Studio Color

[mclain swift]

I just aquired some studio space in the form of a three car garage. The walls

are this pinkish sponge painting mess which I just have to get rid of. I am

thinking painting the walls grey since black is out of the question. Does

anyone have a specific make they use or should I just take a grey card to the

shop and get it matched

[leicaglow]

Take the grey card into a store that has the machine to read the color. Have you considered white? It seems my big-studio colleagues use a particular Miller paint code, but I've never really asked them why, unless it's just for more light. It seems like it might be harder to control though.

[mclain swift]

I thought about white. I just want to keep spilled light down as much as I can. I will have one area painted white for a background though.

[Gary Naka]

The only caution is to be careful of whose grey card you use. Some of them are for exposure, not white balance, so may not be color neutral.

 

I suggest a quart or gallon and trying it on ONE wall. This is to see if it is too light or dark. I did that to my deck, and all three 3'x3' test patches were MUCH brighter than the 1" square paint sample.

 

And ask the paint guy about a good primer to cover that pink paint, so it won't bleed through. He will need to know what you top color will be so he can recommend the appropriate tint.

[ddemers]

Hello

 

A friend of mine who is the main photograph for a Canadian TV firm painted his studio Neutral grey mat. I am planning to do the same in my basement. The major point to remember is to get a paint that will not reflect light and will not alter the white balance by introducing a new color cast.

 

My actual basement is white (mat) and way too clear when I am shooting Low-key portrait. A darker grey paint will absorb most of the reflections.

 

Good luck.

[mclain swift]

Thanks for the answers so far. I seem to be getting both sides of the coin from other places.

Some guys say go white and some say go grey. Why is there never any black or white (in this

case grey or white!) answers in the world? There seems to be good arguments for both.

[Gary Naka]

MS

 

The thing with wall color is what do you want it to do.

 

If you want it to reflect light, then white is good.

 

If you don't want it to reflect light, then white is NOT good.

 

Example if you are using a shoot through umbrella, you will get a lot of light reflected back from the umbrella. The issue is what happens to this light. If it reflects off the walls and back onto the subject will it upset the lighting plan? If yes, then you want a wall that will absorb that light so you the photographer controls all the light hitting the subject.

 

If you are using shoe mount flash (less light output than studio strobes), you may want the walls white, to reflect as much of the light back onto the subject.

 

Some want white simply so the room is not so dark.

 

All sorts of reasons for and against white, gray and black. But it comes down to your evaluation for your needs.

[jessica_smith9]

I work in a studio with white walls. It takes some getting used to. The owner will be putting up black curtains that can be pulled open or shut to block out and control some of the reflectivity. I think it's nice to have that option.

[mclain swift]

Good idea! Best of both worlds :-)

[ellis_vener_photography]

"The only caution is to be careful of whose grey card you use. Some of them are for

exposure, not white balance, so may not be color neutral."

 

For example: the Kodak 18% Gray card, which isn't made to be color neutral.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Here's a thought

 

Paint the walls white and run a long curtain track along the long sides of the studio with

either black or dark gray muslin as the curtain material. That way you can use white when

you wantthat bounce for a higher key effect or pull outthe black ck when you want to kill that

reflection partially by only pull ingthe curtains part way closed or totally.

[maureen_roy]

Wow--I wish I'd read these answers a month ago when we painted our studio! We went with a gray that was close to the Kodak 18% as we could get, and we're finding that we have a blue cast to a lot of our photos unless we are shooting with a white seamless background and blast it with the strobes. I tried to do a custom white balance on my 20D and this helped somewhat, but not 100%. We're now talking about re-painting it all white (ceilings included, which were a PAIN to paint gray in the first place--lots of duct work). Ugh. I would definitely go with white and a curtain system. And probably will. Once my shoulders heal from all the paintbrush fatigue (!). Good luck.