Discussion Forum: Lighting question

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Topic: Lighting question

Message posted by estrnboarder on May-05-2005 at 5:29pm

United States
March-26-2005
8 Posts

So I guess this really isnt a question about panoweaver....but can anyone recommend a way to expose for an indoor shot without having the windows being washed out looking. I do a lot of indoor photography with a fisheye lens and I have trouble with the glare and brightness from the light coming throught he windows. Ideally I would like to be able to see through the windows, but I do now know if this is possible. Thanks for any suggestions

Message posted by martyhr on May-05-2005 at 5:39pm

Czech Republic
August-17-2004
20 Posts

Hey estrnboarder,
don't you read this forum?
Many answers to your question are inside.
Please do.

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Martin

Message posted by BigGreenFurryTh on May-05-2005 at 7:38pm

United Kingdom
January-07-2005
49 Posts

The answer is HDR, a means of increasing the tonal width of an image by combining several shots taken at different exposures (bracketing). Thus both the inside of the room and the view through the windows are both visible in an image.

Have a look at the thread in this forum called "Anyone out there who uses Photomatix".

Software to create HDR images =
Ulead's PhotoImpact A cheap and simple way of getting into HDR. Ulead also have a simple explanation of HDR on their site here.
Photomatix Pro probably the best affordable solution on the market to date
Adobe's PhotoShop CS2 the market leader in image manipulation though thus far I prefer PhotoMatix Pro for HDR

Handy Web Sites
Panomundo how to use bracketing in a pano process
Luminous Landscape for a photographic approach to using HDR with PhotoShop CS2 tho' it also contains good, workable advice for taking the pictures in the first place.

Finally, check your camera manual for exposure or EV bracketing and play around with it. If you camera does not have such a function, you will have to change the exposue manually for each shot. To maintain depth of field, change the shutter speed and not the aperture.

Hope this helps,
Mark

Message posted by Thomas on May-06-2005 at 12:45am

May-18-2002
157 Posts

There is too much contrast between inside and outside.
Possible solutions:
1. Close the curtains.
2. Shoot at dusk to have a balanced contrast between inside and outside, gives also nice effects with mixed artificial lights of the room and daylight outside.
3. Create your HDR images - good tutorials are on the panomundo and on the photomatix websites, see the posting above from the big green frog..

With additional lighting in the room you get also additional trouble shooting with a fisheye. You could place a big strobe flash with a softbox above and behind the camera, but with this setup you will also eliminate the room atmosphere. There are Morris strobes with E27 attach to mount them in existing roomlights, but once you start lighting a room you have to spend some time to control it, either with test shoots or with a spotmeter like the Gossen Spotmaster together with a grey card, to control the contrast range between the various room zones and the windows. This is ok for still pictures, but for panos it's too much work (or the customer will pay for the time, then it's ok).

Message posted by phoenixrising on May-09-2005 at 4:02am

United Kingdom
January-16-2003
974 Posts

Hi there Estrnboarder,

to be fair.... this is an issue which has well and truly been covered on many occaisions in this forum... so please make the effort to have a look as there are many various tutorials and tips to be found.

Apart from the HDR path listed above... you can always do multiple exposures in a given direction and by changing the exposure time you will have enough images to then import into Photoshop to blend into one image (per direction) so as to bring in the hi/lo lights of the given image.

But as said... have a look around the forum and more details will be found.

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If I only had an hour to chop down a tree... I'd spend 45 mins sharpening the axe.

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