MelissaEsplin.com

DIY: The Studio

July 16, 2012
Over the weekend I worked my tail off painting the office/studio white. It was originally a buttercup yellow, which didn't jive well with my plans for being the computer/photography studio. It was a ton of work, but I'm really happy with the room! I have yet to really organize it and make it look pretty, but I thought I would share with you what I did. Maybe you can do something similar, too? I just used a basic bright white (no pigments added) for the paint in a satin finish. Come to think of it, I probably could have gone for a semi-gloss, but what's done is done. With the white paint already on the walls, it took all of two seconds and $10 to create a virtually seamless white studio. I realized that the corner of the room was really going to be the best place I'll have in the room (and the house) for lighting and space for a permanent photo backdrop, so I set out to buy some plywood and paint it white for a little platform. Lo and behold, while I was browsing Ikea's As Is department, I came across their corner table top in white. It's a much warmer white than I've used on the walls, but for $10, my work was done! I may recover this thing with a white vinyl in the future, but for now, it works. Now I'm just struggling to get my dual monitors to have the same white balance. It's incredibly hard to process my photos with the screens so different from one another. I've spent hours trying to calibrate them to be exactly the same, but my iMac's screen is natively darker and warmer than the LED monitor. Chris doesn't notice, but it's a crazy difference to me. I need to get over it though. I also had a heck of a time trying to get Felix to sit still for more than half a second so I could snap a couple shots of these adorable kiddos. Finally a little Mac plug kept him occupied enough. Penelope was accommodating, though. I've been through so many different photography backgrounds in the last two years!! Let's see what we've had:
  1. Ugly closet doors.
  2. White curtains on a rod.
  3. Grey yardage sewn to a curtain rod.
  4. White unprinted vinyl tethered to the ceiling.
  5. White walls and a white faux floor.
I think that last one should do the trick. I hope.