Not sure if this is the right forum but here goes. I posted on the Nikon forum too.

I have tried every way I can think of to get this type of HDR effect where the colors are correct both in the interior and exterior. I shoot with a D3 and have used Photomatix and CS3. I just cant get the color temps to work out correctly. if the interior is right, the windows are too cool, etc.

Any ideas how this shot was done?

I know the photographer is taking mulitple shots with no additional lighting or strobes and using some kind of blending technique in post.

When I worked in motion pictures and did architectural photography, we would gel the windows and any interior light sources as needed.

E

Two shots: one for the windows, one for indoors. PP is your friend.

I know the photographer is taking mulitple shots with no additional lighting or strobes and using some kind of blending technique in post.

How do you know that? I've done this kind of work. Looking at the various shadows going in at least two directions (look carefully at the bar area) and the highlights on black leather portion of the chair arm makes me think that this room is definitely lit with multiple sources: ambient daylight,"practical lights" (the recessed ceiling lights, the lamps on the end tables) and additional lighting , probably electronic flash, set up by the photographer. He or she may have also used some mild and naturalistic HDR processing techniques as well.

Of course you could know because according to the copyright notice " 2008 © emreese" that pops up when the cursor hovers over the photo. And if that is the case what is your point here?

Or maybe it is a completely synthetic illustration?

E-Vener wrote:
Of course you could know because according to the copyright notice " 2008 © emreese" that pops up when the cursor hovers over the photo. And if that is the case what is your point here?

I could be wrong here, but doesn't the forum add that because it assumes that an image you post is your own work? That would also explain why it's his user name, but of course that alone is not proof. I don't know of any way to add a tooltip to an image when uploading it to FM.

isn't grabbing an image and posting/using without credit pr permission a no-no?

@emreese,

I don't see evidence of any extra strobes and if so it's very subtle as the shadows I see are falling from left to right and towards the camera POV. (a bit hard to see with the web sized image). The photographer hasn't blown the ceiling/created a hot spot by blasting any light he/she has added by bouncing directly off the ceiling. (I always bounce behind me and hardly never on camera.)

The Follage outside of the windows appear to have had a bit of shadow/highlight fiddling as well.

I reckon the PP is 2 images, one for inner and one for outer as stated above:

Shadow/highlight filter at about 10-15%, a bit of curves to brighten it up a bit.
I use an action I've created (actually all of what I describe are done by actions I've created, 5 in total to speed things up) by using the average blur filter then grey dropper in levels to key of a duplicated history state for colour balance.
I then add a bit of colour saturation through LAB mode.

I mask/clip/cut in an image for the outside (not for what I shoot of course as I exposure and balance the light accordingly, I do this for the numbnuts who shoot for us that can't get their head around proper exposure, ha) with a layer that I used for colour balance still active to match inside and out.

Touch up any dust bunnies or shadows/hot spots/light or fan shadows all done in about 5 minutes.

I've taken a bit of liberty and used one of your images to show you what I mean emreese (is it Eric?) please take no offence for using your image and I'll remove it if I offend. I don't have the original or a shot for the outside so it's a bit rough.



Please PM me if I can help with a few tips/actions, one of my hats I wear is "Fixing" real estate images.

My slant on what I see.

PS, HDR sucks for Real Estate photography as it makes any imperfection in lighting worse.

Cheers Gaz

kylegehmlich wrote:
E-Vener wrote:
Of course you could know because according to the copyright notice " 2008 © emreese" that pops up when the cursor hovers over the photo. And if that is the case what is your point here?

I could be wrong here, but doesn't the forum add that because it assumes that an image you post is your own work? That would also explain why it's his user name, but of course that alone is not proof. I don't know of any way to add a tooltip to an image when uploading it to FM.

Wasn't aware ot that.

For natural looking HDR work I use Timothy Armes Enfuse plug-in for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

With Photoshop all things are possible and when done well it is difficult to distinguish what is done with lighting control and what with is done with WB alteration and blending of raw files.

The key factors are:

1) Start by capturing the full dynamic range of the scene, either by:

A) exposing for the highlights and lifting the shadows with indirect flash (e.g. bounced off a back wall or ceiling behind camera) gelled to match the dominant ambient source (e.g. for a entirely indoor shot) or sunlight (e.g. when there are windows in the shot).

B) Shooting bracketed RAW exposures to cover the scene contrast (i.e. HDR) then copy and adjust each one for the various color temps of the light sources.

C) A combination of A&C

2) Blend the various color balanced, detail revealing layers with masks into a baseline background shot to change exposure and WB as needed to simulate in the photo how the ambience looked by eye with adaptive vision.

I think the example shot posted handles the ambience part quite well, keeping the table lamps and fireplace warm but everything else neutral. The overall lighting strategy, making the nook in the background brighter than the foreground is an effective compositional device in interior shots which helps to pull the eye past the darker foreground to go see what is back there contrasting so much.

The tell-tales that flash was used for fill, likely bounced off the ceiling behind the camera are the specular reflection on the black base of the sofa in the lower left corner and the modeling on the candle on the table. The difference in color temp of the refections on the coffee table on the left, which given the angle comes from the light in the ceiling behind it is a clue there was blending of different WB layers.

Chuck

I recently loaded the Enfuse plugin for lightroom and got the results you see below. This is I think a great tool and does a good job of creating a natural looking image. I still would like to learn how to easily mask the windows to get the color balance outside correct.

Thanks again to all of you who responded.

I don't use lightroom, so I don't know if you can do it with it. But with photoshop you do the HDR and later as some have suggested load a second layer with the WB set for the outside, mask it so only the windows show and you're there.... I did this with this picture its not architectural but its basically the same technique. One photo is with the flashes and another with the green display. You merge both in photoshop and mask the display so you can show the second photo.

I guess my big challenge is to learn how to QUICKLY mask the windows

from the looks of it, looks like its a composite of two images. natural light, if not strobe shot into the ceiling. i shoot alot of hotel rooms and this is pretty much what i do, shoot exposure for the windows and shoot another exposure for the ambient light. and just shoot bracket in a few shots in between those.

emreese, its easy just make sure your zoomed in at 300% so you dont miss anything, haha

A lot of great info in this thread....thanks!

I'm trying to get more and more into architectural/interior photography, and threads/info like this are rare here on FM.

Can anyone recommend any other forums or sites, as well as good books on architectural photography, post-processing or interior lighting?

Sorry to have such a general request for help, but I have had much luck in my googling, and I'm impressed by all the knowledge about architectural photography/processing in this thread.

Thanks.

This is the best place I have found.

In my original image, I know for a fact there is not flash used. Camera and tripod, thats it.

If you're willing to go far enough, I know of some architectural photogs that replace the bulbs in the lights with daylight bulbs. Gels are probably easier, fwiw...

Marcel VanEerd wrote:
Two shots: one for the windows, one for indoors. PP is your friend.

that is a GREAT idea