Interior Photography - It's all about the Camera right?
Modern digital cameras are very impressive pieces of kit, capturing amazing amounts of detail all at the push of a button; the camera processes an image which you can print straight from camera. Mobile devices such as iPads and iPhones have also made big improvements in image quality and there are even some mobile phones that have 40+ megapixel sensors!
However, interiors are very difficult spaces to photograph; they ask a lot of even the most modern digital camera to create a professional looking photograph and are that is the reason why the camera needs to be operated by a skilled and experienced professional photographer to achieve a consistently bright and vibrant photograph.
Here we have 3 examples of a kitchen that shows the basic process our photographers go through to achieve a great looking photograph.
Image 1 is straight off camera with no added flash and no processing, even with the lights on the image is dark; if we raise the exposure we lose the detail in the windows and from the lights below the units.
Image 2 is with added flash but no processing, the image is much brighter here with the flash lights we have added. However, because of the bright green paint the image looks a little green.
Image 3 is the final processed image. We have removed the green cast, recovered a little detail from below the kitchen cupboards added a little contrast and saturation to give the image some punch.
As you can see each image is quite different and although the camera is able to produce a great final image, it is through selecting suitable settings on the camera, strategically positioning multiple flash lights around the room and processing the image using Photoshop to achieve this final image.
We use some of the best kit around. But put it in hands of someone other than a good, experienced interior photographer and it's just an expensive camera. It won't produce great results on its own. The world of interior photography is so much more than a camera and lens. Our kit bags are filled with a dozen or so other items that all go in to making great shots. Knowing how to use it all is another post entirely.