Lighting for a tiny home studio?

[ciaran_cosgrave]

<p>Hello, I am setting up a home studio in a very small room With the built in wardrobes reducing the available space even further, the space I have available to me is 10ft by 6.5ft. The room is also landlocked with only a small skylight window for ventilation. The ceiling is quite high so height isn't a problem. <br /><br />I have a couple of old Interfit Colourflash monolights, a soft box and an umbrella. Because of the size of these, I find it clumsy to work in such a small space and the modelling lights make the room very hot and uncomfortable to work in. So, I'm thinking monolights are not the best option. The two options I am considering are L.E.D lights and strobes. In terms of L.E.D lights, I am thinking of couple of 50w+ panels, a 50w+ fresnel light, and couple of single 45w bulbs. All daylight balanced and all used in conjunction with diffusers and reflectors whenever necessary. The advantages of L.E.D lights for me are:</p>

<p>1) They don't generate heat<br>

2) I can see the lighting effect in real time.<br>

3) They take up less space than monolights<br>

I have no real experience of using strobes but I am aware of their light output advantage over L.E.D and the disadvantage of not being able to see the effect of the lighting in real time.</p>

<p>I would be interested to getting people's thoughts on this, especially those who have set up a studio with similarly little space to work with. I'd also be interested in any other suggestions or tips people may have regarding setting up a studio in such a small space, be it regarding backgrounds, lighting, modifiers etc.</p>

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[Matt Laur]

<p>What do you mean by "strobes?" Do you mean hot-shoe style flash units? Because monolights are also flash units, and you can just turn off the modeling lights and have essentially the same thing, only without having to use batteries (and, with much more power at the time of the exposure).<br /><br />LED units actually DO throw off waste heat, though not as much as traditional tungsten/quartz type lights. But more to the point, they produce FAR less light than even a hot-shoe flash unit, so that brings up the next question:<br /><br />What are you photographing? Is this table-top product photography, portraiture ... ?</p>

[Jochen_S]

<p>If the heat from your halogenic modelling lights is an issue: Why not try to replace those with something cooler like LED bulbs?<br>

Lightstands eat space, no matter what you'll place on them. - Try switching to a ceiling mounted rail system? - If there is no space for a softbox try bouncing a light from a styrofoam panel?</p>

[bob_bill]

<p>Tight space. If the door is at the long end in the 6' wall expand the space by shooting from the hall. Use a longer lens and it will allow a smaller angle of view to eliminate the door jamb from a distance further down the hall. When you get to a tight location shoot, you will be prepared. For background, consider either a pop up leaned against the wall taking up less space or a roll of seamless on the floor with the end gaffer taped near the ceiling. Will save the expense of stands too. Again quick and dirty for location work. Once you dial in the main, turn off the modeling lights for heat control. Forget tungsten or hot lights, that will heat the space. A strobe and shallow soft box would be a good choice. Instead of an umbrella as fill, the room corners where 2 walls come together with the ceiling are "free" umbrellas if you bounce into them. Or bounce off the back wall to lay down some fill. </p>

[ciaran_cosgrave]

 

<p>To answer your questions Matt Laur - By "strobes" I mean hotshoe type flash units. I will mainly be shooting still-life and product photography but I will occasionally want to shoot some portraits. I know what you are saying about L.E.D vs Flash power output but I've been thinking that because I am working in such a small space, maybe I don't need loads of light. I have a 30w LED panel and it throws out quite a lot of light. I'm just thinking that using this with a 100w panel, a couple of 45w single bulbs and maybe a 70w fresnel light, I'd have more than enough light.</p>

<p>Thanks for your great suggestions Jochen. If I decide to go with monolights, I'll definitely replace the modelling bulbs with leds. I'll also have a look at your other idea. Thanks also Bob. I'll consider all of those good suggestions. </p>

 

[michaelmowery]

<p>Now that you have disclosed that you are doing still life shots, your space is adequate. When you do family shots take them outdoors.</p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>Unless you are doing head and shoulder shots portraits would be very uncomfortable in such a tight space. Most recommend the minimum space for portraits as: 8 foot ceilings, 13 foot background area and 22 feet lengthwise or anything pretty close to that, but you can still pull it off with just 1 strobe with umbrella and maybe a reflector. You might not need a reflector because the light will probably bounce off the walls. The reason why I say that is that the model has to be at least 4-5 feet from the background then the lams have to be 3-6 feet from the model, then you need room to move around yourself. If you do the math it doesn't add up too well. </p>

[WAngell]

<p>Is this a space you own or rent? Single family, duplex, multi-tennent? Mitsubishi and others make some great small room air conditioning systems that could make this space much more pleasant to work in and allow you to make decisions on lighting without regard to heat generation. Even just a small fan in a window to pull air through the space could help a lot or better yet install something like a 2000 cfm exhaust fan in the ceiling. Design for a 3600 cfm run at 60% and you'll get good air movement and heat exhaust with little noise.</p>

<p>As mentioned above a ceiling grid would seem a very good solution in this space. Get some pipe from Grainger and go for it.</p>

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