I recently got on to architecture photography and before that, was primarily into shooting music around India. Since I have never shot spaces before, it was an entirely new and enlightening experience - things such as perspective control, distortion, uniform lighting for interior shoots and such.
The images are of a shoot for a cafe/restaurant that was built into a rather narrow and deep space so distortion was something I wasn't able to control to an extent that I would have liked. Also, I wasn't able to get my hands on a Perspective Correction lens or a tilt-shift lens as they are called and had to make do with edits for perspective in post-process. Not sure if any of you do that and if that is an ideal way to shoot architecture.
I have noticed a lot of photographers use a great amount of external speedlights and strobes to light up their interior shots. Is that really necessary in every case when shooting interiors?
I have not shot too many images that have spotlights in them but in the future, I want to experiment with very small apertures to get star-bursts on those lights as well.
Thank you in advance for the criticism and advice :)
Looking For Critiques And Advice - Interior Photographs
To answer your lighting question, no a lot of speedlights are not necessary, but you should learn how to accent the existing light with at least one light. For this kind of work, I would recommend a monolight vs. a speedlight, as speedlights won't be able to give you that much power, especially when you are working at smaller apertures.
I'd say you have a decent start here, you really need to straighten your verticals in post. Tilt/shift lenses are ideal, but you can get the same effect when you tilt the camera up/down to get the desired elements in the frame, and then correct the perspective in post. You are technically distorting the image, but as long as you don't tilt too much, the effect is very similar.
Your compositions are on the right track, but many show too much. Sometimes your client will want to see everything, but when you shoot for yourself, try to get less distorted, tighter shots.
Pay attention to the light temperature, your first one is much more orange than it should be, get some black fabric to mask out reflections like you see in that first one as well.
Thank you so much for the feedback, Adam!
I have not used too much of external lights so I think I should really start trying that more in my shoots.
And I understand what you mean by the tighter shots. More thoughts need to be put into understanding what and where the focal points are and where the eye goes when you see a space.
Just a few quick comments.
Try to make sure your white balance is correct, this can be easily corrected in post and is worth the extra time to adjust. When using a wide angle it's so tempting to try to show as much as you can but sometimes bringing your shot in can help highlight the important features more effectively.
Shooting just below eye level is a good place to start but the third shot down seems high and is making the perspective seen a bit wonky. Brining the camera down closer to the table height could help, but I wouldn't go to low.
There seems to be a good amount of reflection and glare, investing in a nice polarizer could cut down on this.
Finally make sure the focal point is what the eye goes to first, some ahots are a bit right or left heavy. The second to last shot with the table shows a little to much wall, centering more in the room could help the composition. Even turning the camera some. Just some thoughts!
I can't thank you enough for the feedback! I really need to start learning about filters and using them especially ND filters. Will post more photos as I start applying these techniques! :)