Now that you've seen good interior photography, here is a link to some not so good interior shots. I'm not sure if it is a win or not to be "better than the realtor's P&S"...
Mark those are nice, the bedroom and dinning room seem a bit dark but they are all nice photos. Great room 4 needs to be straightened, but that angle makes the room seem small anyway to me. For the great room, great room 3 is by far the best respreseantation of that room in my opinion. Its also probably one of my favorites. I see some awesome granite counter tops in the kitchen, any reason you didnt shoot that room? The entryway feels cramped. I can see the entry way is large, but it looks cramped between the stairs and wall. If its not, then it might be because of the way this was shot. Overall, nice shots, and far far better than a real estate agent would do.
Jon that second was is very very nice. I like that shot a lot. My second favorite is the first one. The third seems OOF to me, but at the same time it just seems to dark and slightly peeping tom'ish. The other two however are very pretty.
Jbear, ha ha ha @ african wombat and stupid skank!
thanks DD, I agree mostly. I may edit them some more this weekend to ty to fix some of the perspective issues. My cs3 for the mac showed up today so I will install it this weekend. There should have been 3-4 kitchen shots.
Mark - i'm no expert for sure - but the images look fine to me. My biggest complaint might be the outside light looks too blue and the inside light seems a little too white. You expect a little warmer glow to indoor lighting and i think the WB - while being accurate - may be too accurate and it makes the house seem almost industrial or hospital like. You want a nice warm place to live in - so any hint of sanitary anticeptic coolness may not be what you're after.
Jim likes to shoot at and just after sweet light to control how much outside light influence he has to deal with. And he usually soaks down the driveway or patio to give the picture a little more charm - like after a spring rain sort of thing. It also helps to cover a lot of defects in the concrete. He uses light activated slaves under chairs and around corners to bring up the ambient and fill in the details in shadows.
Over all though the images look fine - i think you're being a little over critical on your work. They are TONS better than what a real estate agent can do with her P&S.
JB, thanks. I agree the light outside is too blue. Maybe I can warm up the interior a bit w/o it looking too bad. My problem was that our gold-ish walls were looking pretty yellow.
But, that isn't the real problem. The real problem is that I let the light control me. I should have been (need to learn how to) be in charge of the light. Had I done so, the outside light, which was at dusk and slightly overcast, would have looked as nice in the pics as it did in real life
So, I need to take your comments and DD's comments and put in the bowl and re-mix everything to see if I can do better. That will give me a good excuse to play with CS3 this weekend.
On another note, did anyone catch the moon last night? It was spectacular in Nashville but I was unable to get to a camera at the right time to capture it...
It at least has been a pretty fruitful learning experience
I feel the need to get in on the indoor photos - looks both challenging and fun. The problem is I have a crop body, a small house, and no really wide lens. Oh, and I need more lights and triggers.
Speaking of lights and triggers, I saw some sort of new trigger that came out recently that splits the line between the Cactus (known as the eBay trigger) stuff and pocket wizards, but I can't find the details anywhere. Does anyone here know what I'm talking about?
What are some of your favorite trigger and light sets? I need something that's portable and very usable, but not going to absolutely destroy the bank.
They are going to have two different offerings:
1) pretty much a lower priced version of the cactus trigger. Radio activation only
2) A radio based ETTL solution. You put a device in front of your master flash. It interprets the IR control flashes and turns them into a radio signal. You have recievers mounted on your slave flash(s) that converts the signal back to IR. It should be a fantastic solution. I hope to get a set once the intial hysteria dies down.
As far as lights go I think most of us here are using some sort of AB's. You can get an AB 400 for pretty cheap although there have been some new intro kits out in the last year. You might try midwest photo exchange. They often have some student packages that are cool
I'm wondering if light activated slaves and a couple 580s isn't the best choice. Slaves are cheap compared to a lot of high tech stuff like PWs and as long as they are positioned to see the spark of light - activate at the speed of light - which is much quicker than translating radio waves. but as to brands - I have no experience - so I'm just guessing.
Collin you sound like me. I see something like this and just find it challanging, and then I have to try it, just to prove I can to myself, or just to learn from. I am so going to get in on some of this just as soon as I finish out my studio. Which is what I am working on this week. *ugh*
Wonder if the police will harrass me if I am photographing a bank as dark falls? *tries to think of better option* The only nice building around me with nice lights and great windows is a bank. I just dont have great windows. My home s slightly large, but my wondows, well they are just cheap builders grade. But for sure, I will have to mess around with indoor shoots. Actually when I finish my studio, I am going to take staged shots of it. So guess we will see how that goes.
Jbear I agree that a 580ex and a few slaves would suite this situation right on. But since I dont have flashes, guess I will have to pop off my Aliens here and there and see what I can achieve. They wont be as easy to hide, but they can handle the job.
Anyone know an approximate f/stop to achieve to light the room so that its even? Or is totally a game of finding the sweet spot? If I make sure all of my bulbs are say daylight bulbs, will this make life easier, or is there a better bulb to have in for this sort of thing? Can't wait to try this!
Check out Chuck Gardner's page on lighting - they are about the best I've read online. Plus you can go over to the Lighting area of FM and ask him directly - he is really accessible. http://super.nova.org/DPR/
or how i would do it - (same as shooting people at sunset) Point camera at sky - or light source - and find the ƒ-stop that properly exposes the sky, then dial back the flash manually until it balances the subject with the background. Easy as pie! That is how I did the crossbuck in Oklahoma... i think light works the same here as it does there...
Here is a shot - salvaged with camera raw from the depths of darkness and a flash misfire. I guess i had shot one too often and the flash didn't recycle in time. I like it since it captures most of the band in full expression... i think they were doing either "On Top of the World" or "Muskrat Love" not sure...
Actually thats the look you get whenever you're holding a Rickenbacker bass - it just happens... I never got that look when i was playing my Fender Precision or the Gibson Les Paul Recording Bass...
I tried to buy a beautiful red Rick like Chris Squire's a few years ago but they wouldn't come off the price 50 bucks.. man i wanted that bass so bad. I wanted that look...
