A Ceiling Mounted Lighting System For My Studio

[CharleyL]

Two years ago I became very frustrated with the cabling and light stand trip hazards within my studio. This has bothered me for years, but I lived with it, as most photographers do. Then I began to think about when I had worked on theater lighting and how everything was hung from above. It was then that I came up with a way to remove all cabling and light stands from my studio floor, to eliminate all of the safety and trip hazards so common in most photo and video studios. Battery lighting was considered, but the hassle of swapping out dead batteries during a shoot just wasn't something that I wanted to do, and the light stand legs and other cabling would still be a major problem.

Now, only rarely do I have need to use a light stand on the floor and even then I have no floor cabling at all any more. I built a ceiling grid from 1 X 1 X 1/4" steel angle, hanging 4" down from the ceiling, and spaced about 4' apart and running parallel with my backdrops. Using electrician's beam clamps, I can add 5' long pieces of the same angle to bridge between any two of these 10' long ceiling angles (two beam clamps bolted back to back together allow securing one angle to another). The 5' angle is always placed above the 10' angles to bridge between them and is secured in place with the double beam clamps. Using the same electricians beam clamps, I can then hang my lighting from these angles anywhere on the ceiling that I need them. If that point is somewhere between the 10' long angles, a 5' angle can bridged between two of the 10' angles to provide the needed hanging point for the light. So the lights can be hung anywhere that they are needed, and are easily moved using just a single open end wrench.

Running along both ends of the ceiling mounted angles from the camera end of the studio to the backdrop end, I have added Wiremold electrical outlet strips to the ceiling. These give me an electrical outlet every 6" along their full length, so I have electric power available within 5' of wherever I decide to hang a light and I use Velcro ties or ball bungees to secure the wiring to the angles. If I do want to use a light on a floor stand, I usually plug these lights into the outlets on the ceiling as well, so again there are no power cords on the floor. For vertical adjustment of my light positions, I've modified my light stands to add a 1/4-20 bolt to the bottom end of the light stand column of each stand. The stands can now screw into beam clamps to be hung upside down from the angle grid anywhere that I want to hang a light. The telescoping adjustment of the stands then lets me adjust the vertical position of my lights just as easily as when the stands were on the floor, but now with no light stand legs on the floor to trip over.

Anything that is attached to my ceiling grid gets a safety chain loop as a safeguard to prevent the equipment from falling, should the attachment point fail somehow. I learned to do this many years ago while doing stage lighting in a theater. Not only does it increase the safety aspect, but also prevents damage to valuable lighting and equipment. This is just a short section of light weight twisted loop chain with a small spring snap hook to join the ends of the chain together. None of the hanging lighting weighs more than a few pounds so heavy chain is not necessary.

This system is working quite well for me, but I welcome ideas and suggestions for improvement. It may not be an ideal solution for everyone, but for me, it has been a game changer. Since I'm new here and don't have many posts yet, I'll supply photos of my ceiling mounted lighting system soon, if anyone is interested.

Charley

 

[Ian Boichat]

Sounds like a comprehensive set up, hard to picture it completely. Sounds like it would be difficult to reposition lights quickly but I’ve certainly seen a lot of people swearing by the higlide system, used to be by Bowen’s but now I think is AJ’s that sells it. I wouldn’t have thought you would be wanting to start again but you might get some ideas by looking at that.

https://www.higlide.co.uk/

 

[CharleyL]

Thanks for your comment. Let me try to explain what I have done again, and hopefully clearer this time.

I'm aware of the Higlide system, but the price and availability forced me into coming up with an alternate way. When I realized that most of my light setups were about in the same positions most of the time, I decided to try this ceiling angle grid system. I do still use light stands when I have lights that need to move often or when placed low, but getting the stands (and power cables) off the floor of my 18 X 26' shooting room as much as possible has improved the safety of my studio considerably, and the room even "feels bigger" now. A 10' ceiling height would have helped too, but that is economically possible. I wish that I could show it all in a photo, but even my widest angle lens doesn't let me show it well. I will try to make a video and post it soon. Maybe that will make it easier to understand.

I'm 79 years old, and with many health issues. My studio was built as a "Bucket List" desire to finally have a dedicated space for taking portraits and experimenting with photography in a place where it all doesn't need to be packed up and put away when not being used. My intent was to have this available and mostly to use for my friends and family, and not a business. I no longer work for a living, but wanted to provide pro level photography for my friends and family at little or no cost to them (it's hoped that they will at least donate to cover the printing costs). I've actually retired 5 times, each time thinking that "this is it, and I can finally take it easy". The idea of "taking it easy" was good, but I'm not one that can "take it easy". I have to be doing something creative or I get depressed easily. I can't just sit and watch the World go by. For most of my working career I was an Automation Engineer (EE) designing control systems for large scale high speed automated manufacturing lines, but have been a photographer since early high school. I was even a school yearbook photographer for 2 years during high school. My first job after graduation was running the technical aspects of a theater.
We had off-Broadway entertainment once a week, local talent 3 nights a week, and a feature movie on Saturdays. I did this work while in high school too for the school stage shows, learning from a teacher who had worked in one of the "On Broadway, NYC Theaters" before becoming a teacher. Flying lights and equipment is common practice on stage.

After college, I developed a camera positioning system for the NASA Lunar Ranger Program. This camera system took mapping photos of the entire Moon to be used shortly after by the astronauts on the Apollo Program. The camera was much like a Polaroid camera, in that it took film exposures, developed them, and then later scanned these photos and sent them to tracking stations to be re-combined into mapping photos. Time exposures were required of the back side of the Moon, so a method of locking the camera on a position while the shutter was open and while the rocket containing the camera was orbiting the Moon was needed. I came up with a method of collecting just a few bits of light reflections and their positions off the Moon surface to provide the positioning stability of the camera while the camera shutter was open, and then advance to the next position when the shutter closed, to set up for the next photo, and repeat the process.

So my ceiling grid system is a low budget, but not quite as flexible, version of a Higlide system with a touch of "theater" mixed in.

I have six 10 ft wide backdrops on ceiling mounted rollers (white, gray, black, chroma green, chroma blue, plus a special blue theater type pleated curtain backdrop, all hanging from the ceiling, and centered against the East 18' wall of my studio. About 6" in front of them I have a 10' long piece of 1 X 1 X 1/8" steel angle suspended below the ceiling and running parallel with the backdrops. This first angle does double duty as a place to hang temporary backdrops or to provide a hair light hanging position or similar. Then there are 3 more (soon to be 4) duplicates of this first 10' long steel angle, that are spaced about 4' apart and also running parallel with this first steel angle. The last, and farthest away, of these steel angles is above my usual camera position. All of the 10' long angles hang 4" below the ceiling and are parallel with each other and the backdrops. My #2 son is a certified welder, so welding 4" pipe nipples at a right angle to the ends of these 10' steel angles was easy for me to have done. I can no longer weld myself because I have a pacemaker now, and the welding arc messes with my pacemaker timing.

Using electrician's beam clamps and baby pins, or modified tripods, I can now hang my lights, flags, or whatever from these angles. I modified my tripods so that they could be hung upside down. A 1" long piece of wood with a 1/4" center hole was inserted into the bottom end of the mast of each tripod and a 2" round head bolt was inserted in the 1/4" hole in the wood, so it's threaded end extends out below the bottom end of the tripod mast. The bolt was epoxied in place with a fender type washer and a nut added for strength. In use, the tripod can still be used in it's normal way or an electrician's beam clamp added to this bolt to allow attaching it upside down to one of the ceiling mounted angles. I leave the legs folded when using them upside down this way, but unfolding the legs to reach the ceiling does add stability when necessary.

To locate a light somewhere between these steel angles, I have some 5' long pieces of the same angle to bridge between any two of the 10' angles at any point. I can locate these perpendicular to any two of the ceiling 10' angles and secure these short 5' angles to the 10' angles using two beam clamps that are bolted together back-to-back, one attached to the 10' angle and the other attached to the 5' angle with a duplicate pair attaching the other end of the 5' angle to the second 10' angle. Being a foot longer than the space between the 10' angles lets me install them diagonally if desired as well as at a right angle between the 10' angles. The 5' angle is always placed above the 10' angles for safety, should it somehow come loose it will only fall to the 10' angle and not to the floor. So, by using these shorter angles bridged between the 10' angles, I can locate my lights anywhere in a 10' X 20' area of my shooting room ceiling. I'm considering adding a fifth 10' long angle close to the West 10' wall and behind the camera location, because I bought a focusing spotlight GOBO to use with a 1,000 Watt/second monolight and want the focused spot or pattern to be just a little bit larger on my backdrops. It's presently hanging from the last 10' angle and above my camera, but I have another 5+ feet of ceiling remaining at the West end of the ceiling that I can expand the ceiling grid into. Running along both ends of the 10' ceiling angles I have added Wiremold power strips. These have an AC power outlet every 6" along them, so every light hanging from my ceiling grid has AC power available within 5' of anywhere that I hang a light. Even lights on stands get plugged into these, so no power cables are needed to be on the floor. If I need to run a cable along one of the steel angles I use Velcro ties or Ball Bungies to secure them. For additional safety (from my theater days) a loop of small chain and a spring clip to attach the ends is looped over the steel angle and a secure portion of the hanging light or GOBO as a safety precaution to keep anything from falling should the actual hanging point fail somehow. Even my camera tether cable is hung from this ceiling grid and drops down with just just enough slack for moving the camera around in it's usual area. I have WIFI capability, but taken photos are sent 4X faster using a tether cable. So if the tether cable doesn't reach my desired shooting position, I can always switch to WIFI.

Since my ceiling light grid and backdrops are 10' wide, there is about 4' of space along the North and South walls outside of the shooting area for other uses. This space along the Northeast corner has my tripods leaning in the corner, then along the North wall is a small table for my camera, speedlites, and audio equipment travel bags, 2 sets of "Apple Boxes", 2 office chairs, 3 fancier shooting chairs, a shooting stool and shooting table. Close to camera Left and on wheels is a metal tool chest for holding my immediate need cameras and frequently used items. Behind camera left in the West wall is a door into a walk-in closet holding the rest of my photo equipment, props, etc. The Grip tool bag is underneath in the tool chest as well as an electronics repair tool bag. The drawer of this chest holds all kinds of other small things like GOBO patterns and gels for the 1,000 Watt/second monolight, etc. I keep my lenses in padded bags that have hooks, so these get hooked to the top edge of the left side of this chest. On the back of this chest are hooks that have my pop-up reflectors hanging from. This chest has a power strip on it's right side with AC power outlets as well as USB power outlets on it. A dual camera battery charger is one of the items on top of this chest and it's plugged into one of the USB outlets in the power strip.

Along the South and windowed wall of my studio in the space between that wall and the shooting space are a row of computer tables that hold most of my battery chargers, photo printers, scanner, Photoshop computer, office printer, etc. A computer table with my shooting laptop is in the Southwest corner of the room, so when sitting at it I am facing West. Above this computer and on the wall I have a 50" smart TV that I can watch, or I have it connected to the shooting laptop, with my shooting software set up to display the last shot taken, so my subject/model can easily see themselves within seconds of me taking their photo. This TV is also used when reviewing photos already taken. Between the camera right side of my shooting space and these computer tables, I have added two ceiling mounted closet door tracks. Hanging from three of these tracks are three 4' wide pieces of 1/2" foam insulation board that have their edges taped with white gaffers tape and then the shooting area side of each has been painted with ceiling white paint. The foil side was left silver and faces the windows. Sliding these panels to overlap each other hides over half of the South wall to hide the computer tables, block the early morning Sun coming through the South wall windows, and also provides a second wall to the shooting space, so I can sometimes have two shooting directions, or a kind of V backdrop, and they easily slide out of the way when I want to access the battery charging , printing, and Photoshopping computer areas behind them.

I have a well lit hair/make-up area as well as a small break area in the room adjacent to my shooting room. The break area has coffee, snacks, a microwave, and a beverage refrigerator for cold drinks. Adjacent is a small desk with a well lighted mirror, kind-of theater style for the make-up and hair dressing needs. There is also a full length mirror on the wall behind, and a garment rack with hangers on wheels, so it can be moved when needed. At present, a bathroom downstairs is the changing room, but I have a yet-to-be-completed large bathroom off the shooting room and adjacent to the walk-in closet that I store my photo gear in. When finally completed, this will provide a good changing area that's dedicated for studio use. The whole finished upstairs area of my home is a repurposed and very large 2nd master bedroom suite. Before my #2 son was married, this had been his bedroom. It sat 5 years collecting "junk" before I decided to make it into my studio.

Until I can make a video, I hope this clearer explanation will help you better understand what I have assembled. I still place lights on floor standing tripods when I think I will need to frequently move them around, but I seem to have settled some of them into relatively fixed positions and now have them hanging from the ceiling grid. It's not for everything, but it is working well for me, so I thought someone else also might want to give this a try. All the lights are removed when I'm trying product type work as I usually need tables set up in the center area of the room, but even then, the power needed usually comes from the Wiremold strips above on the ceiling.

Charley

 

[Garry Edwards]

Well, if it works for you then that's all that matters. But I'll tell you why most of us DON'T use a ceiling-mounted system . . .
1. They have a tendency to make us lazy - all the lights are in a position that many people would consider to be "near enough" so just use them as they are, which destroys creativity and produces mediocre results. All good lighting starts with just the key light, then that's switched off, a second light (if needed) is then added, then both the key light and the second light, then any other lights, reflectors or whatever, as when and only if needed. It takes good self-discipline and good organisational skills to do that with an overhead system.
2. The ones I've seen (with the exception of those in large pro TV studios that I've worked in) are far too floppy and imprecise. They're adequate for softboxes but not for more precise tools such as focusing spots, fresnel spots, even beauty dishes need solid fixing.
3. Most studios don't have anywhere near enough height. In my experience, an absolute minimum of 14' is essential, much more is much better.

 

[CharleyL]

I still do the one light at a time setups and move lights as needed to get everything "just right", sometimes even resorting to light stands on the floor. Yes, it's a bit slower, but I don't have the luxury of height or the abundance of floor space,.so the normal way is just not possible for me, but working in a tight space with lots of trip hazards everywhere is also not something that I enjoy doing. Before this, I set up in my living room and had to collapse and pack away everything after each shoot. I started in this room by setting up my previously purchased backdrop stands and a single backdrop held in place by the stands. Adding 3 lights and stands, a tripod, and the associated power cables made this room into a very dangerous place for me, as well as anyone else in it. All of what I have here now has evolved over about a 3 year period of attempting to make it work as best as I can and to remove as many trip hazards as possible to make it safe for everyone, including me,

Most of my portrait setups are 2 or maybe 3 lights and my subject/model is positioned in one spot, either sitting or standing. My way certainly isn't for everyone, but some of it may be of interest if they are attempting to use a small space for a home studio that's just a barely adequate space, like mine. I agree that a bigger studio would allow these luxuries, but in my situation and the fact that I am not running this as an income producing business prevents me from going into a larger space somewhere else. There is no income to even help pay for what I already have invested. If I can get a donation of a few bucks for the paper and ink to print the resulting photos, I consider it a plus. I just want to do this as professionally as possible in as safe an environment as possible. With COVID-19 arriving just about when I began using this, it has only been used to take portraits maybe 30 times in 2020 and 3 times so far this year. The rest of my time here has been to experiment with the lighting, reflectors, and setups to achieve the best of results that I possibly can. A few professional photography friends have been very impressed with what I have, both in studio design and the results that I have achieved.

Thanks for your comments. They helped me explain what I have more clearly so that others might see something of value in what I have done, then adopt some of my ideas. I agree that they are not for everyone.

Charley

 

[learningtofly]

Well, I think it sounds like a fantastic space, and I’d love to see the video that you hinted you might post. Also, can you share some examples of the portraits that you’ve shot with this set up?

Thanks for taking the time to post such a clearly articulated description of everything, by the way.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Well, I think it sounds like a fantastic space, and I’d love to see the video that you hinted you might post. Also, can you share some examples of the portraits that you’ve shot with this set up?

Thanks for taking the time to post such a clearly articulated description of everything, by the way.

Yes, it's a very helpful post, and will hopefully get a lot of people thinking about how they can re-organise their own space in terms of efficiency and safety.

 

[CharleyL]

Garry, and others,

I have a few cell phone photos of details of my ceiling lighting support system. I hope you find them interesting.




Above is a shot looking North above my usual camera shooting position. I have hooks on the North wall to store my soft boxes. Under them I have chairs, Apple Boxes, and other frequently used props. Above and close is an LED light panel used mostly for video, and behind that a 1,000 watt/second mono light with a focusing lens to project patterns and color on the backgrounds. Off to the right above the door is a 300 w/s mono light with barn doors to light the backgrounds. The doorway is the entrance to my shooting room from the hair/make-up/break area.


The photo above is facing East and shows a short light stand hanging upside down from the ceiling grid. It usually has a 300 w/s mono light and either a square 32" soft box or 32" octagonal soft box attached. Either this one or one on camera left would usually be my key light The chains are safety chain loops to prevent anything from falling to the floor. To attach lights even closer to the ceiling I have some 9" long photographer's baby pins with 1/4 - 20 threaded holes in their ends that I can attach via an Electricians beam clamp to the ceiling grid.




Another view of the ceiling grid support system. You can see where two beam clamps have been bolted together to allow attaching one end of the short
angles to the long ceiling attached angle. The Wiremold power strip on camera right is also visible. The light at bottom center is the original room light (now an LED) and I use it as my work light to light the room when not doing photography.



A shot showing the end of one of the long angles with the 4" pipe and what is considered to be a "floor flange" in our plumbing industry, but here I have it attached to my ceiling. I have 12" wide 3/4" thick plywood strips running down each side of the shooting space that are attached via screws to every cross beam to provide an attachment point for all of this that is very strong.



A shot facing West from about the subject/model's position. Linda is standing about 5' from the backdrops (behind me) and facing roughly toward the camera position. My laptop on the desk has the last shot taken of her that is also displayed on the TV screen. The laptop on the right is a Linux machine and the PC and 2 screens on table Left is where I do retouching, etc. and a window air conditioner. The house has central heat and air, but it isn't quite enough for my upstairs studio. The fan to the right of the laptops also helps circulate the cooled air through the rest of the room on the 95 + F days that we frequently have here in the Summer. The light above that's lit is one of the LED light panels that I have for video work, or sometimes just to provide more light when working in the studio.

There are NO Cables running around on my studio floor. No sync cables, no tether cables, and no power cables. If I do put a light on a floor stand there are outlets on all 4 walls, so the power cable only needs to run a few feet and not anywhere where anyone walks. Frequently, the power cable for a floor stand light can be run straight up and plugged into one of the Wiremold power strips running down both sides of the ceiling grid. There are no light stands on the floor to trip over either, except in rare occasions. Yes, I am frequently on a step ladder making adjustments to something above, but the floor is safe to walk on and that was one of my main goals in building this.




These are the 4 usual configurations of my Electrician's Beam Clamps.

The square head bolt comes with them when purchased and is used to secure it to the beam or in this case, to the ceiling angles.

Next is one that I have added 1/4-20 x 1/2" round head bolts through the predrilled and threaded holes in the top and back, with a photography spigot attached for supporting a photography light.

The third is two beam clamps bolted together for securing one of the short 5' long angles to one of the longer 10' ceiling angles.

And the fourth has two 1/4 - 20 X 1/2" bolts installed, but with cold shoes attached to allow speedlites to be attached.




A shot from the usual camera shooting position. I have 6 backdrops on the ceiling rollers and all are 10' wide with some 14 & 16' long. The chains for raising and lowering each is on the left. Not shown is the new chroma blue backdrop, which I have added since the photo was taken. The first ceiling angle is about 6" in front of the first backdrop roller. It mostly gets used for hanging smaller (temporary) backdrops. I have three 5' X 7' backdrops of various colors in my field kit that I can hang there. My shooting stool and table are on the right and the white panel to their right is one of the three 4' wide panels of foam insulation hanging on sliding door tracks and painted with ceiling white that I can overlap to form a wall for use as a second background, or to block the Sun coming in the South windows to the right when I start shooting early in the day. It also blocks the view of all of my computer tables running along the South wall where my printers, paper storage, etc. are located. The table under the soft box on the left is usually not there. I was doing something that required more table space that day. Linda is there in her shooting position to give you an idea of special relationship to everything else. She is positioned about 5' from everything when in that position. She's the best assistant that I've ever had. This is an 18 X 26' room with a 7' 11" ceiling. Linda is 5' 9" tall. I'm not giving out the rest of her measurements.

Behind the backdrops are two pieces of foam board insulation painted white on one side and flat black on the other. I built stands for these and painted the stands the same way. The foam boards just drop into a slot in these stands and the stands have padded feet on them that lets me slide them around the floor easily. They aren't V flats, but work the same and are much cheaper to make. I store them against the wall behind my last backdrop. I also have two reflector tripod stands back there to use if I want to support one of my multi color folding reflectors. One is larger than the other, so they work well when two are needed.



This is the hair/makeup and break area outside of my shooting room. Three LED lights surround the mirror and are very bright when lit. Behind the hair/make-up table is a full length mirror too. In the far corner near the door is a beverage cooler with water, diet soda, and sugar soda in bottles. Above it now (not shown) is a microwave for hot snacks like popcorn, etc. or to reheat a previously hot beverage. Coffee, tea, and hot cocoa are available. During a shoot, I always try to have a bowl of fresh fruit available too. In the bottom left of the photo is a chest for props with a couple of photo albums of past work available to look at. I will be adding many 8 X 10 photos in frames of the best of my recent shots as a display. I already started to do this next to the full length mirror on the opposite wall.

Again, this studio is intended for the benefit of my friends and family. It is not a commercial business. It is in a former 2nd master bedroom suite located on the 2nd floor of my home. It's a serious hobby, but a bit out of control, built to do something for my friends and family as well as keep me busy and productive. I'm 79 years old now, and do not wish to work for a living again. Hopefully, in the near future I can post some more photos or a video so show you around my studio a little better. I hope this will answer many of the questions that you may have.

I welcome comments and will try to help anyone who wishes to adopt any of my ideas with more details or dimensions of anything of interest. It certainly isn't for everybody, but those with small studios in their homes should find some of my ideas beneficial.

Charley

 

[CharleyL]

As requested, some samples of photos that I've taken in my studio described above. These have not been retouched.




Marie - A neighbor Gray background and blue background light





Heather and Seth - My grand daughter and her husband Gray background with blue and red lights.



Heather's Wedding Gown Shoot



Heather's Wedding Gown Shoot

My grand daughter was married last October 2020. The week before her wedding, she came to my studio with her gown for this shoot.
These are just 2 of the 84 shots taken that day.. The chair came from a local flea market and seemed right for the shoot because she loves the color.
The brown background was her choice too. I used the yellow lights on it to highlight the center area.

As always, I welcome any comments.

Charley

 

[Garry Edwards]

Just an observation . . .
All of these shots, and especially the ones of your grandaughter wearing her wedding gown were taken with a high camera viewpoint. This may have been your intention of course, but it results in unflattering perspective distortion.

 

[CharleyL]

Thanks Garry,

Yes, the two wedding gown photos of my grand daughter were shot higher than I prefer. I like to have the camera lens at close to their eye level or just slightly higher, but last year I developed a significant problem with my right knee that I was dealing with until about March of this year. Bending and standing for any length of time became a significant problem for me during that time, but the wedding had to go on. She ended up hiring another photographer for the wedding because I wasn't capable of doing it. The photo of Marie was shot with both of us at the same level. We were both seated and the shot was taken before my knee problem. I don't like the results that I usually get when shooting up at someone, so I try my best to have the camera at their eye level. I prefer being a little higher than lower for most shots.

Charley

 

[Garry Edwards]

Thanks Garry,

Yes, the two wedding gown photos of my grand daughter were shot higher than I prefer. I like to have the camera lens at close to their eye level or just slightly higher, but last year I developed a significant problem with my right knee that I was dealing with until about March of this year. Bending and standing for any length of time became a significant problem for me during that time, but the wedding had to go on. She ended up hiring another photographer for the wedding because I wasn't capable of doing it. The photo of Marie was shot with both of us at the same level. We were both seated and the shot was taken before my knee problem. I don't like the results that I usually get when shooting up at someone, so I try my best to have the camera at their eye level. I prefer being a little higher than lower for most shots.

Charley

Most of my own background involves product photography (including fashion) so for me, my default camera position is heroic, looking upwards to some degrees to make the subject look larger, more important. It's rare for me to look down on my subject (literally at least) because it tends to make them distorted, unimportant and submissive.

But fair enough, physical problems trump best practice. You're a bit ahead of me, my 76th birthday will be next month and although I've been lucky so far, it isn't as easy for me to go down on one knee (or at least to get up again) as it used to be . . . Bring back waist-level finders!