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This is an excerpt from my
lighting book that deals with the important subject of
what color your camera room should be.
I receive many questions from photographers about how
they have finished their camera rooms. One area that
seems to be overlooked quite frequently is the color of
the walls, floor, and ceiling. This is quite significant
to the outcome of your portraits and you need to give it
some serious thought. If you plan to do nothing but high
key photography, where everything in you portraits is
white or very light, then you should paint your camera
room white. Not off white or some other specific color
but pure white. This will return a portion of the light
that is bouncing around the walls and ceiling to your
subject and assist with reducing the shadows generated by
directional lighting. High key photography by it’s
very nature has less deep shadows than low key
photography. The problem with this is that few
photographers do only high key photography. If you are
fortunate to have enough space and equipment to
accommodate two separate camera rooms then you are one of
the lucky ones who can prepare each camera room
specifically for the type of work to be done there.
I have spoken to many photographers who never gave a
thought to the color of the walls in their camera room. I
have heard about yellow, green, blue, and a host of other
colors that can seriously change the color of the
subject, shadows, clothing, and props. Having a neutral
environment to work in is really quite important.
If you plan on doing more that high key work then you
need to have a camera room that will not contribute to
the look of your photography. In other words, your camera
room is to be a neutral partner in the creation of your
images. Ideally your camera room could be black but who
wants to work in a room that is totally black? I
don’t, so what is the best way to finish out our
camera room so that it does not effect the lighting that
we are doing and still not be a total dungeon to work in?
Gray. Simple gray. Not warm gray, not cold gray, just
plain old neutral gray. The gray that I recommend is any
neutral gray approximately the shade of a standard
photographers gray card. Now don’t get all upset
about how exact the color must be because it’s not
that critical. Just pick any neutral gray paint that has
a flat finish when it is dry and as long as it is in the
area of a gray card you are just fine. The reason you
should use gray is because you do not want the walls
returning your light back to the subject. YOU control the
lighting, NOT the walls. In high key work, this is a
little different and there is no harm in having the walls
return a little light back to the subject but in medium
to low key work you need to be totally in control of your
lighting. If we choose the approximate color and shade of
a standard gray card then we know that the walls will
return only 18 percent of the light that strikes them.
Most photographers have learned that a gray card is
referred to as being “18 percent gray”. It is
that simple. That small portion of light bouncing off the
walls will be so insignificant that your lighting will be
unaffected and you will be in full control without
working in a black dungeon.
A less important but still significant issue is to be
cautious about storing large props near the area where
the subject will be photographed. A large prop that is a
bright color can have nearly as much effect on the color
of your subject as a wall.
Your floors should also be non contributors in your
lighting. You can purchase gray floor paint or install
gray tiles to minimize the contributions of your floor.
Most industrial floor paint is high or medium gloss. This
is not really an issue since little light if any is ever
directed at the floor. Usually when it is, there is a
muslin or other background covering the floor.
When it comes to the ceiling there are a few thoughts
that I would like to share. First, if you have a
suspended ceiling, it is as easy to paint as the walls
and you should do so as long as you are not violating
your lease provisions. If you can’t paint the
ceiling then you may have to improvise by hanging some
sheets of foam core that have been painted but usually
this is not a major problem. Even though it is preferred
to have most of the ceiling painted gray, nothing
terrible will come if it remained white so you
shouldn’t loose sleep over it. It is the walls that
are the most influential when it comes to portrait
lighting.
If you are able to paint the ceiling gray, the area above
and behind the location where your subject will typically
be can remain white or be painted white. This will help
when you need to bounce light off the ceiling to provide
some soft separation to the heads and shoulders of a
group of people. Since the white area is above and behind
your subject and not from the sides of your camera room,
there are no undesirable effects to influence your
photography.
Again, you should not loose sleep over this. What this is
all about is making things simpler and easier. We always
want to reduce anything that can cause a complication no
matter how small it is.
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