Best floor color/type for a studio/camera room?

ChrisPerry · #1 12-02-2008, 10:42 PM

I have to decide in the next 36 hours on a floor for my studio. Well, the camera room acutally.

It's 13 x 30 with 15 feet of wall and 15 feet of window. The window area will be used with the floor in the photo at times. The other end is more low key, strobe lit type of use and the floor may be in the photo at times, but not often.

Any thoughts on the floor? I'm leaning strongly toward laminate that looks like hardwood floors, but still undecided on the best color.

Any thoughts or experience on this matter that you can share would be great (bad or good).

I have a seperate area for high key work.

David_Buzzard · #2 12-02-2008, 11:08 PM

I've seen lots of studios, especially natural light one, that have hardwood or laminate flooring. I don't see it being a problem. If there's an issue, you could just put some seamless paper on the floor.

David Buzzard

ChrisPerry · #3 12-03-2008, 08:42 AM

I'd like input on the best color.

light maple like a bowling alley, oak like i see in most houses is yellowish, cherry is usually darker and reddish and there are style choices among all those.

DougAxford · #4 12-03-2008, 10:34 AM

I prefer lighter woods than darker. You can darken more successfully in PS than lighten if needed.

I have a beige carpet in mine. I wanted to avoid any chance of reflections. That would be my biggest concern on laminate - avoid shiny styles.

ChrisPerry · #5 12-03-2008, 11:06 AM

my high key floor is a melamine product and has some reflectivity to it - kinda cool if you ask me. Glare I would absolutely want to avoid.

But I will double check the gloss level though, thanks for the reminder on that.
The sales room I'm going for as polished a floor as I can find though, and dark too. Dark walls, dark furniture - think cave maybe. Then spot lights on the wall art, the projector screen - all will be bright so i don't *think* it will be claustrophobic.
My current sales room is in my basement- darker red, black and 18% gray walls with dark red carpet and a dark ceiling and it's not bad.

I've been shooting in my basement and garage before there were walls/ceiling so light was sucked up everywhere. Now every surface will be white - a new learning experience (yet again)

DougAxford · #6 12-03-2008, 11:28 AM

I've got white walls in my shooting room and I like it that way. 18% grey walls would bug me.

BTW, for those interested. I bought the white vinyl background from Denys on sale almost a year ago and just cleaned it for the first time yesterday. We've taken probably 2,000 kids on it, all on-site in the preschools and the scuff marks just came right off. Amazing.

ChrisPerry · #7 12-03-2008, 12:25 PM

I'll have to check that out. I'm running low on white seemless, but for the past 6 months use the melamine sheets on the floor so the paper never gets touched, and the melamine is easy to clean or replace.

I'll start another thread on a related question, but there are times i want to roll up the white or use a grey and it's a PITA to do it manually (roll is just on pipe hanging on hooks).

How do you do your vinyl?