# Your workspace: one real room, many cameras

The rule came from a correction. After a round of invented backdrops (a golden loft, a rain night, a library den, a
forest cabin, a coastal sunset, a desert studio), the person said: "always use my workspace… don't invent new
workspaces. Just try different cameras, and slightly different objects, like where maybe it's moved from the room… But
be consistent. Try 3 images at a time."

Why it works:
- People who know you know your room. A real room makes every still believable, and an invented one reads as a set.
- Shots can be cut together as one scene only if they're the same room.
- In that project the invented backdrops also ran long in the chin (0.86–0.95 against 0.80). His own room, with three room
  photos as references, came out on his real proportions in most shots.

## Describe your room once

Write the shared workspace prompt from your three room photos: walls (colour), floor, desk (material, top, riser), what's on
it (your real gear, named exactly), shelves and what's on them, windows (blinds, curtains, the view outside), seating,
plants, the ceiling light. Note which side the window is on: that's your key-light side, and it stays the same in every
shot (mirror the room if you must, but keep the key from that side).

## What may change, and what may not

| May change | May not change |
|---|---|
| the camera: lens (35–85 mm), height, angle, distance | the room, its furniture and layout |
| the time of day | the walls' real colour (a colour cast belongs in the light) |
| one or two small object moves: a mug, a plant, books, a cushion, a throw, a lamp | your real gear, named exactly |
| practical lamps you could plausibly own | your usual wardrobe (unless asked), no mic on you |
| the grade | your face, hair and proportions |

## Cameras that worked (one creator's picks, in his studio)

| Camera | Why it worked |
|---|---|
| on the desk beside the monitor, 50 mm, eye level ~2 m, looking back across the room | his real webcam position; on his proportions (0.80 / 2.65) |
| the same camera, eye contact, front frames in the refs | closest of all (0.82 / 2.55) |
| a metre left of the desk camera, 65 mm, a mug and a plant moved | a second angle in the same room |
| the desk camera at 85 mm, close, eye contact | a close-up for talking clips |
| a laptop in the lower foreground, eye contact | a reference video's composition (Y1) in his room |
| the desk running diagonally from the lower right, a lamp in frame | another reference's composition (Y2) |
| from just above eye level over the monitor, 35 mm, looking slightly down, eye contact | showed the desk and his hands |

Didn't work: from the bookshelf at 85 mm (long and wide), from the sofa corner at 28 mm (still medium), "35 mm a bit
wider" (barely wider), a side camera turned to the lens ("very off"), a little low at 40 mm (long).

## Planning a batch of three

1. Keep the round's workspace prompt and refs. Change only the three shot prompts.
2. Build from the latest picks: the same camera with eye contact, the same camera at 85 mm, a metre to one side.
3. Or keep three cameras and change the time: late afternoon, evening (blue dusk outside, warm lamps inside), early
   sunrise (low gold sun through the blinds, faint haze).
4. One or two object moves per shot, never a new room.