# Basement Studio



## ray5 (Mar 25, 2017)

Hi,
I am going to be moving into a house with an unfinished basement. 10' unfinished ceilings. I would like to convert part of it into an informal studio to practice portrait photography. Any ideas on covering the walls and ceiling? What material, color of material could/should I use? I have not invested in lights yet except for couple of speedlites. I will have access to east and south facing windows which are above ground but don't have to as other parts of the basement are just as accessible. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks
Ray


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## ajfotofilmagem (Mar 25, 2017)

Plaster painted in frosted white is a better choice for ceiling and infinite bottom. Other walls and floors may be gray or some neutral color. The windows should have curtain capable of totally blocking the sunlight if necessary.


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## IglooEater (Mar 26, 2017)

Technically the best is probably a mat gray, preferably dark. This gives you more control of your light direction by being dark, and won't influence the colour of your light by it's own colour. You could paint sections white if you have a specific wish to such as light or background or whatever. I say technically, but that might be a dismal place to work! 
I'd drywall it, but first I'd deal with the humidity. Insulate a vapour-barrier your walls and vapour-barrier the floor to control humidity.
If you want to see the floor in pictures then you choose what you want to see. Otherwise just a mat paint is fine, but putting down rubber mats over the concrete floor can be less hard on the feet and back long term. One common mistake is a gray epoxy, because it's cheap and vapour sealing, but it tends to have a reflective finish, which can bounce your light in weird ways. See if you can get it mat.
For ceilings in a basement I encourage folks to go with suspended ceiling, for it's accessibility. (Passing wires afterwords, or dealing with water damage from a plumbing leak. Trouble is it's normally difficult to come across ceiling tiles that are not white. also Drop ceiling take minimum 4-5 inches lower than the lowest point of your ceiling.


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## ray5 (Mar 27, 2017)

ajfotofilmagem said:


> Plaster painted in frosted white is a better choice for ceiling and infinite bottom. Other walls and floors may be gray or some neutral color. The windows should have curtain capable of totally blocking the sunlight if necessary.



Thanks


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## ray5 (Mar 27, 2017)

IglooEater said:


> Technically the best is probably a mat gray, preferably dark. This gives you more control of your light direction by being dark, and won't influence the colour of your light by it's own colour. You could paint sections white if you have a specific wish to such as light or background or whatever. I say technically, but that might be a dismal place to work!
> I'd drywall it, but first I'd deal with the humidity. Insulate a vapour-barrier your walls and vapour-barrier the floor to control humidity.
> If you want to see the floor in pictures then you choose what you want to see. Otherwise just a mat paint is fine, but putting down rubber mats over the concrete floor can be less hard on the feet and back long term. One common mistake is a gray epoxy, because it's cheap and vapour sealing, but it tends to have a reflective finish, which can bounce your light in weird ways. See if you can get it mat.
> For ceilings in a basement I encourage folks to go with suspended ceiling, for it's accessibility. (Passing wires afterwords, or dealing with water damage from a plumbing leak. Trouble is it's normally difficult to come across ceiling tiles that are not white. also Drop ceiling take minimum 4-5 inches lower than the lowest point of your ceiling.



Thanks for you suggestions. It's a big place so I am going to choose a specfic area to kind of cordon off for the studio so drop ceiling is not an option. It is going to be an informal place for me to practice, nothing commercial or formal at all. I agree with mat stuff to avoid reflections.


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