What is the best color to paint your walls

Hello:

 

I know that this is probably not in the right category, but I know that the people in the

darkroom side of this forum have been such a wonderful help to me, that I feel that you

guys could help me out the best.

 

So, my general question is, I work for a sweater company and they want me to fix up a

room to do the photography.

What would be the best color to paint the room? I think white would be too reflective

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

Thanks a million!

What style of photography are we talking about... high-key products on models, or close-up product shots on dark backgrounds, etc? Helps to have a sense of what you're ultimately trying to accomplish. But when in doubt, more light control is better than less, so a flat black or dark charcoal is pretty liveable. Whatever it is, make sure it's color-neutral, so that any stray light doesn't introduce a color cast into your set.

 

If you have reason to think you might go with a livelier, lighter set for some occasions, then you might go with a white or lighter gray, and hang drapes to control light when you want non-reflective walls. What will you be using for light sources and light modifiers?

Actually a flat white is not a bad choice, and so is a neutral (no warm/blue tint) light gray.

 

Black, and medium and dark gray make for depressing spaces to work in. How large of space are we talking about and what kind of ambient lighting?

Absolute white gives the lighting a lift. Benjamin Moore or someone made/makes a photographer's white. If you don't want a lift and would prefer to cut the fill and darken the shadows, consider black. An awful alternative, according to my taste.

Flat pure white no tint.

I think we really need some more info here. Is this an 8-foot by 8-foot converted storage room, or a larger more-like-a-studio space? Are we talking about table-top product shots, or full-length humans? And Ellis' question about ambient light is an important one. Windows? An opening to a hallway with fluoresent lighting? A good description of the physical space and how it will actually be used will have a lot to do with this. A small, solid-white room can be a nightmare for some sorts of product lighting, and a gloomy black box can be miserable too. More, Nicola!

I would think that wall color is basically immaterial beyond the need to keep down any stray color casts from bouncing light. So I'd opt for a dead neutral light gray.

 

What a studio really needs IMHO is a 10-12 foot ceiling, which should be high enough to accommodate a nice tall set of back drop hangers. Then you can pull whatever color backdrop paper you want depending on the need at the time of the shoot.

 

The other room dimensions are also important. A photo studio needs to be a lot bigger than most people realize because it needs those high ceilings and it has to be wide enough and deep enough to handle all the lighting, gobos, reflectors, diffusers, etc. Oh, yes, and a photographer or three and their cameras and stands. A small space can be a nightmare to work in, and thus fairly unproductive. Just something to think about.

Paint the entire room black.

Nicola, since your question has more to do with product lighting than either b&w darkroom or even a general photography question, I'll see if I can transfer the thread to the Lighting Forum.

 

I'm inclined to go with the suggestions to paint the area a neutral white or light gray, but I can see certain advantages to a non-reflective black room. However, the latter would require the acquisition of various reflectors to compensate for the lack of reflective walls.

"Paint the entire room black."

 

All black studios are very depressing. I still say paint it white and if you sometimes need to cut the bounce from the white walls to get higher contrast, install black curtains that you can pull across the walls as needed.

If you are shooting with minimum light/high ISO and want really dramatic low-key photos, particularly in a small room, paint the walls black to kill light spilling back into the set. Most product shots don't depend on being able to hold dead blacks, a little spill won't hurt anything at all.

 

Ellis is absolutely right that a dead black room is tough to work in. However, a black room means that when you shine a light on your set, the light is there and then gone, not bouncing back in on you in a place you don't want it. Much easier to keep control.

 

For my work, which is basically table-top product photography, I don't worry about the walls at all. Open joists overhead, various cabinets on the side, the blasted hot water heater too close to camera right. In a perfect world, I'd have four times the floor area, the ceilings would be twice as tall, and the processing gear wouldn't be encroaching. In that case, I'd paint everything white, including taking the time to get a couple of coats of white epoxy on the floor.

 

Van

You could paint each of the four walls a different color.

What are the room dimensions? You can always paint the walls WHITE, the ceiling black and then, use black, light-absorbing material when/where/as needed.

I've just moved out of an office suite with a tiny studio room. It was 11 ft x 11.6 ft

with a 8 ft ceiling. WAY TOO SMALL. But I earned a living there doing mostly

portraits. I couldn't imagine working in a black room so I painted it three shades of

pure grey. At a good paint shop I chose a grey that had no other color in the mix

(most do) so I had a truly neutral grey. Then I ordered quarts of three different

densities. I had one wall of black-draped windows. I painted one wall and the ceiling

dark grey, one wall medium and the 4th wall and the adjoining office light grey. It

worked well. I had three different background choices. I wish I had painted the

lightest wall medium grey and then sponged on light great to create a dappled

background. Then I cut a 4' x 8' sheet of 5/8" white foam core into two 2' x 6'

reflectors and built stands for them.

 

In a small room never leave your ceiling or floor light colored or white or it will be

damned hard to create black shadows.