Choosing a Photo Studio in Abu Dhabi: 10 Checks Before You Book

Choosing a photo studio in Abu Dhabi comes down to one question: will this room, this kit and these people produce the pictures you need, on the day you booked? A good studio can answer that before you pay. This guide gives you ten checks to make, the questions that reveal the answers, and the warning signs that a booking will cost more than it says.

It opens our series on studio shoots in Abu Dhabi. If you already know what you need, how photo studio rental is priced and booked covers the money and the booking.

Three kinds of photo studio in Abu Dhabi

“Photo studio” covers three quite different businesses in Abu Dhabi, and most disappointing bookings start with the wrong one. Before you compare prices, decide which you need:

Some studios are more than one of these. Evo's photo and video studio in Abu Dhabi can be hired as a room for your own crew or booked with our team, so it sits in the first row and the third. The checks below work for all three.

Ten checks before you book a photo studio

Work through them in order. The first three rule a studio in or out; the rest tell you how the day will go.

1. The backdrops you need are already there

A white cyclorama, a green screen, a coloured paper roll, a painted backdrop or a built set: know which your shoot needs, and ask whether it is standing or has to be put up. A backdrop rigged on the day eats into the hours you are paying for. A seamless white with no visible corner, called a cyclorama or cyc, is what product and clean portraits usually need; a green screen is for video and composites.

2. The room is big enough for the shot

Distance is what a small room cannot give you. A full-length portrait, a group or a product on a long lens needs space between the camera, the subject and the backdrop, so the background can be lit on its own and nobody's shadow falls on it. Ask for the room's size and a wide photograph of it empty, or visit. If you are photographing a team of ten, say so before you book.

3. The light is controllable

Controlled light is the reason to book a studio at all. Ask what the kit is: softboxes, a beauty dish, strobes or continuous lights, coloured tube lights, and whether stands, booms and modifiers are in the rate. Video needs continuous light; stills can use either. A room that depends on a window changes every hour.

4. You can see real work from this room

A portfolio shot somewhere else tells you about the photographer, not the studio. Ask for pictures taken in this room, on the backdrop you want, of a subject like yours: products if you sell products, families if you are bringing a newborn. Google reviews that name the studio and describe the day as well as the result are worth more than a polished gallery.

5. Someone in the room knows the room

Who is there on the day decides how it goes. With a rental, ask whether someone is on site to help with the lights and the backdrops, or whether you are handed a key. With a portrait or production studio, ask who will shoot, who directs the poses, and who looks after hair, make-up and styling, if anyone does.

6. Clients have somewhere to watch

If a brand manager, a parent or an agency is coming, they need somewhere to sit where they can see the frames without standing behind the photographer. Approving a picture on the day costs nothing; finding a problem a week later means booking the studio again.

7. The total is clear, in writing

Ask for the total for your shoot, not the hourly rate. Ask whether set-up and packing down are inside the booked time, what an assistant, extra lights or a backdrop roll cost, whether VAT is included, and what running over costs. Two studios with the same rate can send very different invoices.

8. You know what you leave with

Agree what is delivered: every frame or a selection, raw files or edited ones, how many are retouched, in what sizes, and by when. For video, ask about the masters and the cuts for each platform. If you are only renting the room, confirm how your photographer takes the files off set.

9. The place works on the day

Check the practical things before you pay a deposit: the address and how easy it is to find, parking, somewhere to change, a mirror, somewhere to steam clothes, and access for heavy kit or large products. In Abu Dhabi, plan around rush-hour traffic, prayer times and, in Ramadan, shorter working hours.

10. The terms are fair

Ask how much deposit is due, what happens if you cancel or move the date, and how much notice either side needs. Ask too whether the studio uses your pictures in its own portfolio or social channels, and say so if you would rather it did not.

Questions to ask a photo studio before you pay

• Can we see photographs taken in this room, on the backdrop we want?
• Which sets are standing, and which have to be put up on the day?
• Who will be in the room with us, and what do they do?
• What is the total for our booking, with VAT, the kit we need and any retouching?
• Is set-up inside the booked time, and what does running over cost?
• What do we leave with, in what format, and by when?
• What are the terms for cancelling or moving the booking?

Warning signs

• No pictures of the room itself, only a portfolio shot somewhere else.
• A rate with no total: the hourly price is clear, and nothing else is.
• Everything is “available” and nothing is standing, so the set-up happens on your time.
• No written confirmation of the date, the hours, the fee and what is delivered.
• Reviews that only mention the price, with nothing about the day, the team or the pictures.

Which studio suits which shoot

How Evo's studio answers the ten checks

Evo Media Pro runs its own photo and video studio in Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi. Put the same ten checks to us as to anyone else. Here is how we answer some of them:

• Backdrops: a green screen, a white cyclorama, an interview set with director's chairs, and a coloured-light set with tube lights and practicals, standing before you arrive.
• Light: softboxes, a beauty dish, a boom and tube lights, and a turntable platform for products, and people, that turn on camera.
• People: hire the room for your own crew, or book our photographers, videographers and editors, who shoot in this space and know it inside out.
• Watching: a lounge in the room, so clients approve while the set is still up.
• The fee: fixed, and agreed in writing before the day.
• Delivery: when our team shoots, editing and retouching are done in-house, with masters and a cut for every platform.

For the address, every set in pictures and how a booking works, see the Evo Media Pro studio guide.

The studio guides in this series

Each of these takes one kind of studio shoot further than a checklist can:

• Photo studio rental in Abu Dhabi: how a booking is priced, what a rate covers, and how to book.
• How to prepare for a studio photoshoot: what to wear, what to bring and what happens on the day.
• Green screen studio in Abu Dhabi: planning a shoot that keys cleanly.
• Corporate headshots in Abu Dhabi: studio or office, and making a whole team match.
• Family, maternity and newborn photoshoots: planning a studio shoot around the family.
• The Evo Media Pro studio: where it is, what is inside and how to book.