So I've converted our old garage (that was used for storing junk, not our vehicles) into a pretty nice little space for taking pics. I don't have any shots of the space itself yet. It has it's limitations - sub 8' ceilings - but it's better than the 11x12 box I was shooting in.
This space is about 22' x 23'. I'm using the full length of the room (plus some, if the garage door is open) and 3/4 of the width. Lots of freedom, finally.
Anyway, I took my wife and newborn son out to give the space a run. I noticed some pretty serious flare right away. I blamed the bg lights spilling into the shot, despite the distance between subject/bg. I spent the entire evening fighting it, trying to figure out what was causing it - most of the pics didn't turn out because of it. Long story short, I went back out after everyone was asleep, fought w/ it some more. Moved my main light (the only one on at this point), etc etc. Finally decided to take a look at the front element on the lens. Greasy Toddler Fingerprints. Seriously?? I'm honestly not real good about putting caps back on - that'll probably change. Still, I couldn't believe a smudge on the lens would manifest itself in this manner. Wiped it clean and bam, night and day difference.
I was able to salvage a shot or two, at least. The one below is cropped in quite a bit, but you can still see some flare/hazyness in the bottom left corner.
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I'll update this thread w/ pics of the space itself, when I get a chance.
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I was using a lens hood and in the pic posted, the bg lights were on rather low power settings. Even the shots I took w/ out the bg lights on had the issue. The first thing I did when I expected the bg lights as being an issue was to flag them w/ black foamcore. 
