Q for real estate and architectural photogs

[ElanR]

Originally Posted by JohnT

That many lights, huh? Well, I have a couple of studio strobes and two flashes with some modifiers. That will have to do for now if or until things pick up a bit.

Not every shot requires a large number of lights, but the more important areas usually do, especially with homes having open floor plans and large spaces. I prefer a more ambient-dominant style myself and still end up having to use quite a few lights.

Here's a shot that I could have done with one light, or even none, but I used three to brighten up the spaces front left and right. You can imagine how that doorway to the left would look if it was dark and that's what I was trying to avoid. The very rear was already amply illuminated by window light. Btw, light reflections and shadows may be considered the 'enemy' in this type of photography, but they can also be used to add interest to the scene. I could have easily diminished the floor reflection here by increasing my shutter speed, but I liked what it added to the shot. I also like to push the interior lights to about a half stop over exposure to get more glitter out of them, which also adds nice shadow patterns to the shot and again more interest.




Again, the more complex spaces will require more lights. One recent kitchen I did took three main lights to spread the light evenly and avoid reflections. The three adjacent spaces in the frame took three more lights and a seventh small light was needed behind the island to fill the dark shadow there. That's just a kitchen. A two story foyer may have 4-5 adjacent spaces on two floors and need 3-4 lights to illuminate the large main space.

The good news is that you can use cheap speedlights with cheap triggers to fill the small adjacent spaces. Just remember to gel the speedlights 400-800 degrees warmer than you gel the strobes, since they produce a cooler light.

If you want to learn more about ambient-dominant architectural photography, Brian Vanden Brink is one photographer that does is I think better than anyone else. This is his website.

| Brian Vanden Brink | Architectural Photographer |

[DigMe]

ElanR,

That is one very informative post. Thanks for taking the time to share all the info. I have been curious about architectural photography lately just in general but also we'll be selling our house within the next year or sooner and I'll be wanting to take the best pics possible. This will help a lot.

brad

[ElanR]

Brad, you're welcome. You might want to start practicing now. It takes a while to get good results with the lighting.

[JohnT]

Thanks, Elan. I'll definitely check out the site you posted.