Interior shooting

[fikes0422]

I have a friend who's an interior designer who needs images of her work. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should be looking for or doing when shooting interiors of a home? Anyone done this kind of work?

[3n-Out]

Good lighting is the key to this type of shooting. I believe if you get that right "or close to" your pics will turn out nice.

Good luck!

[CaptainTom]

try to get your lighting as 'even' as possible. You can punch it up in post if needed.

[Slight Clutter]

Two things to watch for when using any kind of flash system to light an interior - flash reflections off a window and shadows on the walls. Remember to place your lighting equipment in such a fashion to avoid both of those things.

Good luck!

[carrbowl]

Carla, I did some similar shots. My opinion (FWIW!!!!) is the widest lense you can get and lots of light...open up as many windows as you can. You can use a slow shutter speed ---because noone is moving. I made that mistake on mine??? and used lights. Looking back I give you what I would do different. Of course this all depends on what specifically you are shooting.

[fikes0422]

So lighting is the key! Thanks everyone!

[Craig]

Hey Carla, my wife is a interior faux painter so I take shots of her work on a regular basis. Lighting is always the key. Definitely use a tripod. Hand holding is not gonna cut it. I would suggest not using strobes. If you use strobes just use the modeling lights. That way you can see the shadows and reflections they create and adjust accordingly. I always use a large f-stop (f-11 or f-16) to get the whole room in focus. Using your cameras metering set your shutter speed to about a half stop under exposed. Also shoot in RAW mode so that you can make adjustments easily to your white balance in post. Tom is correct in getting your lighting as even as possible. If your opening all the shades in the room be aware of what time of day it is. High noon is much different than earlier or later in the day. Pay attention to camera angles with open windows. The light from outdoors is different than the light from strobes or hot lights. If windows are in your shot, they will probably be blown out. Hope this helps and good luck.

[Craig]

I would also suggest using a remote trigger, either a cord or a remote. You'd be amazed how much shake shows up in your long exposure shots just from pressing the shutter with your finger even on a tripod.

[mhuebner]

Carla,
Dittos what the others have said. I'm not really sure what your friend is looking for but here are a couple of other tools to try.
1. I have also seen some really nice work in HDRs for interiors. It helps tame hard shadows and prevents blowing out any of the scenes outside of a window. Use it sparingly and can enhance a shot like this without looking artificial. (I use Photomatix Pro but you can also do this in the later versions of Photoshop.)
2. Panoramas (or more often partial panoramas) can show a lot more of the room without the introducing a "fisheye" type of distortion of a very wide angle lens. Very wide panoramas also have their own unique look if mapped flat so check it out to see if what she's looking for. If the work is only going to be shown on a computer, QVTRs are nice to show off complete rooms. (I use Stitcher Unlimited but you can also do this in the later versions of Photoshop.)
Mike

[texxter]

A professionally-looking image of an interior space must be absolutely crisp and with great depth of field (i.e., f/16 to f/22) and perfectly color-balanced. You should use a gray card and make sure the white balance is good. Exposure is key - and using multiple exposures is sometimes the only way to achieve a balanced image with full dynamic range. HDR is a good idea, but avoid the HDR look. One trick for tungsten lights is to use a low power light bulb instead of a standard one to avoid blowing the highlights.

A final piece of advice is to make sure that you choose the point of view very carefully and use a 12-24mm lens as wide as possible. You will need to correct distortion in PP possibly.

Best luck!

[fikes0422]

Paco-Thanks, I'll keep that advice in mind. Unfortunately, I don't have a 12-24mm lens. will a 17-55mm do?

Mike-Thanks!

Craig-okay, all good advice. The large f/stop tip is useful! Thanks

[texxter]

Carla, I think that you can shoot at 17-20mm with your lens. It's a great lenses and should give you crips images. Share your results when you're done!

Originally Posted by fikes0422

Paco-Thanks, I'll keep that advice in mind. Unfortunately, I don't have a 12-24mm lens. will a 17-55mm do?

[douge]

Carla,
The real trick to interior shooting is to make it look natural. Use your flashes to help bring your overall luminus levels up. Use a hand held light meter to take incendent readings of the ambient light of the room. That is with lamps on and windows shades up. Then take a reading with the flashes going off. Use the average of the two reading. Take a reflective meter reading of the light coming in from the windows. Now you are ready. Set your camera on a good solid tripod, with a off camera shutter release. If not use the built in timer. I use five seconds from the time I push the release until it fires the camera. Make a custom exposure with a gray card. If you have a MacBeth Graycheck card stick it in the secene. Remember to remove it. For your exposures. Make five or six exposures of the room. You will do all your real work in PS.
Tips: Work away from the sun if you half to work in the daytime. I mean by this is if you are shooting in the morning start with the room on the west side of the house. If you shoot in the late afternoon at sunset it looks great through the windows if you have a view. If you shoot at sunset or later you have a twenty minute window of shooting time for those great dark blue skies. If you compose your shot and you have another door way place a flash in the room to show it is a doorway to someplace else and not a black hole.
Change out all the light bulbs for ones of lower wattage, replace a 60 watt with a 25 watt.
Turn off ceiling fans. If they have a light kit change out the lights. If you have a light kit on a fan, and it has five 60w bulbs that is 300w of light in that one part of your picture. If you change out the bulbs with 15w you are only having to fight 75w.
Good luck
Douge

[mhuebner]

Really great advice on the low wattage lighting. I could see that solving a lot of problems.

[ol geezer]

I get good results using bounce flash from a SB-800 and a 12-24mm lense set at f/5.6-f/8 with camera hand held. Brace yourself against a wall and use a monopod. I get even lighting in rooms up to 25'x25'.