights with 50-degree reflectors, 110 degree, etc. About eight lights I guess.

I would put in a very nice "kitchen" with an island, sink, refrigerator,stove/range/cabinets for not only making coffee and snacks, but also for using in shoots as a kitchen set. Reception area, waiting area. Restrooms. Dressing rooms. Makeup stations. A person could easily sink wayyyyy too much money into this.

I can't see beer pump on your list

 

[gsgary]

Yeah, I've seen some of your behind the scenes shots from a shoot of yours. You would definitely want the freedom to just suspend various fabrics, muslins, canvases, etc.. from a conventional crossbar and stands or crossbar and J-hooks, etc.. There are a LOT of neat things a person could put into an ideal or 'perfect' studio. So,so,so many things. Some of them factory made, others custom designed. Seems like there was a thread here on this 3,4 years ago. "Designing the ideal studio" perhaps? Something like that.

There is a tool I have used in the past...not sure what it is called...I call it a half-clamshell reflector...Photogenic and Speedotron both make one of these for their systems. Basically, it is a HALF of a flashtube protector...it bayonets on to the flash head, and allows only one half of the flashtube to be exposed, so the flash can be mounted so that one-half of the tube fires bare-bulb, but the other side is solid metal, and protects from flare and blowback toward the lens.

It is sort of like the "hanging shop light" type of clamshell...it allows you to put a light behind a set or subject, and the light is very small, but throws a broad, bare-tube pattern. This works great with the long, big flashtubes in Photogenic and Speedotron brand flashes. Speedotron Products Accessories

Speedotrron calls this the white background reflector part 14257, or the anodized aluminum background reflector, part # 14528.

Do you mean a backdrop reflector ?

 

[Derrel]

Yes, a backdrop reflector might be what some people call it. Basically, it's a shroud that wraps around about half of the flashtube, to keep the light going "backward", toward the canvas, muslin, paper, or whatever background, and to keep ANY light from going back toward the subjects or the people, OR from bouncing up and hitting the ceiling.

The two oldest electronic flash manufacturers in the world, Photogenic Machine Company and Speedotron Corporation, have these in their product lines, and have had them for decades. The closest thing one might see is the "hanging work light" that so many automotive mechanics use to see when working in an engine compartment. Here is a Speedotron model: im_50811.jpg

 

[shmne]

I absolutely love the lighting system that hangs from the ceiling and allows you to just move them quickly and lock in place. The brand we have currently is pantograph I believe.

That said I still love my army of c-stands w/ caster base.

Also that modifier Derrel is talking about is an absolute must have in my book!