The ink is dry on the lease, many questions to come....

kalibre

kalibre

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Hi all,

Well I've taken the plunge and signed a commercial lease on a lovely barn near my village. I'm using it as some office space for another of my companies but primarily it's going to be my photography studio. The shooting space will be about 9m x 7m with client area and office on top of that. Ceiling height is 6m so it's a really good space to work with. Over the next couple of years I'm planning on ramping up business to include training courses and studio hire, however currently it's an empty shell and I've got a shed (or several sheds) load of work to complete to get it up to shape.

I'm sure over the coming months I'll have a fair few questions for those on here that have gone through a similar exercise, mainly surrounding rigging, infinity wall construction, policies, pricing and various other bits.

Those who are in and around Sussex will be welcome to come and have a chat and a visit once I'm moved in. You never know, you might be handed a paint-brush! ;)

Exciting and slightly scary times ahead!
 
I wish you all the very best with this.
But think carefully about whether a 9m length is going to be enough for an infinity wall.

It isn't just the amount of length you'll lose on the construction, it's also going to be about the amount of shooting length you'll lose when you need to shoot in the other direction.
 
Garry Edwards said:
I wish you all the very best with this.
But think carefully about whether a 9m length is going to be enough for an infinity wall.

It isn't just the amount of length you'll lose on the construction, it's also going to be about the amount of shooting length you'll lose when you need to shoot in the other direction.
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Thanks Garry. The IW is to be sized to work with the space around it, so at this stage its looking to be a 4x4m infini-corner type setup. Large enough to accommodate groups but not cars etc. Space to the side of it will be sufficiant for other backdrops or scenes to worked with.
 
Question #001 - Chroma Paint
I'm dedicating an end of the barn to shooting and will be turning it into a 3 sided cyc wall/end. The end itself will actually be split with a 4m cove being a white finish and the other side of the cove being used for chroma work. Other backdrops will be used and mounted traditionally on rollers. Anyway, I'm after a decent paint for the chroma side and wondered if anyone had any experience with the Rosco range? I wanted to know if it covered well (27sqm per can apparently) and if it really was advantageous in real-life vs another form of non-specialist matt vidid-green? I don't mind spending the cash if it's genuinely worth it over other paints.

QUESTION #002 - Cyc Flooring
Sticking on the subject of the cyc wall/end; I'm going to be covering the floor with some form of material that can be painted/abused/repainted etc. It is going to sit directly on an existing thin carpet which itself is on top of a concrete slab. Top of the list so far is OSB3 sheet that is already sanded smooth. I'm hoping this will be hard wearing but also cost effective. Any suggestions for alternative flooring material?

Thanks in advance!
 
Personally I don't see any need for specialised Chroma paint. All that you need is a matt paint that is applied evenly and which is lit evenly. The only thing that really matters with a chroma background is that it is a different colour to the subject, which is why people often have a choice of both blue and green. Bear in mind that you need distance between the chroma background and the main subject, otherwise you'll get background colour reflected onto the main subject.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Personally I don't see any need for specialised Chroma paint. All that you need is a matt paint that is applied evenly and which is lit evenly. The only thing that really matters with a chroma background is that it is a different colour to the subject, which is why people often have a choice of both blue and green. Bear in mind that you need distance between the chroma background and the main subject, otherwise you'll get background colour reflected onto the main subject.
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Thanks Garry. Have you used the chroma paints before specifically? It's easy to think that a standard paint will do, however 'in theory' the specialised paints are designed to subdue reflection/refraction of certain wavelengths I believe. Not sure how much is marketing gumpf and how much is real-life use, hence the question.

Subject to background is likely to be circa 3.5 metres which when lit correctly should work well I hope.
 
No, I have no personal experience of using these special paints. But my experience of using ordinary matt emulsion is that it works perfectly. From a physics viewpoint, there is no such thing as colour, what I mean by that is that 'colour' is nothing more than filtration of wavelength; therefore, as long as the wavelength is effectively filtered, only that colour will be seen. If other wavelengths sort of creep in, it will still work unless the filtratiion is totally hopeless.

3.5m main subject to background distance will be fine.
 
I dont know about from a photography point if view but I'm a painting contractor and woyld think if you want a flat paint avoid vinyl matt and the likes.

If you want cheap as chips use a contract type emulsion which is for new plaster and doesnt have much vinyl content.

Dearer end you could use something like Dulux Flat Matt, but it is very expensive compared to contract matt
 
ICI parrot green is apparently the wise choice.

As told to me by a BBC cameraman.
 
Boich said:
Congrats, as someone who also has a studio in a barn they work really well. The hardest thing though is heating them!
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Thanks, Yeah the heating is going to be a challenge. I've bought one of those propane fan burners to get things up to temp quickly and then I plan on a couple of infrared overhead units on the beams to maintain the temp. How do you heat yours?
 
About a year ago my landlord installed a biomass boiler with heat exchange fans. Absolute godsend, I would probably have looked elsewhere otherwise. Before that tried a mixture of industrial fan heaters and infra red. Infra red heaters were good but they don't heat the air so you have to stay in front of them to keep warm. Cast an interesting red light which made editing awkward! Was advised against propane because of the noise and smell. Either way heating is a big cost! (Well in the winter anyway, May to Sept was always ok!)
 
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