I got a softbox in the mail yesterday. Coupled with the new wireless flash trigger that I got, my studio is looking pretty good, at least by my standards. I could really use a few more things. I could use a boom stand and a hair light. I could also use a 4th light to serve as a background light. But, all in all, I feel like I can work better and faster now.
Another limitation is the space in my “studio”. I know that I’ll always want something bigger. Even if I had 30×30′ of space devoted to a studio I’d say, “But, how can I shoot a car in here?” But, realistically, I’d like to be able to shoot people at full length without tripping over myself or running into walls. I’m not sure how big my game room is, but it seems to be working pretty well. For someone just under 6′ tall, if I put my back against one wall I can shoot them with a 50mm (75mm equiv) lens when they are 4′ in front of the backdrop. The biggest problem is the the left side of the “studio” is where Jess and I have our computers. I’m considering moving them.
These are my options:
# Leave everything the way it is. Use the “Game Room”:http://photos.revjim.net/fh20040821/thumb56 as a studio, leave the computers in there, and don’t add any furniture. This means that I have to move the studio stuff to one side (or tear it down entirely) when I’m done in order to be able to use the computers again.
# Use the “Living Room / Dining Room”:http://photos.revjim.net/fh20040821/thumb31 area as a studio. This is a very large space. I’d be able to shoot larger groups of people, use even longer lenses, and get more background separation. This also means that I have to move furniture around every time I want to shoot and tear everything back down when I’m done. The Game Room could then become an office/entertainment area and some furniture and electronics can be added there to make it nicer. Then again, I don’t know that we actually *need* two living areas.
# Use the “Smaller Bedroom”:http://photos.revjim.net/fh20040821/thumb38 as an office for Jess and I. Currently, it serves a small purpose as a craft room, and also serves as a sort of storage area. Leave the Game Room as a studio. This would get the computers out of the Game Room giving me a bit more room and eliminating the need to tear down the “studio” after use (aside from the cats which may pose a problem here).
# Use the “Garden Room”:http://photos.revjim.net/fh20040821/thumb25 as my office, and move Jess’ computer into the Smaller Bedroom. This way, she can keep her craft room, we can have a small sitting area in the Garden Room (along with my computer) and the entire Game Room can be used as a studio.
# Use the Living Room/Dining Room as a permanent studio. Move the Dining Room into the Garden Room. Make the Game Room the Living Room. But both computers in the Smaller Bedroom. Space and needs wise, this makes a lot of sense. The Game Room is a good size and shape to be a living room. Plus, it has a door to the upstairs porch which is a great place to sit and relax when it isn’t summer. The Garden Room is close to the Kitchen, so it’s easy to have the table in there. This is also the silliest idea because it makes the “major” parts of our house a studio. You’d have to walk through the studio to get to the kitchen, dining room and laundry room. It would also be the first thing you’d see when you walked in the door.
# I could use the “Larger Bedroom”:http://photos.revjim.net/fh20040821/thumb34 as a studio. It’s almost the same width as the Game Room but is quite a bit shorter. I wouldn’t be able to use my 50mm for full length shots any more. But, I would never have to tear the studio down. I could just close the door when I was done.
# I could use the “Master Bedroom”:http://photos.revjim.net/fh20040821/thumb10 as a Studio. It’s just a tiny bit smaller than the Game Room. But, then we’d have to sleep in the Larger Bedroom, and, worse still, we wouldn’t have the nice “Master Bathroom”:http://photos.revjim.net/fh20040821/thumb7 and “Large Closet”:http://photos.revjim.net/fh20040821/thumb4 adjacent to our Bedroom.
# I could also use the “Garage”:http://photos.revjim.net/fh20040821/thumb26 as a Studio. The nice thing here is that the floor is already hard, there’s quite a bit of space and it’s bigger than the Game Room, though smaller than the Dinning Room/Living Room combination. I could also leave it up all the time. However, I’d have to find a way to air condition it. And, then we’d have to find a new location for all of the stuff that we keep in our Garage (lawnmower, bikes, etc), and, we don’t have any room on our property to build a shed.
# We could knock down the wall between the Game Room and the Smaller Bedroom. This would give lots of space for the studio. We could move our computers into the Garden Room. That would be a lot of work. It would also make the house less desirable to a future buyer. Finally, it would make the upstairs of our house nearly useless for anything other than a guest bedroom and a studio. Sure, with the right planning, it could be a good party room as well, I guess.
# Find a cheap commercial/residential space in Denton, Aubrey, Argyle, Carrolton, Lewisville, Plano, Frisco, The Colony, or Dallas to use as a studio. I’d need at LEAST one room with 400 sq ft. This is my favorite option, but I doubt I can find anything cheap enough. An old barn, an old warehouse, some unused office space, etc. If you have any leads here, please let me know as I think this would be terrific if I could pull it off.
So those are the options. Which would you do? Those of you that know our house, feel free to suggest other options. Also, you can see the floor plan of the house: “First Floor”:http://revjim.net/archives/2004/08/house-first-floor.jpg, “Second Floor”:http://revjim.net/archives/2004/08/house-second-floor.jpg.