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“Show Notes”
Dreaming of a professional studio but only have a spare bedroom to work with? Marcus reveals the Small Studio Secrets he’s learned from 20 years in commercial photography, showing you how to set up a professional, home-based studio that can easily handle headshots and small groups. This is crucial marketing for photographers advice, as a home studio instantly adds professionalism and speed to your service.
This episode is packed with useful content, but we’ve pulled out the three essential takeaways that will most quickly boost your commercial photography business. Stop relying on luck; start implementing a clear plan that converts prospects into paying customers.
- The Flawless Background Hack: Why the traditional paper roll is your enemy in a small space, and the simple, low-cost painting solution that lets your subjects stand right up against the wall without any visible creases.
- The Secret Lighting Stand of the Film Industry: Discover the one piece of affordable equipment (it’s not a light!) that instantly opens up professional overhead lighting possibilities, even with low ceilings.
- Lens Selection for Small Rooms: Stop struggling with group and full-length shots in a tiny studio. Learn the unconventional lens choice that gives you the perfect distance and focal length to capture commercial photography portraits in a crowded space.
“Show Transcription”
Sam: Hi Marcus, how are you doing?
Marcus: I am very well, thank you, Sam. How’s yourself?
Sam: Excellent, yes, very good indeed. It’s just the two of us today, Marcus, but it is—I’m gonna have that stuck in my head now for the rest of the show. Lucky me. Yes, it’s better than the ones my daughters manage to insert in their very strange songs. Anyway, what are we doing? Oh yes, there’s two of us. So, Marcus, what are you going to be talking to us about today?
Marcus: Well, Sam, I’m going to be talking about setting up a studio, in particular setting up a small studio at home.
Sam: Ah, interesting. Cool. Okay, that sounds really useful—useful for lots of photographers—and brings back memories of my dad bringing out gold umbrellas and things like that in the lounge, clearing all the surfaces out of the way.
Marcus: Yeah, it’s based around that. I mean, I’ve been thinking about it while putting this podcast together. I’ve been working in studios really since I started photography, and certainly my business career as a photographer, being a hair and beauty photographer, was all done in the studio. So probably 80 percent of my time has been spent in photographic studios.
Sam: And that was presumably big professional studios, not a small home studio?
Marcus: Yeah, well, both, Sam, actually. When I was up in London, I was there for like 25 years. I had my own studio, which was lovely, but I also—yeah, when I was working on campaigns—it was, yeah, we’d hire big studios. I mean, really big, lovely, expensive studios in New York and LA. It was very, very nice. But what I learned from that is that you don’t need a big studio, especially these days. Yeah, especially these days. And I’m going to go into what I mean by that.
Sam: Is it worth a photographer, before they think about setting up their own studio, going in and hiring a big professional studio just to kind of experience it before then thinking about their own?
Marcus: God, that’s a good question. I mean, it could be very expensive. The studios I was using—gosh, back 10, 20 years ago—were like ten thousand dollars a day or something, you know?
Sam: That’s quite a big maybe-there’s-a-middle-ground cost.
Marcus: But yeah, definitely go and try different spaces. But you can do a lot at home. You can do a lot at home, and I’ve learned along the way some fantastic tips, which hopefully our listeners are going to really benefit from.
Sam: Cool.
Marcus: So the studio I’m in now, which I’m talking to you in, is in my house. It’s a spare bedroom. It’s about four by five meters, so, you know, not big at all. By UK standards, it’s fair—they call it a big bedroom—but it’s not a big bedroom. So, four by five meters, but within this studio, I’ve shot up to five people or groups of five people.Yeah, yeah, so there are ways you can do it. I’ve broken it down into three components. We’re going to be talking about backgrounds, lighting, and lenses for your cameras, and then a couple of little extras on top.
Sam: Okay. And just a quick plug—there is already a show on lenses and a show on lighting. We’ll link that into the podcast notes if you want to go and listen to those too.
Marcus: Yeah, and they’ll help you—they’ll inform you for this podcast if you listen to those shows. So, backgrounds. Well, traditionally, when you’re in a studio, photographers have always used paper backgrounds. You know, you get about a meter and a half, two and a half meters, and lots of different colors. They’re all very nice, and you hang them up on the wall. Yeah, and you have it draping on the floor if you’re going to be doing full-length shots. They’re great if you’ve got lots of space.
And the reason why they’re great if you’ve got lots of space, Sam, is because invariably these rolls get creased when they’re wound up. So, when they drop down, you can see little ripples in the paper. Now, if you’re in a big studio, you can have the subject a long way from the background, put it out of focus, and you’ll never even know it.
Sam: No one will notice. But if you’re in a small space, everything’s close, and you’re going to spot it.
Marcus: Exactly. So what I do very simply is I’ve painted one wall in my studio gray—a mid-gray, which is actually the same color as my pop-up background when I go and do headshots. It’s a really popular tone or color for headshots, I think. It looks really good. So I’ve done it a mid-gray, and it’s a really flat surface with matte paint—super matte, as matte as you can get—so there’s no shine to it. Yeah, I can virtually have my subject standing against the background, and you would not see any creases or anything. It looks like they’re standing a long way from the background.
So, that’s number one. That’s a really good place to start. Find a bare wall, finish it off nicely, and then paint it a matte color. The one I’ve done is grey.
Sam: And then it’s fairly easy in Photoshop to change the color if you’ve got it really nice and uniform.
Marcus: It’s very easy, Sam. In fact, it’s way better than green. I know people in videos use green screens, but for some odd reason, that doesn’t work in photography. I’ve always noticed on a green screen, it reflects onto the subject’s skin if you’re too close to it.Yeah, and then it’s a nightmare to cut out.
Sam: Yeah, it comes back from very old traditions. I mean, green screens have been around for so long. I think it must be from before digital, and the tradition has stuck.”
Marcus: Yeah, it’s not—it doesn’t really work for photography. It’s a video thing. So, yeah, and gray means you can really cut it out very easily in Photoshop or whatever kind of software you use. There are loads of software tools these days that will cut things out for you.I also offer a service where, if I know the Pantone color of my client’s brand, I will paint up a board—it’s about six foot by three foot—that I use. I’ve got three or four of them, and I paint them the brand color. I go down to my local decorating shop, and they mix it up for me in a little tin. From that, I can just about get a couple of coats on one of these boards.
Sam: I seem to remember visiting your studio and seeing an orange board. I think it was orange you were doing at that time.
Marcus: Yeah, I know. It’s always my new brand color—orange—and it looked great. Again, I’ve got a couple of holes in the corner of that board so I can hook it up against the wall. They can stand right against it, and I can virtually get a full length with that board in the brand color.
Sam: And you think that’s better than doing the gray and cutting it out in Photoshop?
Marcus: It is better. Look, you can get away with cutouts for small projects, but I think when you’re doing something that’s going to be blown up big, like a billboard or a magazine piece.
Sam; You’re better with the real thing.
Marcus: Especially around hair—hair is very tricky. You’re better off just getting a board, painting it with a little roller, and you’re done in 10 minutes. Job done.
“I’ve also incorporated a corner into my studio. If you can imagine, I’ve got the big gray wall and then another side wall coming off it. That gives me an opportunity to shoot into a corner with two gray sides, and that looks great. You know, there’s a photographer called Irving Penn who is famous in the 60s for using two V-flats and making a corner. He did some amazing portraits with that.
Sam: Interesting.
Marcus: Number one, that’s backgrounds. If you have a painted wall, you basically have the subject standing against it, and you can use whatever f-stop you want.
Sam: Cool.
Marcus: Lighting—a little bit more generic this. If you’re going to have your own studio, I would definitely invest in what we call a C-stand. Do you know what a C-stand is, Sam?
Sam: No.
Marcus: Okay, a C-stand is from the movie industry—the film industry—and it’s an abbreviation of ‘century stand.’ Basically, it’s a heavy-duty lighting stand with a boom arm to it.
Sam: Ah, okay. Yep.
Marcus: And that simple addition of having a boom arm means you can have the light above the subject and not have the light in front of you, if that makes sense, or to the side. It makes it so much more adaptable. Now, again, these days, you can get fairly cheap C-stands for about $150–$200, maybe up to $300 for a really good quality one, but they last a lifetime. You can start shooting with this boom arm, and it will just open up a whole new world of lighting for you. They fold away, and you can pack them in your studio very easily. They do not take up much room. As far as lighting and modifiers go, really, you can use what you would use in any studio or location. Obviously, depending on the size of the room, you can’t use something too big, but I’ve got, in the corner of my room, what I think is about a 120-centimetre octabox, and that’s the perfect size for my small studio.
Sam: So, what do you think, Marcus? If you’re setting up a home studio, what’s kind of the minimum? You talked about what holds the light—what kind of minimum lighting would you probably need to get a good shot?
Marcus: Well, that’s a great question, Sam. But it all depends on what you’re doing. Are you photographing people? Are you doing still life? If you’re doing still life, you can join the tabletop, you know.
Sam: Yeah, yeah.
Marcus: If you’re doing a group of people, you’re going to need a large softbox. Or, if you’re just doing headshots, you can get away with a 90-centimeter, maybe even a little smaller, octabox softbox.
Sam: So, for all of these, you’re kind of saying one light—you could get away with one light. More would be better, but one good light would kind of do in most of those situations?
Marcus: Really, yes. A lot of my photography is one light. I’ll sometimes bring in another if we’re doing a headshot—I might do what they call clam lighting, which is two lights—but, you know, you could do the same thing with a reflector. What you do need to think about is the light bouncing around in your room. Ideally—and this is really ideally—you want black walls. All the other walls, besides your main wall, need to be black.
Sam: And I’m looking at Marcus now with a lovely white wall behind him in his studio.
Marcus: Yeah, yeah. So, what I do is I’ve got poly boards that are black, and they stop the light bouncing back so I can control it.
Sam: You want those so you can control where the light is bouncing when you’re using flash, rather than it just going all over the place because you’ve got white walls.
Marcus: Exactly, Sam. I do notice it when I’m in a big studio, using my same lighting setup. I get a bit more contrast—i.e., the shadows are a bit darker in a bigger studio because the light isn’t bouncing around. But look, it’s minimal, and most clients won’t even spot it.It’s not so much the dimensions of the room—it’s the height that really matters. If you’ve got a choice, high ceilings are really, really handy in photography.
Sam: Really? Again, for the light bouncing?
“
Marcus: No, it’s so you can have the light above the subject—top-down lighting.
Sam: Right, yeah.
Marcus: The way I get around that is, if they’re quite tall, I have them sitting on a chair.Makes sense.Then I get lots of room above. But, you know, whenever you’re looking to rent out a studio, here’s a little tip: don’t just look at the dimensions—look at the height. That’s what’s most important. How high can you take the lights? That’s going to give you a different look. If you’ve got lights above, that’s going to give you a very different and more professional look.
Sam: So, I mean, I’m just thinking then, Marcus—if you’re saying that kind of space is good, what are your thoughts on things like just hiring out a local village hall? It can often be quite cheap, and you’ve got a really big space.
Marcus: Yeah, great idea, Sam. You have to be a little bit careful, though. If you’re using flash, it’s okay, but just make sure there aren’t too many windows on a bright day—you could get problems. If you’re using constant lighting, which is becoming a lot more popular, you won’t be able to use it in a room with lots of windows because the constant lighting won’t be powerful enough to overcome all the ambient light.
Sam: Okay, yeah, yeah. Maybe a village hall at night would work?
Marcus: Yeah, a village hall at night would be fine.I’m coming to my last bit now. Very simply, we’re going to talk about lenses. There’s not a lot to say about lenses. In a room like mine, five meters long, you’re going to struggle with anything above 100mm. You won’t be able to get back.
Sam: Unless you get out the window.
Marcus: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you could do that or shoot from outside the room, but, well, I go against sort of conventional wisdom. When I’m doing photography, I use a 35mm lens a lot, especially for a full-length shot in my studio or a group shot. I know people say, ‘Oh, there’s distortion in the 35mm because it’s regarded as a wide lens.’ Yeah, but if you’re very careful with it, keep it straight, and really observe what’s going on, you can get away with it, and they look great. I mean, I use a 35mm a lot in the studio. Okay, another thing you might think about in a small room with the lenses is how far you’re going to be from the subject. When I’m photographing people, portraits, or headshots, I like to be really close to people, just so you know, I’m in their face, as it were. Really, yeah. It just gives a little bit more energy, a bit more dynamic. I can whisper to people; it’s a bit more intimate. So, when I buy lenses, I always look for ones that have a very good, very close focusing, so you can focus fairly close up.
Sam: Yeah, right. Rather than having a long lens and shouting to them across the room.
Marcus: Yeah, exactly.There’s another photographer, who I’ve mentioned many times, Platon, on the Netflix documentary about him. Very, very good to see, and he’s right. He does the same thing: he’s right in people’s faces, and he makes a sort of art of it, really.
Sam: Yeah, yeah.
Marcus: Okay, let’s come to the last couple of little bits we might talk about, Sam. I also invested in an electronic desk, a small one. I’m talking to you on it now, and it goes up and down.
Sam: The advantage of that is
Marcus: It’s got a white surface, so I can get people standing on it. So, I start by having them stand on it. You know, standing against it. I mean, yes.
Sam: Oh, so they can, yeah, or lean on it,
Marcus: Exactly. And they get a nice reflection. The white tabletop acts as a reflector, and I can raise or lower it depending on how tall people are. I’ve found that’s a really nice addition, you know, a nice little thing you can have, and they’re not expensive.
Sam: Again, you can get double use from a sit-stand desk.
Marcus: So, you’ve got a sit-stand desk, which is good for you as well when you’re taking shots, and that’s what it’s all about in small studios. Sam is doubling up and trying to make use of all the space you can get.Yeah, I’ve got windows down here. I’ve already talked about windows. I’ve got a window in my studio, and you have to be careful of ambient light if you’re shooting. I’ve already mentioned that. Just a little thing there: if you are shooting flash, the first test shot you do should be without the flash. Your image should basically be a black screen. That would tell you there’s no ambient light leaking into the camera. If there is light coming in, you might have to adjust your ISO, bring it down, you might have to increase your shutter speed if you can, or even raise your aperture.
Sam: Okay.
Marcus: once you’ve got a black screen, you know there’s no ambient light coming in, and all the lighting will be done by the flash.
Sam: Yeah, excellent. I love the way that Marcus is still changing the aperture, twiddling the… twiddling… pretty little handy.
Marcus: Yeah, there you go, mate. That’s my little bit about small studios. I think it’s, you know, if you can do it, I don’t know, it’s a little bit of a luxury, but it’s a really handy thing to have.
Sam: I mean, a lot of people have a spare room, and, you know, I’ve been to your studio there, Marcus, and you described it, you know. We’re not talking about a huge… okay, it’s not a box room, but it’s not huge. We’re not talking about a lot of space. We are talking spare-room size.Yeah, it’s not massive.
Marcus: : Yeah, and if people want to come and stay, I just got, like, you know, a bed I bring in or a blow-up mattress or whatever, and you’ve got this back to a bedroom again.
Sam:There we go.Marcus:
Oh, yeah. Sorry, mate mode. Mate mode.
Sam: Okay, perfect. Excellent. Right, thank you, Marcus. What we would love from you as listeners is ratings. So, wherever you are listening to this podcast, be it Spotify, be it Apple, be it in all those other lovely places where you listen to your podcasts, we would love five-star reviews. So, please, please, on your podcast app, leave us a review. It really helps us, and it really helps other photographers find us. The more reviews we get, the more photographers will find us, and that will help more of you, which is what we’re all about here, isn’t it, Marcus?
Marcus: Indeed it is, Sam. We’re just here to help people, you know?Yeah, and, look, you know, we’d love to hear more from our listeners as well. Any questions you’ve got, any subjects you want us to cover, we’d love to hear from you.
Sam: Perfect. Excellent. So, you can get all those on our website, shootstothetop.com, and Marcus, I will see you next week.
Marcus: Next week, Sam. Have a good one.
Sam: Bye.
