Building studio ??size????

we are going to add a 3 car garage with pool house. i wanted to use the upstairs loft for studio and want to know what would be the best size.... looking at plan with open space of 15.2x 32.25 with 5' high on sides and goes to 8'. you can look at plan at www.cadnw.com/images/G​4628A.jpg

Thanks for all suggestions........

The one thing I always wish for.. and often hear people say is needed for a devoted studio is more height ....... I've heard 10 ft is a good minimum.

I really struggle with my slightly less then 8ft ceiling in the downstairs of my home where my make shift studio is .... it's too short for standing photos of most men anywhere near 6 feet tall and definitely too short for guys over that height.

Plus sometimes you really need to get up 'higher' then your client.. and it's just impossible if your studio is too short.

And one final note on the height.. is having the ability to raise your lights that high and/or run your lights on the ceiling.. would be very very handy.

Otherwise I'd say make it as wide/deep and tall as possible.

i have to agree....hight would be one feature im lacking in my garage turned useless studio.

Size matters. I agree with the previous posters that the proposed height is not going to be sufficient for all types of shooting.

I assume that you are going to have to air condition this area for use in the summer months.

That peaked ceiling is going to limit your studio space by a lot. You really only have 15' across, until your ceiling gets to 8', this means your backdrop will be uneven our folded and tucked if you are planning on using your full 10 or 12' at the center of your space.

I would love the space for a studio myself but I'm not sure you will be happy with it, it's better than nothing, but you may want to look into a plan with a flatter roof line. I'm not sure what your local building codes will allow, with rate or rise on a roof. You may be required to have that steep roof to keep snow from piling and causing structural damage. (Do you get snow in Mississippi?)

Here is a quick scale drawings of your studio. The dark rectangle represents a 15" x 10" back drop resting with the long end on the floor, centered in the room.

You can see where a standard back drop holder will be a problem, you would have to go with 8' max, but that isn't very high. I feel that the last thing you need is build something that will limit yourself.

screw the garage make the entire thing a studio with a large void over the garage portion and have an internal balcony thats just fantasy

Hmmm - yeah - I have 10' ceilings in my studio and sometimes find them limiting - more is better, if at all possible.

ryant35 wrote in post #3843461
That peaked ceiling is going to limit your studio space by a lot. You really only have 15' across, until your ceiling gets to 8', this means your backdrop will be uneven our folded and tucked if you are planning on using your full 10 or 12' at the center of your space.

I would love the space for a studio myself but I'm not sure you will be happy with it, it's better than nothing, but you may want to look into a plan with a flatter roof line. I'm not sure what your local building codes will allow, with rate or rise on a roof. You may be required to have that steep roof to keep snow from piling and causing structural damage. (Do you get snow in Mississippi?)

No we do not get snow. That is the pitch of our exsisting house. Will have to do something to match house for it to look right.....

Thanks for all the suggestions...... I will have to rethink things.....

Unless you specialize in portraits of little people, the ceiling is simply too low. I find that 10' is the least that you will need.

photography101 wrote in post #3844112
No we do not get snow. That is the pitch of our exsisting house. Will have to do something to match house for it to look right.....

Thanks for all the suggestions...... I will have to rethink things.....

Can you rase the overall height by 6' ?

That'll give you 11' on the sides and 14' on center. Wouldn't want the garage to tower over the house though

This is the studio my friends built into their house, it is above the 2.5 car garage.

That looks like it would work great, but in my studio do I need the old man?

ryant35 wrote in post #3852597
That looks like it would work great, but in my studio do I need the old man?

Well, he has been a Master Photographer for over 50 years now and is quite knowledgeable. (that is his and his wifes home and studio)

Not only do you need height, you need some width too. To get the most interesting lighting, you'll need to place lights off to the side. In the home studio posted, there's no room for anything to the side which means that everything is lit from the front. That can get boring in a hurry.

Keep in mind that if you're new to the business, it's important to do something different to get noticed. If you light like an old-school master photographer type, it's gonna be a lot harder to get noticed than if you're doing something fun and more current.

John