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

I posted some of my favorite images from the photo shoot and think they are interesting to explain because of the lighting situation.  Below are two evening views of the lobby. I’m favoring evening photo shoots for interiors like this for many reasons. Most of the daylight comes through the main entrance that is behind my camera position. During daylight hours the reflections wash out details and colors but the light falloff really makes for poor quality.  Light falloff is not only about exposure but also about color temperature. The cooler daylight color temperature falls off and mixes with the warmer interior lights.  The results can be muddy on top of the other issues mentioned.

Doing an evening photo shoot will give more consistent lighting throughout and reflections are much less in this situation because we are only dealing with the interior lights. Basically we simplified the lighting. Some may ask why the reflections are less without daylight. The reason is because daylight enters most interior spaces from windows and creates side lighting. Depending on the angle of reflections we most likely face issues.  Evening lighting in this situation is very good because the interior is even and the lighting drops from the ceiling downward. This kind of lighting shows the surface material well with low reflections that help preserve color saturation and show textures.

I always bracket my exposures and these images required a separate exposure layer to help preserve the extreme ceiling detail. I try not to get concerned about bringing back too much of the ceiling because sometimes the results may look unnatural.

One last detail to point out because I know I’ll get some questions about it.  The blue window at the end of the lobby is a diffused opaque material that doesn’t get direct daylight. The exposures were planned to have just a slight hint of twilight left. This creates the blue effect. The blue window is a nice balance to the warm interior colors.

Architectural commercial interior design of a lobby.

How about a realistic approach that doesn’t show everything in its perfect place? Perhaps photographing the people moving around and capturing unposed activity?  This is real life with people interacting within their environment with objects moved and blurred motion implying activity. When I see this kind of image I think of the word credible.

I’m experimenting with this realistic approach incorporating people and their surroundings. It may take a little while to find some direction with it but it’s a good start. I’m updating my Leica system to the M9 and hope this will help with this approach. The small rangefinder doesn’t scream professional photographer and will allow me to blend within the environment so people don’t react to the camera and stay natural.

Of course I don’t plan on changing my current style drastically.  I feel that my current portfolio fits a purpose and has it’s strong points in a formal sense, but finding a balance and incorporating another approach will only strengthen my entire body of work. I guess it’s diversity within a specialty.

Below are some views from a current project in New York. Ever try photographing an empty restaurant in Manhattan during daylight hours? Good luck! This was a good opportunity to work with people in their environment and the client was enthusiastic about the idea. It’s nice having some creative freedom on commercial projects.

New York Restaurant Interior

New York Restaurant Interior

New York Restaurant Interior

The winter light can be harsh but we did well with the overcast day for our photo shoot. Overcast provides diffused lighting with less reflections and it was welcome for this situation. We (my assistant John & I) added some strobe lighting to help fill some shadow areas and add highlights. The exterior was a challenge due to the seasonal conditions so we decided on evening exteriors to make it more colorful.

Here is the link to The Manor On Princeton Pike website with more of the photos from the shoot.

Residential Interior Design of a Princeton, NJ Area Residence

Evening Exterior of a Princeton, NJ Residence

At lot of our direction in life comes from good role models that influence us and nurture our inspiration by opening up new possibilities. My first influence in photography was Doug Mason who was my instructor at Lehigh and was also a commercial photographer. He gave his students a great foundation not only on the technical and creative aspects but also the application and importance of photography. Seeing examples of Doug’s commercial work opened my mind and gave me a new direction in life.

One of my favorite subjects is architecture so it wouldn’t surprise anyone that I concentrated on photographing buildings at Lehigh University. It was a great learning experience with plenty to work with. One of my favorite buildings on campus is Linderman Library. The library dates back to 1878 and was designed by Philadelphia architect Addison Hutton. The building recently went through a renovation so I had to check it out and perhaps add some personal projects to my portfolio. This was also an experiment to see how much my photography has changed over 14 years. I admit that I’m embarrassed to show my early work but I’m glad to share my current images of the library. Below are three views in the rotunda area.