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From the Blog

Interior Architectural Shoot for Allen Design

Mastering the use of small, compact speedlights has helped me improve in every aspect of our photography. Though we’re mostly known for our wedding and portrait work, we photograph a wide variety of subjects…from professional sports to editorial assignments to architectural work and so on.

Recently I had the pleasure of doing another shoot with Elizabeth Allen of Allen Designs. Elizabeth is an AMAZING architect who I’ve worked with many times before. Check out some of her other projects we’ve worked on together at http://www.allen-design-inc.com/projects.htm.  She wanted some “before” shots of the house before the new home-owners moved in. Later I’ll come back and photograph the “after” shots when they’re done settling in and decorating.

I mostly work with the Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 mounted to one D3 for the wide shots, and the Nikkor 70-200 VRII on the other D3 for detail shots. Both cameras have an SB-900 on it, set to commander mode, and triggering my remote SB-800 flashes via RadioPoppers. Depending on the complexity of the room, I might have 1, 2, even 6 remote speedlights with various umbrellas and light-modifiers to get the look I want. Here are a few before/after shots to show how the Nikon Creative Lighting System can solve just about any lighting issues you can think of…

(Before adding 3 speedlights)

(After adding 3 speedlights)

(Finished shot with 2 speedlights)

(Often bouncing a speedlight off a white wall or reflective surface is more efficient than using an umbrella or other modifier)

(Before adding a single speedlight)

(Hiding a speedlight in the closet and bouncing it off the white door to illuminate that space not only gave me better light, but it corrected the ugly orange glow from the incandescent light bulb, and brought the white balance in line with the natural daylight filling the rest of the bedroom)