FOUR TORONTO PHOTO STUDIOS, FOUR VERY DIFFERENT SHOOTS
A sun-filled loft and a white cyc both appear when you search for a photo studio in Toronto, but that's about where the similarities end. One gives you beautiful window light and a finished setting; the other gives you an empty space where the lighting, backdrop and final mood are entirely yours.
Once a makeup artist, stylist, clothing rack and client join the shoot, the difference matters even more. So rather than ranking Toronto's prettiest studios, these are four spaces we'd keep bookmarked for four very different kinds of production.
By CELESTE FERNER SEPTEMBER 16, 2026
START WITH THE MOODBOARD, NOT THE STUDIO
Before falling for the arched mirror or limewashed wall, look at what actually repeats across the reference deck. Soft window light and wider lifestyle frames need a very different room from hard flash, clean beauty crops or an e-commerce day on white.
Then check the details that rarely make it onto the first Instagram slide. Which direction do the windows face? Is there enough distance between talent and seamless? Are lights and modifiers included? Does using paper cost extra? Where does HMUA set up? Can six people comfortably work without someone's garment bag becoming part of the set?
Furnished studios have another small problem: the more photogenic they become, the more recognizable they become. Toronto has a few sofas and plaster walls currently enjoying very successful modelling careers. We'd use the room as a starting point, then move furniture, change the light or find an angle that doesn't immediately announce where the shoot happened.
PRETO LOFT (213 Sterling Rd)
Preto Loft is the bookmark we'd open when the references are full of soft daylight, warm skin, texture and slightly undone editorial images. Its Sterling Road location has three spaces — East, West and Solarium — so there is more range here than the usual one-room daylight rental.
The Solarium is the obvious choice when light is doing a lot of the work. Huge south-facing industrial windows meet limewashed walls, pale flooring and restrained neutral furniture, which gives you enough visual interest for fashion, jewellery, maternity or personal branding without forcing every image into a pre-designed set. East and West bring in more industrial texture when the shoot needs something rougher or moodier.
Rates generally sit around $100–$120 per hour depending on the room and booking day. We'd pay just as much attention to the time slot as the price: if those windows are the reason we're booking, we'd want to know where the sun will actually be during our shoot rather than discovering it after talent is already in the chair.
ICON STUDIO SPACE (142 St Helens Ave)
ICON is more interesting when the lighting is supposed to create the image. Instead of walking into a finished lifestyle scene and working around it, this is the kind of studio we'd consider for fashion, beauty and portraits where seamless backgrounds and controlled setups make more sense.
That freedom matters if the shot list moves from clean white to colour, from softer portraits to harder editorial light, or from full-length fashion into close beauty. We're less dependent on the room already matching the moodboard because we can build more of that mood ourselves.
This is also where we'd think less about whether the furniture photographs well and more about practical shooting distance, backdrop width and where modifiers need to go. If the reference deck is mostly hard light, close crops and deliberately studio-looking images, we'd choose that flexibility over another beautiful Toronto loft.
LOCATION A STUDIOS (777 Richmond St W)
There's a moment when a photoshoot becomes a production. HMUA is working on the next look, wardrobe needs somewhere to steam clothes, the client has arrived with a laptop, lighting is changing and suddenly the gorgeous little studio that seemed perfectly spacious online feels approximately the size of a Queen West condo.
Location A makes more sense on those days. The studios are set up for commercial photography and video, with cyc and blackout possibilities plus dedicated areas for clients, wardrobe and makeup. B Camera also operates on-site, which makes additional camera, lighting and grip rentals much easier when the production needs more than whatever happened to fit in the photographer's car.
We wouldn't book this infrastructure for two hours of casual creator content. Give it a fashion campaign, beauty production, e-commerce day or larger video shoot with an actual crew, though, and all the decidedly unsexy practical details start feeling luxurious.
THAT TORONTO STUDIO (260 Carlaw Ave)
Sometimes the shot list is a little ambitious: headshots, a few lifestyle images, two talking videos, wardrobe changes, something clean on seamless and maybe product content if everyone is still functioning by the end. THAT Toronto Studio is particularly useful for those days.
The roughly 1,300-square-foot space combines south-facing windows and furnished shooting areas with paper backdrops, V-flats, continuous LEDs and modifiers, plus a HMUA station, clothing rack and steamer. Base rental sits around $130 per hour, with bookings available around the clock by appointment.
We'd use the daylight first, switch to a cleaner backdrop when the portraits need to feel different, then bring in the controlled lights once Toronto's afternoon sun inevitably decides the working day is over. For personal branding, headshots, interviews or a small brand trying to leave one booking with a lot of usable content, that flexibility is more valuable than having the most dramatic studio in the city.
