INEXPENSIVE INTERIOR PICS

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

I do a lot of interior & architecture photography for various clients, and the large bags of equipment that I use require many people to lug around. It is very rare that when asked to do interiors that I don't have supporting equipment such as strobes, flood lights, reflectors, diffusers, etc.

My mom asked me to take some photos of her kitchen last night, and the only equipment I had in my trunk was a camera, wide angle lens, and tripod. I initially felt that I should drive to my studio and pack up some gear, but decided otherwise. I photographed the kitchen without any extra equipment, and thought I would pass on some tips for you, if you are required to shoot interiors but don't have extra lighting equipment.

1. For relatively even light, and consistent color balance, photograph the room at night.
2. Turn on all the lights in the room, and any other adjacent rooms.
3. When you set your tripod up, place the camera height half-way between the floor and ceiling.
4. Make sure your composition is straight.
5. Place your Contrast setting on "low contrast". See your manual if necessary.
6. Place the white balance on Incandescent, which is pictured by a little light bulb.
7. Place your camera in Aperture Priority mode. Set the f-stop to f8.
8. Use a remote shutter trigger, or a self-timer. This will keep camera shake to a minimum.
9. Take a test photo. If the image is too dark or too light, use the exposure compensation.
10. If the photo has a green-ish look, adjust your in-camera Hue adjustment.
11. Take the photo!
12. In Photoshop, use the lens correction filter if needed: Filter>Distort>Lens Correction
13. To fine-tune your color balance, use something white (such as a stove or fridge) to judge the color cast. The INFO palette, top right of your screen, will give you RGB values. The Red, Green, and Blue numbers should be as close as possible to each other.

If you are unsure of how to fine tune color balance in Photoshop, or any other image editor, do an internet search for "adjusting color balance in Photoshop".

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

FULL FRAME DIGITAL SENSORS

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

Most people are using Digital SLR's these days, and it has just been recently that full frame sensors are being offered on both Nikon and Canon cameras.

There are numerous pros and cons regarding smaller sensor sizes vs. full frame, 35mm sizes. The main advantage that I enjoy with full frame coverage is the appearance of a "thinner slice" of depth-of-field.

I won't get into the physics of why this happens, however the short answer is that you are able to get closer to a subject with a full frame camera as opposed to a sub-full frame camera. When you are able to get closer to a subject, backgrounds always get more blurry (providing the aperture stays the same while you are moving forward).

When doing travel photography, such as my sample South Korean photograph, it is often aesthetically advantageous to have the smallest depth of field possible, as long as the subject's eyes are in focus.
A master of this technique is Steve McCurry. His travel portraits usually have the subject's eyes in focus, but everything else becomes a dreamy blur.

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Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com