Paul S. Bartholomew Photography » Hospitality Photography

Unique Interior Lighting

Paul S. Bartholomew — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:06:15 +0000

This is one of those projects that make my brain hurt. Great subject matter but very difficult to capture. Not only was this a difficult project, but it was also the first photo shoot with this client. Lots of pressure!

Here is the situation. Daylight will ruin the lighting because of the reflections, light falloff and major color temperature issues. How do I know? Scouting. I can’t stress this enough, if the project is within a reasonable distance I always try to scout first. I found that the best option for the photography was in the evening when I can work with the situation with lighting controls, additional photographic lighting and multiple exposures. Yes, this could be photographed during the day with strobes and/or hot lights all over the place, but why would I want to kill the atmosphere?

My style and approach is to capture the subject matter in a natural way. I would like to point out that this doesn’t mean I don’t use additional lighting. Most of my interior photography requires help but the idea is to not overwhelm the lighting. Supplementing is the word I guess. Some photographers have a different approach but this is personal and the reason why some clients hire one photographer over another. Interior design and architectural clients have a vision they wish for me to articulate for the world to see. Lighting is crucial to the design’s identity, if I’m not true to the atmosphere then I feel it becomes less credible, especially to those who have seen the design in person.

The lighting in this place is extreme, especially with the glowing light panels and monitors all over. So how do I capture this as natural as possible? Sometimes you need help from Photoshop and this adds a lot more post-production time. I probably spent 2 days working on the post-production. Normally I bracket exposures in a 3 stop range, the light panels and monitors required about 2-3 extra stops darker. I always recommend taking lots of extra exposures in extreme situations, this is digital not film. In post-production I look for the image that shows the most accurate exposure. This exposure will have lots of faults but it’s meant to be the foundation. Secondary exposures that bring back highlight and shadow areas are then layered in and fine tuned. This takes lots of practice when you need to mask areas and use selection tools but experience will make things go faster and better over time.

I get a lot of questions asking if I use HDR (High Dynamic Range). I have used HDR and have a few different tools for it but it isn’t natural looking to me and I can’t find a use for it other than fine art. By using a combination of natural lighting, photographic lighting and exposure layering I get what I desire. No magic shortcuts, sorry.

Evening Interior Design Photography

Casino Lobby Project

Paul S. Bartholomew — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:54:27 +0000

This was a fun project and I’m glad this client found me. I have a feeling some of the punchy images on my website fit the style they were looking for. The client made these huge cannons that are installed in a casino lobby. I scouted the project before scheduling the photo shoot and knew right away that evening images would be best. Daylight just wasn’t impressive enough with the mixed lighting and lack of glow from the cannons.

Upon arrival I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw. The truly remarkable part is that these images are only one single RAW file with very little post-production.

Casino Architectural Photography

Something Different

admin — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:17:09 +0000

Just had a project recently that’s outside my normal subject matter. It involved interior design photography but the the client also needed lifestyle and/or portrait photography. Lots of the photos required models but they also required a photo of the chef in the dining area. This is one of the setups I did. The idea was to show a busy dining area in the background so I hope this met the criteria. I still have lots to learn in portrait work but I’d rather be doing architectural or food photography.

Chef Photography

Times Square New York Photos

admin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:28:27 +0000

Nice surprise while walking through Times Square in New York today. I was photographing a building on Madison Avenue and decided to stop by the hotel I had a 7 day photo shoot at last fall to see the exterior renovations.

Photos Displayed in Times Square

At first I noticed the renovations but then it hit me, they made huge banners of my photos and displayed them on the front facade along Times Square! I knew they were making big displays but I didn’t expect the photos like this. It’s kind of nice having my work seen in such a high profile place. I guess the client likes the photos.