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Most London-based photographers I know haven't seriously looked at Surrey for studio hire. That's a mistake. Not for every job — but for blackout work specifically, the area between Woking and Guildford has several proper purpose-built spaces that cost significantly less per hour than comparable options inside the M25.

I started booking studios in Send and Woking a couple of years back, mostly out of necessity — couldn't get the dates I needed at a Hackney Wick studio I liked. Ended up at Tannery Film Studios in Send (it sits almost exactly between Woking and Guildford) and that first booking turned into a regular thing. The light control was solid, the parking situation was genuinely good, and the rate was meaningfully lower than what I'd been paying east of London.

So. If you're pricing up a blackout shoot and assuming you need to stay in Hackney or Park Royal, read this first.

What 'blackout studio' actually means — and why it matters

A proper blackout studio is one where you can eliminate all ambient light. Every window covered, every gap sealed, no spill from doors. You're starting from absolute zero and building the exposure yourself.

This matters for specific types of work. Long-exposure product shots where ambient contamination ruins the shot. Dramatic fashion work where you need total light control. Smoke, sparkle, splash and motion-blur techniques that require zero background light contribution. And certain commercial jobs where the art director needs a pure black base with no recovery work in post.

It's not just 'dark room'. A studio with curtains over windows might block 95% of light — and on a bright Surrey summer afternoon, that 5% shows up in a 2-second exposure. Real blackout means sealed, not dimmed.

The catch: not every studio that calls itself 'blackout capable' actually delivers. More on how to check this before you commit below.

Surrey studios worth knowing about

Tannery Film Studios, Send

Send is a village on the outskirts of Woking, about 4 miles from the centre. Tannery Film Studios has multiple spaces — Studio 3 is the one I've used most for photography, around 700 sq ft of blank-wall space with a colourama rail included in the hire. They list it as film, video and photography, and it shows in the finish — the floors are clean, the walls are maintained, and they understand what a production actually needs rather than treating every booking like an event hire.

Rates are in the £40–55/hr range depending on which space and how you book. Full-day rates bring that down considerably. Parking is not a problem — there's space on site, which already puts it ahead of half the studios in Shoreditch or Dalston where you're negotiating with a NCP.

River Wey Studios, Send

Also in Send, River Wey offers a set of distinct production spaces and is popular with the film and video crowd as well as photographers. Multiple studios at different scales, good ceiling height in the larger spaces, and a production-facility feel. Dry-hire model, which suits photographers who bring their own kit.

Worth checking the specific blackout rating on whichever studio you're considering — ask directly what they do about window sealing, and whether there are any fixed lights or practical fixtures you can't kill from the breaker. That detail matters.

Silent Hill Studios, Guildford

Guildford-based, different feel to the Send studios. More oriented to content creation and portrait photography than large-scale commercial production — useful if your job is headshots or smaller product work rather than full set builds. Available hourly, half-day or full-day. Rates sit in the £35–45/hr range for the spaces I've seen quoted. Good for smaller crews where the Send locations might be more space and rate than the job needs.

Peerspace options in Woking and Guildford

There are listings in the Peerspace directory for Woking and Guildford too. Smaller spaces, variable quality, and Peerspace takes a 20% host fee which sometimes inflates the listed price versus what the owner might do on a direct deal. Not my first choice for a production shoot, but useful if you're scouting options or need a smaller space at short notice.

One thing: always call the host directly if you find a Peerspace listing you like, then go back and book through the platform. You need the booking protection. But understanding the rate structure helps you evaluate whether you're paying a platform premium.

Rates compared to London equivalents

London photography studios average around £50/hr at the mid-range, with decent East London spaces — the kind in Hackney, Leyton or Park Royal with proper blackout capability — often running £55–75/hr once you factor in kit hire and minimum booking requirements. Full-day rates in London typically land between £500 and £800 for a properly kitted out blackout space.

Surrey equivalents? Roughly £40–55/hr at Tannery Film Studios or River Wey, with full-day rates that come in £100–200 below comparable London studios on the same spec. That's meaningful on a one-day job. It's very meaningful on a three-day production.

You do factor in travel — parking in Surrey is free, parking in Shoreditch is a nightmare. If your crew and kit is coming from South London, Guildford or Send might actually be shorter journey time than Hackney Wick anyway. A client in Weybridge or Esher? Practically on the doorstep.

What to check before booking any blackout studio

Ask these questions. Every time. Even if the listing says 'fully blacked out'.

1. How are the windows covered? Permanent black-out boarding is the gold standard. Roller blinds with velcro edge seals are fine. A heavy curtain is not blackout — it's dim.

2. What's the door situation? Fire doors with light seals? Or a corridor that spills light every time someone comes in? On a long-exposure product shoot, crew traffic through an unsealed door can ruin frames.

3. Can I test before the shoot day? Any serious studio will let you do a pre-visit. Turn everything off. Stand in the space. You'll know very quickly whether 'blackout' means blackout.

4. Are there emergency lighting units that can't be killed? UK fire regs mean some emergency lighting runs on a battery pack and stays on regardless. That's a green LED glow you'll be fighting in a long-exposure shot. Ask specifically.

5. What's the power supply? For serious strobe work — say, a Profoto Pro-11 or a pair of Broncolor Siros run at full power — you want to know if the studio has 16A or 32A circuits available beyond the standard 13A sockets. Most London commercial studios have 32A on request. Surrey studios vary; check before you pack.

Gear for blackout studio shoots

The nice thing about a properly dark space is you can use slower flash recycle times and still shoot clean — ambient isn't bleeding in during the recycle wait. That changes the kit calculation.

For product work I typically run a Profoto B10 (250Ws) as a fill from behind the subject, with a harder key. Portable, reliable, works off the battery which means I'm not chasing extension cables. In a purpose-built blackout studio with proper power I'll sometimes swap to a Broncolor Siros for more headroom — especially on larger-format shots where I'm stopping down for depth of field and need the extra juice.

Aputure 600d-type LEDs (600W, daylight-balanced at 5600K, CRI 96+) are good for continuous lighting setups in blackout studios — car photography people use them a lot for bounce setups and rim lighting where you're running the camera on a long shutter. The output's strong enough to shoot at ISO 100 with room to spare on a medium aperture.

One thing Surrey studios have that some tight London spaces don't: floor-to-ceiling clearance. Tannery's bigger rooms give you room to fly a large octobox overhead without it being in frame on a full-length shot. That's not nothing.

Getting there

Send sits about 30 miles from Central London. By car, you're looking at 45–60 minutes outside of rush hour from South West London — similar from West London. From the Surrey area itself (Woking, Guildford, Leatherhead, Esher), you're often sub-20 minutes.

Train-wise, Send isn't directly served but Woking is on the Waterloo line (about 27 minutes from London Waterloo). Guildford is 38 minutes. You'd need a taxi for the last mile to the studio if you're coming by rail without a crew van — factor that in.

For most commercial jobs where you're driving the kit van anyway, Surrey's travel logistics are straightforward. Free parking on arrival is a genuine operational improvement over a London studio where load-in involves double-parking on a residential street and hoping no warden shows up.

Who this works for — and who should stick to London

Surrey blackout studios make sense for: commercial product work, fashion photographers based in South or West London, clients located in the Home Counties, and any job where your budget is running tight and you need to get the day-rate down without compromising on space quality.

Stick to London if: your whole crew is based east of the City, your client is in Central or East London and needs to be on set, or you need the studio's specific existing kit inventory (some of the very well-equipped London commercial studios have invested in infrastructure that the Surrey spaces haven't yet matched).

But here's what I'd say after a couple of years of splitting work between both: the default London assumption costs photographers money, and not just on studio hire fees. Add up the parking, the congestion charge on the van, the crew time sitting on the A10 — and Surrey starts looking quite sensible quite quickly.

Finding and comparing studios

Studio listings in Surrey appear across Peerspace, Giggster (direct booking, no 20% host fee cut on the platform side), and the individual studio websites. Cross-check availability and rates before committing — I've found studios that list higher on Peerspace than they'll accept on a direct inquiry, especially for longer bookings.

Browsing the UK studio directory at creativestudiohire.com gives you a cleaned-up view of studios by location, spec and available blackout capability — useful if you're comparing Surrey options alongside London alternatives side-by-side without having to open 12 different browser tabs.

Book a recce before any job that depends on light control. I've said it already but it's worth repeating. Blackout is a spectrum, and the studio's idea of 'fully blacked out' needs to be tested against your specific use case, your shoot time, and the season — a Surrey studio in June when the sun sets at 9pm has different ambient pressure than the same studio in January.

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