HELP! How are these pictures taken??

[tirediron]

Thanks for your input Tirediron. But you're wrong about HDR not being an effective tool at night or a windowless room. See attachments.

Well, to be strictly accurate, what I said was, "it might not cut it", NOT that it wasn't and effective technique. IMO the images you attached prove this to be the case. Note the front edge of the seats of the chairs in the first image: A large, blown highlight along each. In the second image, you have blown areas around the perimeter lighting in the ceiling tray, and some pretty nasty mixed colour temperature issues. In the third, there are really large blown areas in each sink bowl.... The last one isn't bad for highlights, but again, mixed temperature lighting is, IMO, hurting the image.

I shoot a lot of high profile locations which can be made available only for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. Using artificial lighting is simply not an option. That's why I shoot only with available light. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

You're right. There is. I'm not saying you're doing it wrong, but I am saying you could be doing it better. Using supplemental light is ALWAYS an option. Let's assume that in the last image you posted both you and I were tasked to go in and get the same shot. I am willing to bet that the one I produced using fill flash would be a more appealing image.

Given that people can and do light indoor arenas with flash, a room this size is hardly a challenge. I could light that with little more than the gear I carry in my vehicle on a regular basis. Since your 'Edit' preference isn't set, I won't mark up your image with my lighting plan, but assuming that was the shot, my initial set-up would start with six lights, and probably expand to about 8 for the final shot. Assuming that I was allowed access in advance to recce, and take a few measurements, I would say that from the time I got the last of my gear on-set until the shot was in the can would be somewhere in the hour-thirty - hour-forty-five range.

 

[Scatterbrained]

Thank you all for your answers. It certainly helped. Since I posted this thread I decided to experiment with HDR a little more, using 7 or more bracketed shots. I use my camera that brackets only 3 shots, but do a +3 exposure and -3 exposure and eliminate the duplicate shots. THis way I can get from +6 all the way to -6 stops in however increments I choose.

This works pretty well for me. I don't like to use artificial lighting on my shoots as it almost always kills the mood. So HDR is the way to go for me.

It's not the artificial light that kills the mood. It's an inability to use it properly. The images you posted, that you aspire to, are lit artificially. High end RE photography is done with artificial lighting precisely because you can "set the mood" with photographic lighting in a way you can't when you rely on just the room lighting.

Scater, you seem pretty sure that they are lit. You must see something that I can't. How about this one? Seems a little too large of an area to be lit by flash. What do you think?View attachment 128787

You want to know the first thing I saw with this image? Look at the small partition walls in the middle with the skulls, as well as the large skull behind the bar. They are lit with strobes (or speedlights). It's a common technique to walk the room (or around the house) firing off a speedlight at areas you want to highlight. Then take these exposures and blend them in. That shot may be a combination of both techniques, as an easy way to control the highlights of the many exposed light bulbs in the room, but to my eye it looks like there is still supplemental lighting going on in the scene.