Renting a daylight studio: what to check

Daylight in a studio is not a switch. It changes when a cloud passes, when the sun drops behind a building, and in November four o'clock is already a different thing from June. That can be exactly what you want: soft, alive, fewer lamps. It can also cost you a whole afternoon if the skin looks a different colour at two than it did at ten. Here is what to check when you rent a daylight studio.

What is a daylight studio?

A daylight studio takes its base light from windows, a glass roof or skylights. Sometimes that is the only light you work with, sometimes you fill it with flashes or continuous light. It is different from a blackout studio, where you set all the light yourself. The difference, and when to choose which, is in daylight studio or blackout. Studios with confirmed daylight are at daylight studios.

Which way do the windows face?

The direction of the glass decides how the light travels, and how fast it changes. Ask if it is not on the studio page. A few studios do name it:

• Studio 13 in Amsterdam has a Daylight Studio with skylights under a sawtooth roof, and a Loft Studio with light from the south.
• The Loft at Atelier Oost lists light from the east and west. The Playground lists east, west and north-facing skylight.
• Studio Scheef in The Hague gets daylight through a glass roof, which can also be blacked out.
• Not My Studio 2 in Hilversum is a small white daylight studio of about 20 m² with windows facing south-east. The studio mentions net curtains and roller blinds to shape the light; full blackout is not confirmed on the listing.

North light (or a north-facing skylight) is usually the steadiest: less direct sun, softer transitions, less colour shift through a morning. South is stronger and moves harder, especially in summer around midday. East gives you morning sun, west the afternoon and early evening. That is not a law, because a facing wall or a tree does as much as the compass. Ask for a photo of the windows at the time you want to work, or visit.

What time of day, and which season?

When you rent a daylight studio, you also book a slice of the calendar. In December the usable daylight in the Netherlands is short. A half day from two in the afternoon can already run into the blue hour. In June you have long light, but also hard contrast if the sun hits the glass straight on.

So plan not only the duration, but the window. A portrait with soft window light sits better in the morning or under cloud, not necessarily in a high sun. A long product day that has to look "the same" is hard in pure daylight, because the colour temperature shifts. Then you want to be able to add light or black the room out. Also read lighting setups in a rented studio.

Can you black it out?

This is the question that makes a daylight studio flexible, or locks it. If the windows can be covered, you can start the morning in daylight and in the afternoon build a set that does not depend on the weather. If they cannot, you are stuck with that light, even when a storm rolls over or you want another setup after sunset.

Westerpark Studio in Amsterdam states that the daylight can be blocked completely. Studio Scheef can black out the glass roof. Fotostudio Den Haag has limited daylight and can also be blacked out. At 33punt in Amersfoort, a daylight studio, the listing does not confirm full blackout.

Ask plainly: how long covering the windows takes, whether doors or gaps leak light, and whether you do that or the studio does. Blackout rooms are listed at blackout studios. Daylight studio hire and blackout studio rental are often the same search; what matters is whether the glass can actually be covered.

When daylight, and when flash?

Daylight is strong when the look should feel natural: fashion by a window, an interior-like set, a portrait that should not smell of "studio". You often need fewer lamps, and the shadows are soft under cloud or when the light comes through a large surface.

Flash (or controlled continuous light) is stronger when you need consistency: a product that has to look the same all day, a green screen, a run of portraits that will sit next to each other later, or a shoot from ten to five while the sun moves. A lot of people mix: daylight as a base, a flash as fill on the shadow side, or waiting for a cloud and still keeping a lamp ready.

Check what comes with the rental. Daylight Studio 8 in Amsterdam is a 150 m² daylight studio; the rental page lists a weekday rate from €50 an hour. Whether lights are included, and which system, you should ask. If it is not on the page, do not assume it is there.

What you ask the studio

• The direction of the windows or skylight, and whether direct sun can hit the glass.
• Whether, and how, you can black it out, and how long that takes.
• What happens to colour if the weather turns: are flashes or continuous lamps available to rent?
• Whether the windows open (draught, sound, cold) and whether traffic is in frame or in the soundtrack.
• In winter: how early the usable light drops on your date, in their experience.

Filter for daylight and, if you need both, also for blackout.