Lighting property photographs is one of the most important things when it comes to getting great results, time after time in a range of different situations. Good, effective lighting is also one of the most difficult parts of interior photography to master. It takes a great deal of practice and experience to know how to light spaces in a way that looks natural and enhances the room. It’s fairly straightforward to fire a flash into a room and make everything look brighter, but that’s not what I am talking about here. Good lighting almost never comes from an on camera flash, and even less so from a direct on-camera flash. If you were to take a picture of a room from directly in front of the only window the results would not be nice. There would be little shadow and depth to the room and items in it. That’s pretty much what on camera, direct flash is and that’s neither flattering nor realistic. Great additional lighting only comes when you have the tools and the experience to use them properly.
Below are a few examples where we have added light to the shot to improve the end result. Lighting is not only key when it comes to illuminating a space (or series of spaces) but is so important to enhancing depth, texture and mood as these examples show.
Log Burner:
To enable us to catch the detail in the flames of this log burner, the rest of the room was much to dark. By adding light we were not only able to improve the brightness levels of the room but also to bring out the texture and details in the bricks, stove and mantle piece.
