Architectural Photography - Techniques for Shooting Interior Spaces
When the interior of architecture becomes the focal point of your next big shot, the methods for success can change drastically. You may have grown accustom to certain fundamentals if you've practiced other styles of photography, but you must apply specific techniques when shooting interior spaces. If you happen to be an amateur who's fresh out of the gate, then being receptive to this particular composition is even more important.
What Is Your Goal?
The elements of this approach can vary depending on what you're aiming for. What is your subject? Are you trying to capture the entirety of the room or do you want to focus on an individual aspect? How much exposure are you hoping to acquire? What type of lighting are you working with?
The best way to determine your composition is to answer these types of questions. Your choice in hardware, camera lens, aperture size, amount of exposure and ISO settings are all dependent on what your goal is when taking the picture. This may seem like a lot of information, but once you break down the techniques for shooting interior spaces into a step-by-step process, you'll find that the elements come together quite naturally.
Choose Your Shot Carefully
Your first step should be to establish your subject, and the choice here holds a lot more merit than you may think. Not every location in a house or building is worth capturing. Even more importantly, once you decide what to shoot you must then determine which angle and elevation would generate the greatest quality. What part of the room would people find most appealing? Are some objects more significant than others? Weigh your options here - odds are you have a lot of them.
If you find yourself having trouble emphasizing a particular object in the scene, you can always use something else to add more appeal to it. For example, if you want a coffee table to be the focus of your shot, simply placing a vase or a dim lamp on it will demand that it receives more attention. In addition, casting more light on an object can easily make it the center of attraction. Experiment with the lighting that is available and decide if you need to add more or take some away.
Next, you have to consider the obvious fact that the room's current condition may not be ideal. It isn't uncommon for there to be an overabundance of objects - many times there are plenty of things worth chucking, as they can easily become more of a distraction than anything. Examples of these include pillows, telephones, toys and trinkets, magazines and anything else that would disturb the essence of the photo. Keep it as simple as possible, but don't take away so much that the shot becomes boring.
Lastly, make it a priority to avoid too much brightness - fluorescent lights and windows are some aggravators that can easily spoil your photo. If you're unable to cover up a window with a curtain, then consider turning on the lights in the room to establish a better balance of colors.
What Type of Lens Should You Use?
Another crucial technique for shooting interior spaces is selecting the right lens. Most experts recommend that interior architecture is shot with a wide-angle lens. Here's why:
A wide-angle lens, just as the name would imply, allows you to capture more space. It's rarely possible to shoot an entire room (and most photos look better when you don't), but it's always an advantage to have some flexibility in the matter.
If your goal is to make a particular object the focus of the shot, a wide-angle lens can make it easier to emphasize your subject. The closer something is to the camera, the larger it will appear regardless of its relation to the other objects in the room. However, you must be careful when doing this - distortion of lines can appear in the photo as a result of getting too close to an item at the wrong angle.
It also becomes easier to blend more objects into the background when using a wide-lens. The further away you are from the location, the more homogenized the objects will become, thus transforming the primary subject of the shot into a more elaborated view.
Compact vs. SLR - Which One Is Best?
So, what kind of camera do you plan on using for the shot? While the choice is ultimately up to you, it's usually recommended that you go with an SLR camera for a number of reasons.
For starters, an SLR camera allows for variance in wide, macro, and telephoto lenses. They also usually come with an ISO adjustment, which is perfect for when you are dealing with dim lighting. And finally, they are renowned for offering wider capture, which is always ideal.
On the other hand, a compact camera (also known as a point-and-shoot camera) bears the luxury of a more precise zoom function. However, zoom isn't as important when it comes to techniques for shooting interior spaces - the substance of the room, what is actually captured and adjusting your camera to the lighting are far more crucial elements.
Aperture Settings and How They Relate to Lighting
Knowing which aperture setting works for specific lighting can make for a terrific shot, especially when it comes to techniques for shooting interior spaces. Most indoor areas are better captured in dim lighting, so if you have a camera with high-level aperture variance you can easily capitalize on a setting with less light disturbance. Remember - aperture is usually expressed as an F-stop. The smaller the F-stop, the larger the aperture will be and the more light that will be acquired in the shot. This is where a point-and-shoot camera exhibits another disadvantage - most compact cameras have a fixed aperture setting, which can make it harder to deal with low-light situations.
Nevertheless, a smaller aperture can have its uses as well. If you're not interested in emphasizing a specific object in the shot, but rather want to capture the setting as a whole, then a higher F-stop can create a balance of quality throughout the entire photograph. This is because smaller aperture amplifies the Depth of Field (the field in which objects are in focus).
Increase Your Selection with Increased Exposure
Now, in terms of exposure, it's once again completely dependent on your goals. If maximizing quality is important to you, then odds are you're going to need to commit to a lengthy amount of exposure. Lighting and substance can change over time and it's vital that you expand on your options as much as possible.
This is where a tripod can come in handy. Once you've finished establishing your composition, a tripod will grant you as much exposure as you want. Up until you're kicked out of the room, of course!
These techniques for shooting interior spaces are only the fundamentals. There is a lot more to it than this, but it will all come to you naturally as you gain more experience in the genre. Always strive to improve your work and don't forget to have fun!