I need some lighting help!

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Archive 2008 · I need some lighting help!

JimRU
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p.1 #1 · I need some lighting help!

Hi all. I'm being hired by a friend to take some photos of the interior and exterior of a home that he is putting up for sale. He is in the real estate business and I want to make sure I do a good job because it could lead to more work. I don't own any lights and would like to hear from you guys and gals about what I would need on the low end to light rooms in a house. I own a 580 EXII (and a Stofen EY filter) but have never used it and don't know if flash would be enough to light a large room. I planned to shoot hand held, but I could use my Gitzo tripod and BH55 if that makes more sense. I have a 40D and several lenses: 16-35mm, 50mm, 70-200mm and an 85mm. I assume I'd use the 16-35 almost excusively. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Nov 22, 2008 at 01:43 AM

cineski
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p.1 #2 · I need some lighting help!

Why not just do an HDR? If you've never lit an interior with lights, it's a bit daunting and HDR images for architecture work great.

Nov 22, 2008 at 02:12 AM

bacilonur
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p.1 #3 · I need some lighting help!

How much can you spend? With $700-ish you can get a few speedlights (Vivitars or Nikon SB's) with PCB triggers. That's far more reliable and controllable than running multiple exposures and layering them all in for each image you need. Plus they're useful for much more than just architecture.

Nov 22, 2008 at 03:44 AM

JimRU
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p.1 #4 · I need some lighting help!

Thanks for the replies, guys. I hadn't thought about HDR - I'll experiment a bit in my place. Bacilonur - I can spend that much for lights if it will improve the shots. Is there a steep learning curve in using them?

Nov 22, 2008 at 05:57 AM

Javier Munoz
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p.1 #5 · I need some lighting help!

Why in this world are you taking on a job that you dont know how to accomplish?

Nov 22, 2008 at 05:58 PM

radioblurs
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p.1 #6 · I need some lighting help!

Javier Munoz wrote:
Why in this world are you taking on a job that you dont know how to accomplish?

to piggy back off of this, i would definitely say: don't buy lights to use for the first time on a job-know what you're doing with your lights before you take them out for a job...especially if you're hoping it will lead to more work

whatever you buy, whether it's a strobe/monolight or hot shoe flash with umbrella, practice and learn how to light, then take it out on jobs

i like the HDR idea for your skill set-good luck-hope this email doesn't seem mean spirited but when you start getting paid for this, you have to approach it differently than you would shooting pictures for a friend who isn't paying you

daniel

Nov 22, 2008 at 07:13 PM

bacilonur
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p.1 #7 · I need some lighting help!

It will most definitely improve the shots. How quickly you pick them up largely depends on your background with any type of artificial lighting. It's fairly simple though. Start by picking up a few architecture magazines and going through them, observing where the light seems to be coming from, and then try to find a similar setting in your own home. Take a shot, blow it up on your monitor, and reflect on how bad it looks in comparison. :-) Then start placing a few speedlites with triggers velcro'ed onto them in various places of the room. The objective is to draw attention to areas that'd naturally be dark without making it look fake. The best shots always look like lights weren't used.

Nov 22, 2008 at 07:16 PM

JimRU
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p.1 #8 · I need some lighting help!

Thanks for the replies.

Bacilonur, I have some websites that he's sent me full of the shots other photographers have taken, so I have a lot to look at. Thanks for the info!

Daniel, I definitely would not take lights to a job not knowing how to use them. If I get them, I'll work with them around my house first to make sure I understand how they work. Your post was not mean-spirited at all and I took it as it was intended.

Javier, I'm taking the job so that I can learn to get better at photographing architecture and maybe make some money doing it. I'm terrible sorry if that offends you.

And just to reiterate, the guy hiring me is one of my best friends. He's giving me an opportunity and I'm going to take it. If my shots are not good, I would not want him to pay me. But I'm confident that I can take shots that will work well for him based on the prior work that I've seen that he's had done. Thanks again for the responses.

Nov 23, 2008 at 06:58 PM

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