ACTIVE D-LIGHTING

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Newer Nikon D-SLR cameras have a function called Active D-Lighting. When I bought my D300 years ago, the manual said this about D-Lighting: "Active D-Lighting preserves details in highlights and shadows, creating photos with natural contrast. Use for high contrast scenes, for example when photographing brightly lit outdoor scenery through a door or window or taking pictures of shaded subjects on a sunny day."

I find the function works very well for interior architecture and design. The following shot was taken in a beautiful home in Mexico, during one of our San Miguel de Allende photo workshops. The scene was such that when I exposed for the house interior, the door light was blown-out. When I exposed for the door light, the house interior was far too dark. Normally this would be solved with strobes or multiple exposures, however this was not necessary due to the Active D-Lighting option.

Fortunately professional level Nikon features are now starting to find their way into sub-$1,000 camera bodies. The Nikon D5000 for example has Active D-Lighting, 720p HD Video, and the much appreciated ability to take time lapse footage, all for a price below $1,000. Now is the time to experiment with new photographic subject matter, especially as our tools are getting cheaper and more sophisticated each year.

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

SMALL INTERIORS

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.

Have you ever needed to photograph a bathroom? It is very tricky due to the size of the space, and lighting issues. Often you will need to rely on the ceiling light, which creates unpleasant shadows. A way to make small spaces more attractive is to take a bedsheet and pin it up (if possible) at the four corners of the ceiling. The bedsheet will sag a bit in the middle, which is fine. The single ceiling light now acts as a giant softbox, filling in harsh shadow spaces.

Here are the problems with this approach: You may not be at liberty to pin a sheet up on the ceiling. Hopefully you can find some other solution for the bed sheet; as long as it fills most of the ceiling, and of course covers the ceiling light, it should be fine. Problem number two is the diminished light strength, due to heavy diffusion (the bed sheet). The solution is to have a longer exposure.

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

MIRRORS AND DEPTH

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If you are doing an interior photo shoot, and the locations have mirrors, why not use them to your advantage? Mirrors have a way of creating depth to an interior image, because they give the illusion that there are more rooms beyond the walls. If you have models in the shot, position them so that they are viewed multiple times in the same image.

I took this photo of a changing room in an oil refinery. While there were only two models present, I was able to get five people in the shot (reflection in the left mirror, two reflections in the right mirror, two actual models). It may take a bit of planning as to where you need the models to stand, but it will be worth it!

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

MAGAZINE STYLE PHOTOS

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When shooting interiors for magazines, you will often use strobe lights if people are NOT in the photograph, and ambient light (windows and lightbulbs) if people ARE included in the images.



When people are in the photograph it is often advisable to have them walking, which increases the dynamic aspect of the composition. For a grounding effect, placing stationary people in the background can add to the static/dynamic balance.

If you were to use a flash for my above sample photograph, the people would have a sort of "ghost trail" moving ahead of their bodies. It does not look pleasing! Instead, the technique used is to have your camera on a tripod with no flash or strobe, and experiment with different shutter speeds (or different walking speeds), until you get a motion blur that is not too abstract, and not too still. A good shutter speed to start with is 1/2 second.

If there were no people in the photograph, studio strobes would be helpful to create a more even balance between the large volume of window light, and lesser intensity of interior lighting. While you can certainly still use models with flash or strobe lighting, they will be "frozen" in place, which may reduce the image's marketability.

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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

BALANCING INTERIOR LIGHT

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.

Interior photography can be very challenging, as you are often forced to photograph during the worst possible times. The ideal scenario is low, warm, directional sunlight flooding the interior of the location with soft pleasing light. Yet this may only happen 3 days out of the week, and only for a brief 1 hour window! That is why interior photographers need to learn how to work proficiently even in the worst conditions, such as rain, fog, unflattering sunlight, and harsh interior lights.

The sample photo is an image that I took at a boutique hotel in the Laurentian mountains. The day was overcast and dreary, and somewhat uninspiring. The challenge was to get the interior lamp-light to match the intensity of the exterior light. Often you will have either an interior light that is not nearly bright enough compared to the outside natural light, or you will have an evening photo shoot where the interior lamp illumination is far too bright relative the the exterior evening light. If the latter is your challenge, you can either switch light bulbs to a lower watt bulb, or you can simply purchase a very simple tool called a cord dimmer switch. This useful addition to your gear collection is very inexpensive and highly useful. The cord is about $15, and works as an intermediate extension cord between the wall socket and the lamp's own power cord. This extension cord has a dimmer switch built in, so you can adjust the light bulb's illumination to balance with the exterior light. You can purchase these dimmers at most hardware stores, and I just recently saw some on Ikea's website. Do a product search for "Cord dimmer switch".

Conclusion: Keep a few high wattage household bulbs with your gear, in case you need more light power when you are photographing at your location. If you find the high wattage bulb is too strong compared to external light levels, simply lower the light intensity with the dimmer switch. (Note - I haven't tried this technique with the newer household fluorescent bulbs).

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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

EASY INTERIOR LIGHTING

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It is my desire that these weekly lessons be profitable for photographers who want to make the leap from amateur to professional, but do not as of yet have the funds to buy all the necessary equipment. In this lesson I will show a very simple way to get decent interior photography results with minimal equipment.

Two weeks ago I was asked by a client to help create an ad campaign that involved teenagers doing unwanted housework. While I used studio strobes for this shoot, I could have just as easily used the following inexpensive set-up:

(The first step is to make sure you have a removable camera flash, also called a speedlight. You will also need a very long extension PC Synch cord from your local camera store. Purchase the longest one possible. If your camera doesn't have a PC terminal, ask your camera store clerk for a hot shoe PC terminal adaptor)

1. Using a tripod, compose the photo so window light is acting as the main light source hitting the subject matter. Take a test photo and make sure the subject is well exposed.
2. On a piece of paper, write down the exposure of the photo that you just took (f-stop and shutter speed).
3. Change your camera exposure mode to manual, and use the same shutter and aperture numbers that are written down on your piece of paper.
4. Connect your external camera flash to the PC extension cord, and have a friend place it behind the subject at a fair distance. Do a test shot to make sure the flash fires when the picture is taken.
5. At this point, there is only one variable for exposure, and that is the power of the flash unit. Since your camera is in Manual mode, the majority of the exposure will remain the same from picture to picture. The flash exposure however, may be either too bright, or not bright enough. Ask your friend to increase or decrease the power of the flash unit until the back of the subject is evenly exposed.
6. As you can see in my example photo, the uni-directional back light of the flash unit is balanced well with the frontal window light. Because the flash unit from behind is usually harsh and direct, you will get shadows similar to the one created by the roll of paper towels. I like this look, as it creates a "sharp" and contrasty look to the photo, which is usually required for commercial jobs.

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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

INEXPENSIVE INTERIOR PICS

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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

HOW TO FOCUS

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.

If you are photographing any type of room or interior, and would like to get as much of the room in focus as possible, try this:

Set your camera on a tripod, and compose your picture. Now, walk away from the camera into the room and divide up the room into "thirds". Between the camera and the far end of the room you should be able to estimate where to mentally divide up the space into 1/3 distances. For example, if your interior space from the camera to the far wall is 30 feet deep, find the location on the floor (or a piece of furniture) that is 10 feet away from the camera. This section is "one third" of the total depth of the room.

Go back to your camera, and now manually focus the lens to that place on the floor, or that piece of furniture that is (as in our example) 10 feet away from you. Now re-compose you picture, set your lens aperture number to f8 or f11 (Aperture Priority setting), and take the shot. Your resulting image should have the most even amount of foreground and background sharpness.

Other tips: f8 and f11 are usually the sharpest lens apertures. If you need the maximum depth of field possible, go to f22 or the highest aperture number that your lens is capable of. The trade-off is that the final image may not be as sharp as the same image taken at f8.

When doing interiors, always use your self-timer. The shake of your finger on the shutter button will compromise image sharpness. Instead of waiting the full 10 seconds for the shutter to be released, see if your camera allows for a 2 or 5 second self timer.

Finally, make sure your camera is set to Manual Focus. After you have focused on your "1/3" location, you don't want the camera to focus on some other location as soon as you take the photo (which it will do, if the camera remains on Auto Focus).

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