How to solve this assignment?

[cvcphoto]

Hi,
In a couple of days I have a freelance job, where I'm shooting different indoor bath and kitchen environments. In the store where these environments is, it's made like small booths and walls with displays. The displays are lit by halogen - and some daylight from the ceiling.
I'm thinking of how to shoot this job. My first thought is to use the available light (daylight from the ceiling) and maybe shoot HDR - or just RAW.
Then again, I'm also thinking of using flash to light the displays, but with about 25-30 different displays and booths, it will take a whole lot longer to do this job.
What do you think?
Here's a picture of a couple of the displays:

 

[Overread]

Tricky, you've a lot of highly reflective surfaces in these scenes; if you were to bring in your own lighting you could likely get the best result; however as you say its going to take time to setup. It depends how much time you have to shoot these scenes, how much lighting control you have and how much experience with lighting such scenes. If you've not had much direct experience you might find that you could easily waste a considerable amount of time brushing up moving theory to practical for the shots.

If you've got the time to use lighting and you've got the lights I'd say use them as its likely going to get you the best end result.


HDR combined with RAW shooting would be the next best; a series of shots taken at varying exposures and then blended in editing into an HDR shot could work out and wouldn't eat up as much time. Downside is you might still need to play with lighting to try and remove some of the worst reflections - though if you bring a tripod and the floor is solid you could easily make up for that with some longer exposures. The trick then will be blending the shots so that you get a result that gives a pleasing display without ending up like a cartoon (I'm assuming they want a fairly natural looking shot so you'll need shadows and such in the final blended photo).

You might want to take along a circular polarizer since that should help with the non-metallic reflections at the very least - you might also look like cross polarized flash photography as a method.
Taming those Annoying Highlights: Cross-Polarization Flash Macro Photography | NatureScapes.Net ? The Resource for Nature Photographers

 

[bratkinson]

First, let me state that I've never done such a shoot. Nor am I a pro by any means.

As Overread mentioned above, a CPL is a must to cut the reflections and 'hot spots' from the chrome and other shiny surfaces. I'd also want to have at least 2 stand-mounted flashes at 45 degrees from the imaginary centerline to light the displays uniformly. The second shot makes this very apparent. Adding a third flash above and behind you might also be useful for displays with walls sticking out at you blocking the angled flashes. Ideally, I'd look to eliminate all shadows and have everything uniformly lit.

White balance? Since this is a paid shoot, I'd likely use an X-rite Color Checker photographed in each display. That way, you'll have the colors 100% accurate in each display. At a minimum, shoot a white balance grey card for every display. Of course, shooting RAW and setting WB in post is a necessity.

Also, I just upgraded to Lightroom 5 and absolutely love the vertical line 'correction' capability. The first shot shows the diverging vertical lines that should be fixed for a catalog type of shot. Either a tilt-shift lens (quite expensive), or, Lightroom 5, or Photoshop <whatever> can correct this. And no, I'm not a 'shill' for Adobe.

Also, if it's an option, I'd shoot tethered to a laptop. That way, you can look at the results and quickly identify any issues (other than WB) and make whatever adjustments are necessary before moving on to the next display.

Lastly, having a wife/friend/co-worker assistant would be ideal. That way, you have some help moving everything from display to display as well as a 2nd opinion on how the shots look.

Edit: Almost forgot...a calibrated monitor is strongly recommended.

 

[Designer]

1. Capturing RAW files should not be considered an option. Shoot RAW.
2. You should try for the best product you can get.
3. Which means; use you lights. Try to make the setting look like a real room with real room lighting.
4. So it might take a couple of days, but give them a professional product.

 

[tirediron]

This is not an easy job by any means; your best bet, IMO, would to come in after the store has closed and work through the night to avoid bothering customers and to have the freedom to move when and as required. I also don't think the amount of pay should reflect on the quality of work; there's NO excuse for not doing your best work on each and every job. The only word-of-mouth that gets around faster than people telling others about who did a good job is them telling others about who did a BAD job. Assuming these are standard store displays and the walls only come up about eight feet, and that the store lights are still farther overhead, I'd not worry about the store lights at all.

Start by "replacing" the store lights with an appropriate number of of overhead strobes. If you're really lucky, this building has exposed trusses and you can simply clamp 2, 3, or as many as required strobes overhead.
Once you've got that set, then you're going to need to fill in to avoid unsightly shadows. As Overread mentioned, cross-polarization is going to be essential for this, especially since a CPOL has little to no effect on metallic surfaces. Bring a roll of polarizing film; you're going to need it. As for how to shoot it, If I could get a full 'set' in frame with my 24-70 or my 35, I'd shoot with that, failing that however, I'd shoot a panorama with a medium wide prime to minimize extreme distortion.

 

[cvcphoto]

Thanks for all your help guys.

Well... first of all, I'm not an amateur. I work freelance as a photographer full time - 60% of the time as a real estate photographer, so angles, lines and so on, is something I work with daily. Also the job is well paid, so there's no doubt - I will do the best I can. Right now I think that I will shoot RAW with bracketing of 3-5 shots, and use the daylight from the ceiling and windows - combined with the light in the store. Then correct white balance etc. in PS and LR afterwards.

Thanks for your inputs!

 

[curtyoungblood]

That sounds like a recipe for some really nasty color shifts across the frame.

 

[tirediron]

Well... first of all, I'm not an amateur.

use the daylight from the ceiling and windows - combined with the light in the store.

I'm sorry, but I am completely unable to reconcile those two statements....

 

[Overread]

cvcphoto - check out the cross polarization link I posted. You could use a Circular polarizer on its own, but its not going to affect the metal and only have minimal effect on the other reflections ( because it works based on angles you won't be able to remove them all at once).

Some flash lights, even a couple and the cp method and it could save you hours of editing work cloning and healing out highlights and reflections.

 

[KmH]

I second what John has said.

Making good commercial photographs is all about staging, light quality, and light direction.

As mentioned shooting Raw image files should be standard procedure as should using supplemental lighting.
Since your subjects are inanimate you could use constant lighting instead of flash, but in order to produce professional quality images you will need several lights, light modifiers, some reflectors, and some black flats.

Getting images as close to right in the camera is always the goal.
Making HDR images is post production labor intensive, with no surety that you will wind up with images of sufficient quality and consistency.

No doubt it can be worthwhile to take jobs that require you to work at the limits of your skills, but as mentioned, if you try go beyond your limits it can badly damage your reputation.