Studio painting

[ambermarie]

I am converting my one car garage into a studio. I want to make sure I paint the walls a good color. Anyone direct me with what colors I'm afraid of color cast if they are all white. I am also undecided what to do with concrete floors as of right now. Garage size 24×30 Needing some ideas!!!! What do you think is a good color choice?

[Damien Symonds]

I assume that light-medium grey would be best, but I'm going to move this question into Brian's area, since he knows a lot more about studios and lighting than me.

[Brian]

How much money do you want to spend? We really need to see the inside to understand what we are dealing with. 24x30 is a great size, but how tall are the ceilings? Can you go to 10-15 feet high? Or are you stuck with 8-9 feet ceilings?

From the photo above, you could remove the two single windows and go for a single large window. As far as paint color, Sherwin Williams has a color that I like. It's called "Gray Screen SW 7071." Behr from Home Depot has a similar color, called Manhattan Mist 760E-2. I have my basement (where I edit photos) painted in SW Gray Screen.

Oh, it's also a good idea to get the correct color temp for your lightbulbs in any lights/ceiling pot-lights. Some like warmer, others like cooler/more daylight looking. I like my bulbs to be around the 5000K - 5200K mark. Any higher and I end up with a headache. Of course others have no problems with going 6000K+. It's really a personal thing.

As far as the concrete floors, you could keep them or seal them. Or have different laminate floors that you can change in and out. It really depends on WHAT you are photographing.

So in reality, we need more info.

 

[Brian]

Oh! One more thing!! Have you checked with your local government to see if you need zoning permits? It doesn't matter if you are doing it for "fun," or "...just starting out." If one of your neighbors doesn't like you or you piss them off in any way, one simple phone call to the Local Zoning Board can really ruin your day with fines and court fees. Combine that if you are off-the-books and don't have the proper liability insurance and things could get messy.

Something to think about.