Just Finished My Garage to Studio conversion, tell me what you think?

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nib1980

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Neil
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Hi All,

I've had a busy christmas converting my garage to a Studio,

Below are a before and after shot.

Let me know what you think of the setup (after obviously)

any tips or words of caution.

I deliberately left the walls as brick so i could use the texture in some shot.

Many thanks

BEFORE

4140477941_1704c4281e.jpg


AFTER

4206748876_76360458e9.jpg
 
Horrible... give it to me.

I live in a pokey little flat with rising damp and this would be a dream come true for me. I have to do most 90% of my shooting outside on location.

Excellent conversion you must be as pleased as punch with it.

get a nice set of rails overhead for your lighting and some pull down backdrops.
 
aligibbs said:
Question is- what did you do with all the stuff that was in the garage? :p
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the ladder went outside, the car rolls back in at night onto a large matt, and the rest is either in the now boarded out loft spce of the agrage or behind the white screen which can roll up into the roof.

I also made 9 trips to the tip (sorry recycling centre) lol :LOL:
 
Marac said:
Horrible... give it to me.

I live in a pokey little flat with rising damp and this would be a dream come true for me. I have to do most 90% of my shooting outside on location.

Excellent conversion you must be as pleased as punch with it.

get a nice set of rails overhead for your lighting and some pull down backdrops.
Click to expand...
Overhead rails won't work, the ceiling is too low.
My advice is to paint the ceiling matt black, so that you don't lose too much control of unwanted light.
Not sure about that mirror - is there a risk that unwanted light will bounce from it?
 
nib1980 said:
the ladder went outside, the car rolls back in at night onto a large matt, and the rest is either in the now boarded out loft spce of the agrage or behind the white screen which can roll up into the roof.

I also made 9 trips to the tip (sorry recycling centre) lol :LOL:
Click to expand...

Now your tempting me, hrmmmmm
 
As Gary mentioned, overhead rails won't work because the ceiling is to low, and also if this is a converted garage, there may not be the neccessary supports in the ceiling to take the weight of a rail system.
If you are going to be using lighting stands, have you got enough room to be able to manouever when in the middle of the shoot? One of the biggest issues with garage conversions is that they have the length, but not the width. It's already been mentioned about the colour of the ceiling, the same goes for the walls.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Overhead rails won't work, the ceiling is too low.
My advice is to paint the ceiling matt black, so that you don't lose too much control of unwanted light.
Not sure about that mirror - is there a risk that unwanted light will bounce from it?
Click to expand...

could make it a cover?

when I do the workshop I'm going for grey walls I think to control bounce a bit but not be oppressive like black would. I was stuck worrying about colour casts then my sister mentioned bitta black in a tin of white paint. Genius :D
 
smithphoto said:
As Gary mentioned, overhead rails won't work because the ceiling is to low, and also if this is a converted garage, there may not be the neccessary supports in the ceiling to take the weight of a rail system.
If you are going to be using lighting stands, have you got enough room to be able to manouever when in the middle of the shoot? One of the biggest issues with garage conversions is that they have the length, but not the width. It's already been mentioned about the colour of the ceiling, the same goes for the walls.
Click to expand...


HI Neil

Small world we live in.

Interesting about the ceiling, i thiought the walls would be better in the white.

I deliberately picked a Matt Textured paint to try and avoind too maby harsh reflections.

My intention is to be using small lights and modifiers for now, speedlights and adapters.

As for the width this was another reason to do the walls white, so i could turn the shoots sideways and use the walls for texture.

I have a model coming on friday, so I guess we'll see what happens

see you on Thursday.

Neil
 
I also forgot to mention i boraded out a pitched part of the celing so I can get the lights a little higer (hard to explain, but you can see on my flickr page)

I agree the celing is to low for rails, but it is rated for the weight (i also have an engine hoist built out of shot for y other hobby)
 
Good luck with the shoot Neil. Using Speedlights will certainly help with space and enable you to get a bit more creative with your flash.
All the best with that Neil
See you Thursday.
 
I agree the celing is to low for rails, but it is rated for the weight
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Looks good - would not be to hard to glue and screw additional wood to strengthen the cross beams(y)

Amazed at how tidy you can have a garage if motivated:LOL:
 
I have to say it was pretty tidy before, maybe that's just me though.
I do suffer from a touch of the Mr Trebus.

Well done on the conversion.
 
Congrats on the conversion! You've managed it a bit quicker than my loft one :(

Hope the shoot on Friday goes well, looking forward to seeing some shots!
 
LASTOLITE said:
:LOL: I :ty:
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I thank you too, that Mr Trebus reference made me scream out loud in laughter!!!!!:LOL::LOL:

great work on the garage, whilst it might not be the widest space on the planet I am sure you will find it both versatile and useable and I am very jealous!
 
Nice job Neil. Can I ask how much length you have when the background is in place? Width looks like a standard single garage. My wife would love it if I cleared all my cr*p out of our garage and did that but we don't have a big enough shed!!
 
Yep the distance is exactly 4m from the screen to the door. Hopingit shoul do me nicely .

Thanks for the comments guys hopefully Friday will go well but worryinglg ghe model hasn't got back to me, is this normal?
 
Thanks Neil

As far as the model goes - are you paying her for the shoot or is it on a TFP or TFCD basis? i gather lots of TF?? models are prone to not turning up or coming up with late excuses why they can't make it. At least you won't have paid out for studio time:)
 
Really keen on seeing how you get on with the lighting. I would be absolutely screwed without the area to the left and right of my backdrop (where I position the backdrop lights)...

Is it your plan to have a white 255 evenly lit backdrop?

Gary.
 
EdinburghGary said:
Really keen on seeing how you get on with the lighting. I would be absolutely screwed without the area to the left and right of my backdrop (where I position the backdrop lights)...

Is it your plan to have a white 255 evenly lit backdrop?

Gary.
Click to expand...

my intention is to use the onelight philosophy for now, been watching Zak Arias DVD

i intend to use speedlights and small modifiers for now and see how i get on, i'm fasirly happy i'll be able to do something.

As i mentioned earlier I also did the walls white so i can turn the shot sideways and use the wall for texture and get the width needed if i want more lighting.

Put it this way, it cost me next to nothing to do this (about £100) to if nothing else i got a clean garage :D

I'll post the results later
 
I can't find the actual product on a quick web search but I've got a large reflector like THIS but it's black on one side and silver on the other. Brilliant to use as a conventional reflector on the silver side or just flip it round to the black side to kill any light reflecting onto that side of the subject if you want something more tightly controlled. Takes up no space as it just hangs flat on the wall when you're not using it. I'm sure you wouldn't need to spend a fortune on one... should be simples to make something that'll do the job just as well. Just a thought... :)
 
Flashman said:
I can't find the actual product on a quick web search but I've got a large reflector like THIS but it's black on one side and silver on the other. Brilliant to use as a conventional reflector on the silver side or just flip it round to the black side to kill any light reflecting onto that side of the subject if you want something more tightly controlled. Takes up no space as it just hangs flat on the wall when you're not using it. I'm sure you wouldn't need to spend a fortune on one... should be simples to make something that'll do the job just as well. Just a thought... :)
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Yeah Hi Keith,

I already have one of those, actually a 5in 1 with gold silver, white, black and another?

good point i'd forgotten about

many thanks

Neil
 
Matt L said:
where did you get the backdrop from ifyou dont mind me asking? something i want to do over the year is turn out garage into a studio style thing.
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hi,

yeah the support is a Scaffold pole, and two scaffold feet mounted to the wall. (the feet have locks on them to stop the pole rotating, but can be released to allow the background to be rolled up at night)

The material is actually curtain side lorry material in White, PVC, Thick easy to clean and only £7(ish) per meter (sourced from Tony Beal)

hope that helps

Many thanks

Neil
 
nib1980 said:
hi,

yeah the support is a Scaffold pole, and two scaffold feet mounted to the wall. (the feet have locks on them to stop the pole rotating, but can be released to allow the background to be rolled up at night)

The material is actually curtain side lorry material in White, PVC, Thick easy to clean and only £7(ish) per meter (sourced from Tony Beal)

hope that helps

Many thanks

Neil
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Cheers, will have to look into it as i could do with still be able to use the garage door so dont want to make a fitted one.
 
thanks for all the comments guys now just waiting for a model that will turn up! lol
 
I think the only way that seems likely to happen is if you pay an experienced model. Where have you been looking to book them?
 
I look forward to seeing your results..


md
 
The material is actually curtain side lorry material in White, PVC, Thick easy to clean and only £7(ish) per meter (sourced from Tony Beal)
Click to expand...

I wondered if I could ask you a little more about this for my own benefit? couple of things I'd love to know...

What kind of finish does it have? glossy/matt? is it textured at all, or just smooth?

does it tend to crumple or get fold marks etc?

oh, and who is Tony Beal? :D

Cheers, R
 
Rob_Ashton said:
I wondered if I could ask you a little more about this for my own benefit? couple of things I'd love to know...

What kind of finish does it have? glossy/matt? is it textured at all, or just smooth?

does it tend to crumple or get fold marks etc?

oh, and who is Tony Beal? :D

Cheers, R
Click to expand...

Hi No problems

It's matt and smooth on one side, textured and glossy on the other

It will hold creases if folded (hence me storing it rolled)

Tony beal are a curtain side maker in Scotland (google them and it whould be clear) who are happy to sell it to photographers, 2.5m wide by the meter length about £7 per meter.

number of different colurs available too

Hopefully photos will be coming soon
 
nib1980 said:
Hi No problems

It's matt and smooth on one side, textured and glossy on the other

It will hold creases if folded (hence me storing it rolled)

Tony beal are a curtain side maker in Scotland (google them and it whould be clear) who are happy to sell it to photographers, 2.5m wide by the meter length about £7 per meter.

number of different colurs available too

Hopefully photos will be coming soon
Click to expand...

Ah smashing, thanks very much - worth looking into I think! (y)
 
Looks good and tidy.

Aside to what has already been mentioned about the ceiling and walls. How about a series of black roller blinds mounted around the sides? You keep a nice light and airy environment but can drop the blinds during the actual shoot to stop unwanted reflections.
Just an idea i had for if i ever do the same to my garage.
 
Damn, that's a bloody good job, I wish I could do that but my mum would literally kill me :/
 
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