Indoor photography skills

For the shooting of personal photos, people often pay more attention to a person's expression, while the shooting of location is easily influenced by external light sources, which makes the shooting of photos lack a unique artistry. Often, the shooting of location is just like a life photo as a recording technique, not a real artistic photo. The following are the indoor photography skills I have compiled for you, I hope they are useful to you.

1. Light is the key to indoor photography.

Compared with other photographic subjects, the light of indoor photography is very important. Before shooting, turn on all light sources, and then observe the environment to determine whether other external auxiliary light sources are needed. As far as my personal habit is concerned, I usually like to use natural light, but sometimes I have to use external auxiliary light sources. The so-called external auxiliary light source may be a small flash or a large lighting lamp. Usually I use a combination of the two. I'll discuss this in more detail later. I usually use natural and real light in indoor photography, which means avoiding some large white areas, such as doors or windows. Of course, compared with the past, today's publications can accept such white areas, but I usually try to avoid the possibility of distracting the viewer when looking at photos from these white areas.

2. The Flash is your friend.

As mentioned above, flash is a necessary option in many cases, such as dim light, or you need to balance indoor and outdoor light to make the light of photos look more natural. Small external flash can provide quick installation and light distribution in dark or poorly lit rooms. I also use large lighting equipment, such as alien bees or westcott spider lights. Large lighting equipment has wider light distribution, but it is more troublesome to install. So, you should think about your lighting plan before shooting. In order to get a good external lighting effect, whether I use a small flash or a large lighting lamp, I usually aim at a horizontal plane, which may be a wall or a ceiling, but I usually let the camera illuminate and will not flash directly at the top of the machine. Good light is usually achieved through trial and error, because the light source in each room is different, so the light is different. Try your camera on a tripod without an external light source, and then try adding an external light source until you feel the effect is good.

3. Flash is your enemy

Yes, you read the title correctly. Although the flash may be helpful to your photos, it may also be your nightmare. Off-board flash is a powerful tool and needs to be used wisely. As I said above, I personally prefer to use natural light sources first, and then determine whether an external light source is needed to supplement the light. Natural light can sometimes take good photos, like the one below, but it all depends on the weather and natural light conditions. If both are not good, you may need a long exposure. Note that doors and windows are easily overexposed in this case. So, don't install it just because you have an external light source, but observe the light around you before installation, which may be better than using an external flash.

4. Style is an important part of photography.

Whether shooting indoor photos for magazines or real estate companies, the decoration style of the room is an important part of the whole shooting process. Just as a model needs time to make up for a shed shoot, you need to clean the room before the shoot. Those piles of sundries, coffee tables piled with magazines, and small things on bookshelves that can't get on the table should be cleaned up, because these things will distract the theme of a photo and affect the viewer's attention.

Everything is designed.

Usually taking indoor photos, there should be a clear reason. Usually, that's to make the room look attractive. So before you shoot, the host should have arranged the scenery. So, when you shoot, don't take pictures like the room you see in most cases, but like the owner thinks it should be described. Then, you don't mind moving furniture or making some small soft clothes. In order to get good lighting and layout, I have moved the sofa and managed to rearrange the living room. Many things can be repaired in PS, but it is best to deal with these things before shooting.

Shoot more corners

This is an important skill of indoor photography, and this skill is also very simple: shooting in a corner of a room often looks much bigger. This technique goes further: shoot from a lower position and use a wide-angle lens, but be careful not to be too wide, because it will produce some deformation effects. If you shoot a wall directly, it may look flat, but sometimes it looks a little distorted. Throughout the mainstream indoor magazines, you will find that the corner of the room is the best shooting place.

7. Let indoor photos tell stories

Through a unique way to capture its internal characteristics, to tell the personality and highlights of a set of decoration. If this suite is an old brick house, look for unique brick details to close it. If this suite is a fairly modern building, look for unique lighting effects or unique architectural details to express it. Every interior decoration and outdoor building has its own story. You should try your best to discover and capture its characteristics for your customers. Under these principles, if you use a lot of false light, it will not be what you usually see.

Creative

This is a skill that I often recommend to people. Be more creative and don't be afraid to try new things. There are many ways to try new things: for example, using a filter flash or shooting with a zoom lens. In fact, every good photo is the result of your attempt. You just choose some photos that you think are good from a lot of photos you have taken. For close-ups, changing the angle may have unexpected good effects, but be careful: it may make the wall look like it is going to fall down.