Shooting interiors

When shooting interiors :

1) Do ur best to read a lot about interior design , architecture and art movements , cause it not only helps u take better interior shots but it also does : a) Makes ur work more convincing in terms of design meaning if ur furniture is for example of the Baroque style , an abstract Picasso on the wall isnt really fitting , ud rather have a Vermeer or a Rembrandt on the wall ( cause theyre baroque too , same time periods , same style ) . b) Helps u rearrange ur interiors in an impressive way .

2) Remember ur aim is not to include the WHOLE interior , but rather use ur cam to frame a part of that interior that best describes the style , sort of summarize the place in a smart frame .

3) U want ur frame to have horizontals ( representing stability) , verticals ( representing elevation , grandeur ) , and diagonals ( which give still interiors the beautiful dynamic feel ) .

4) Ur 3 friends are STRUCTURE ( organizing the interior into a harmonious whole unit ) , LINE DYNAMICS ( we talked about that in point 3 ) , AND DEPTH OR PERSPECTIVE ( to give ur 2 dimentional frame a 3 dimentional look ) .

5) Symmetry at times maybe cool ( like in the pic above of my living room ) , at other times the rule of thirds applies , other times u may use leading lines .

6) At the expense of a little distortion, a wide angle lens , may be one of ur best tools when shooting interiors , esp tight ones . Others prefer to use a tilt shift lens to avoid leaning verticals , and too much distortion , then again u can do a lot of image post processing on photoshop after using a wideangle . Personally i love the distorted effect of the wide angle .

7) The way u wanna light ur pics is u wanna makem seem as natural as possible . I dont mean dont use accessory lighting , i just mean use it just so its not so awkwardly visible . When lighting interiors u have many options , u can :
a) Use natural light .
b) Use hidden flash units and totally block out interior lights ( turn em off) .
c) Combine a and b ( usually the flash will be used as fill light ) .
d) Light paint ( yes it can be used to achieve a "natural " feel , with a lil effort ofcourse ) .
e) Combining flash and exterior light with the interior lighting .

The advantages of using ONLY natural or flash is ofcourse u dont have to worry about different color temperatures , then again when combining them with interior lighting ( tungsten : red , or flourescent : sickly green ) there are several ways to get around that . Like shooting different frames at different color balance situations and combining them .

8) If u dont have a wide angle ( like myself ) u can shoot several frames and stitch them like the pic up there , panoramic interiors are cool , just watch out for the exposure and color balance of each shot .

Well thats all i can write for now , a whole lot more can be written about that topic , but maybe in later posts . Be safe , and keep shootin.