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Photography of Architecture (Interior)
f/11 to ensure adequate depth of field (objects at differing distances from the lens all in reasonably sharp
focus). You'll now need to leave the shutter open for a 1/2 second to get enough light to the film to make
an image. You won't be able to hold your camera steady for 1/2 second. You have two obvious options:
(1) carry a tripod, and (2) illuminate the scene with an electronic flash.
A flash is a lot easier to carry than a tripod. Many cameras have built-in flashes. So why not use the
flash for an interior architecture photo? Because you won't capture the architecture.
Rooms and houses are designed around light. Architects who've read A Pattern Language will tell you
that you need light from two sides of a room in order to be comfortable in that room. If there is a
window on only one wall, the light inside the room will be too contrasty. Architects are very careful
with windows and artificial lights.
What about simply sticking the camera on a tripod and using the self-timer or cable release to make a
long steady exposure? It can work, as in this photo below, of medieval Skansen village in Stockholm
(from the photo.net Sweden guide):
We don't mind the contrast and the fact that we can't see detail in a lot of the furniture or the door. The
photo gives us an idea of what it is like to use a desk hundreds of years ago in Sweden. A commercial
client, however, anxious to sell desks, would demand that a flash or hot light be used to reduce the
contrast and render detail in the shadows.
Where a room has a well-designed artificial lighting system, a commercial architectural photographer
will often use the existing lights and fixtures to balance the natural light. How is this possible when the
sunlight from the windows is so much more powerful than typical incandescent bulbs? The
photographer travels with a huge bag of bulbs and will go through a room replacing every bulb with a
higher output photoflood. In addition to higher output, tungsten photo bulbs have a consistent color
temperature. If a closer match to the color temperature of the window light is desired, the light bulbs
through the house may be replaced with electronic flashes. Adorama sells a $20 slave flash, guide
number 75 at ISO 100, that screws into standard a light bulb socket.
Hollywood goes farther. If it isn't sunny outside and they want warm light from the windows, they park
http://www.photo.net/architectural/interior (4 of 14)7/3/2005 2:17:36 AM