Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The photo below, of the Great Hall at Ellis Island, wouldn't work nearly as well without the
two teenagers waiting where so many immigrants waited for so many hours and days (from
the photo.net New York exhibit):
People don't always improve an image but they always change it. Below, for example, is
the Great Kiva in Aztec Ruins National Monument in Aztec, New Mexico (from the photo.net
New Mexico exhibit). The photo at left, without people, conveys more accurately the feeling
of being in the kiva. Probably this is because the people aren't using the architecture in the
way that the architects intended; they are merely posing for an unseen photographer. The
human presence doesn't ruin the image, however. It might be a better choice for a travel
guidebook than the empty kiva.
Similarly, as part of a page describing Hearst Castle, these two people-filled images give a
better record of the experience of touring the castle than do the detail images underneath:
San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art opened as a beautiful building with hardly any art.
Pictures of the stark atrium without people might give a viewer the impression that the
museum hadn't opened yet when the photos were taken. With the people, though, the idea
of a building filled with human beings fruitlessly searching for art is conveyed (from the
photo.net San Francisco guide).
Most camera equipment is designed for handheld use outdoors. As soon as you take them
indoors you discover that, on average, it is much darker indoors than outdoors. You won't
be able to create a sharp image handholding your camera indoors. Suppose that you stop
the lens aperture down to 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.
Hollywood goes farther. If it isn't sunny outside and they want warm light from the windows,
they park a bank of powerful HMI lights outside the window pointing into the room.
If you're lazy, you can just set the tripod on the floor and accept whatever color temperature
comes your way:
If your assignment does not call for the warm glow of incandescent light, get hold of a
Minolta color temperature meter and/or Kodak Professional Photoguide and find the
right color correction filter. This becomes much more critical when the room is lit with
fluorescent light. Very few people or objects look good with the sickly green cast of daylight-
balanced film exposed under fluorescent light. For a film camera, the solution is a Tiffen FL-
D filter screwed over the lens. One of the luxuries of photography with digital cameras is
that you can simply press the "fluorescent white balance" switch and get very close to the
right color balance instantly. Even with a digital camera's ability to set white balance
arbitrarily, you still need to think carefully when combining different light sources.
(Final photo courtesy Eve Andersson, taken with Canon Pro70 digital camera.)
The straight "record of what was painted on the ceiling" photo can be made with almost any
camera, even where tripods are prohibited. Set the camera to "no flash" and "self-timer"
modes. Place the camera on the floor in the middle of the room, lens pointing up. Press the
shutter release and back out of the way. Ten seconds later you've got your ceiling.
Go Wide
Fact 1: very few commercial clients are going to thank you for making their rooms look
small. Fact 2: very few architects are going to accomodate your desire to knock down a wall
so that you can get the entire room into a photo with a normal lens (50mm on a full-frame
camera; 30mm on a small sensor digital SLR). Fact 3: Pincushion and barrel distortion,
more prevalent with zoom lenses, are much more apparent in architectural work than in
general photography. Conclusion: you want some very prime (single focal length, non-
zoom) wide angle lenses for architectural interiors.
Sadly, prime wide angle lenses don't exist for small sensor digital SLRs, such as the
cheapest Canon bodies and all of the Nikon DSLRs. Canon EOS 5D, $2700 (review) is the
entry-level full-frame camera and therefore the entry-level interior photography camera.
To take in most of a room from a doorway you need a 17mm or wider lens. For example,
the first image below is taken with a 43mm lens on Mamiya 7 6x7 format camera. This is
equivalent to a 21mm lens on a full-frame digital or 35mm film SLR. Much of the dining
room is cut off. The lens was perfect for detail, such as the hot tub overlooking the ocean,
but not always wide enough for an entire room at one sweep (from Cape Cod):
Be Industrious
Industrial interiors are some of the most interesting. Don't be shy about asking permission
to enter and take some photos. Oftentimes the people who run a factory will be proud to
show you around. Here is an old hydro plant interior from the photo.net driving tour of
Vermont:
Have Fun
Look for humor in and around building interiors. Below are visitors at the Getty Center being
entertained by a huge puppet, the whole scene further distorted by the use of a 17mm lens.
At right is a hopskotch grid that breaks up a monotonous corridor in the Stockholm aiport
(from photo.net guide to Sweden):
Outdoors Indoors
Look at the windows per se and the view just beyond the windows...
Indoors Outdoors
Eventually the indoors will become outdoors and it is always interesting to see nature
reclaiming her territory:
The image below was taken with a Rollei 6008 6x6 SLR (from the Sierra Nevada). Click for
an enlargement and examine the detail.
More
● Professional Interior Photography (Michael Harris 1998; Focal Press)
● Interior Shots (Pro-Lighting) (Roger Hicks 1996; Amphoto)
● How to Photograph Buildings and Interiors (Gerry Kopelow 1998;
Princeton Architectural Press)