A photographic studio is a workspace to take, develop, print and duplicate photographs. Photographic training and the display of finished photographs may also be accommodated in a photographic studio. The studio may have a darkroom, storage space, a studio proper where photographs are taken, a display room and space for other related work.
The Lafayette studio has one of the oldest histories of any photographic business in the world. It was founded in Dublin in 1880 by James Stack Lauder, who used the professional name of James Lafayette. http://lafayette.org.uk/lafhist.html
Since the early years of the 20th century the business functions of a photographic studio have increasingly been called a “photographic agency,” leaving the term “photographic studio” to refer almost exclusively to the workspace.
Things that are found in a traditional studios:
- Backdrops are usually white or grey but pastel colours are common. A sheet/piece of paper or a warped wall are usually what they are made of.
- Main light. A continues light sauce that can be dimmed.
- A reflector is used to bounce light back from the main light onto the shaded side of the subject.
- A camera that can be connected to the studio lights.
- A light that can be positioned easily and can connected to the camera to produce a flash of light at a controlled degree of intensity when the shutter button of the camera is pressed.
- A subject to be photographed, either a model or still life.
