When choosing a flooring material for a professional photography studio, the choices available are usually carpet, concrete or hardwood. It used to be that flooring material did not matter, especially if you are working on a tight budget and that your only option is to convert a carpeted room with ample light coming in.
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Nowadays however, flooring materials matter because you have to keep up with current photography trends if you want to attract more customers.
Even if you are only offering portrait photography as a service, not a few customers are looking to include their pet or pets in their photos. Although carpet flooring looks classy, it is not the most practical material to use if pets will be counted in as part of the studio traffic.
Why Carpet Flooring for a Photography Studio is Not the Best Option
Carpeted flooring as it is, requires frequent vacuuming to prevent dust from accumulating. Not only because dirty carpets are a turn-off for customer,s but also because dull floorings can affect lighting reflections.
Also, some carpet backing materials tend to hold moisture, which in the process promotes the growth of mold and mildew.
If your carpeted home photography studio is located somewhere in South Florida, it is likely that you have called on some of the professionals that render the kind of carpet cleaning boca grande homeowners recommend. Mainly because carpet floorings in humid and storm-prone regions produce an unpleasant musty odor if badly damaged areas are not thoroughly cleaned.
In most cases, damaged sections have to be repaired or replaced in order to prevent mold growth. A better option is to simply strip off the entire carpet and settle for a smooth concrete or hardwood flooring.
If you think your professional photo studio still needs some carpet flooring to make it business-like and classy, large area rugs can do the trick. That way you can just roll them up when necessary.
Choosing Between Smooth Concrete Over Hardwood as Flooring for a Photography Studio
After eliminating carpet as a choice, it is now a toss between smooth concrete flooring and hardwood. Actually, these two are the most common options decided on by photography professionals when building their business studio.
Smooth concrete is versatile not only because it is easier to clean regardless of whatever customers bring for their photo shoots.
Concrete flooring also makes hauling and rolling in and out heavy gears and lighting equipment, easier. Moreover, well-laid concrete as a flooring material can withstand abuse, whilst capable of remaining unaffected by any type of climate condition.
Also, if you plan to shoot videos, concrete floors make the studio easier to convert into a different environment. Most videographers find concrete floors painted smoothly with a grayish tone, easier to “blend-in” with any type of background; often requiring less retouch when giving the photos or videos the professional touch. `
Still, a lot of professional photographers favor hardwood flooring because the natural material can add enhancing tones to the skin of their photo shoot subjects. Moreover, a shiny hardwood is also elegant enough as a “wow factor” for impressing customers as they enter. The only disadvantage about hardwood when compared to concrete is that its finish as a flooring material may not be smooth and robust enough for rolling in heavy gears and/or props.
Nonetheless, some settle for both, either by setting up a separate photo shoot space with hardwood flooring for portraits, while keeping the rest of the floor area in smooth concrete.