This picture has been taken while spa renovation was still on-going. The moment this area was finished, I had to close off the area and told everyone to not walk across the frame, even behind the camera, as it would show up as reflections on the glass. In the same manner, I also removed all tools, ladders, cables and other things to not show up as a reflection. Last but not least I got the cleaning crew come twice to clean the glass properly. Nonetheless, I had to clone out quite many water stains as well as the reflection of my camera and tripod on the glass.
To reduce the light casts, on the wooden floor, I light painted the area with a small LED light. In the end, frequency separation was the best way to get an even colour look across the whole floor.
Many masks have been created to make all blacks really black and to remove colour and light casts all across the room.
Great image and can appreciate the amount of work that's gone in to it.
Did you leave the strips of light at the sides to help define the columns? They draw my eye out a bit.
I would have photoshopped light flares on to the standing lights on the left and maybe copied the ceiling ones across to add balance - but these are very minor but just hold me back from 4 stars.
Thanks for your feedback! Just to clarify we are talking about the same thing and that I understood you correctly: Do you mean with "strips of lights on the side" the strip lights along the stairs?
The other issue you're describing to have is that the standing lights on the left are not heading towards the camera breaking the symmetry with those heading towards the camera on the right side? If so, I discussed this with the spa owner but he wanted them exactly like that pointing at the pillows.
And in general, I always turn on all lights available. It might go against the trend of turning off lights. Nonetheless, I like the look of all lights turned on as they are a big design element, too. They also add to the overall feel and coziness of a place. That's why I usually turn on everything.
I just mean the detail at the edges of the image, maybe this will help:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjMixmYs8-D8ivkL_kN76FzZSPLmCg?e=KvPv2s
Fair enough about the lights, if that's what's asked for!
Thanks a lot for getting back to me and to really take your time for feedback! Indeed, it took me quite some time to find this composition to separate the columns from the picture frame. I didn't want to crop them off or fill in that gap, so people don't think those are massive pillars, so the area is way more airy to relax and not just filled with big pillars.
Does that make sense to you? :)
(It's hard to describe in words)