Is it possible to make a room look larger?

[AmCam]

I want to convert my spare junk room in to a photo studio, taking pictures of antique furniture. I want to create a feature wall that I can shoot against different pieces of furniture, but I am thinking that my room is a bit small for the type of shot I want. Is there a lens that will pull away and give more of the room? Opposite to a zoom lense???

Thanks

 

[pgriz]

UWA (Ultra wide-angle). Oh, and a tripod to keep the walls from caving in. You can make a closet look like a bowling alley. But that "distorting" reality a bit.

 

[480sparky]

Yep. UWA lens is the way to go. Just get one that doesn't have a lot of compound distortion as that is a bear to correct and having wavy walls is counterproductive.

A Sigma 12-24, Nikkor 14-24 or similar on a full-frame, or something in the 8-10mm range for a crop body.

If the final result doesn't need to be pin-sharp, especially at the corners of the image, you can get a full-frame fisheye and defish it.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Before you convert the room into a studio, don't you think you might need to learn more first? Knowing the difference between a wide angle and a zoom or telephoto lens seems beginner level to me, and you'd need to develop skills in lighting and using a different lens than you're used to. Maybe you could rent some equipment and try it out before you get further along with this idea. I wouldn't want to see someone spend money on studio equipment and renovating a room before they've developed their skills to the point that the cost would be worth it.

 

[CameraClicker]

I want to convert my spare junk room in to a photo studio, taking pictures of antique furniture. I want to create a feature wall that I can shoot against different pieces of furniture, but I am thinking that my room is a bit small for the type of shot I want. Is there a lens that will pull away and give more of the room? Opposite to a zoom lense???

Thanks

How big is the room? 10 mm on a 1.6 crop factor Canon or 16 mm on a full frame body will give about a 90° angle of view, squish into a corner and you can shoot the whole room! But a lens as wide as that tends to stretch the sides of your frame and if the lens is not perfectly level keystone appears. It can all be corrected with tricky software but you have to watch for it. Near objects appear much larger than slightly more distant objects. A lot of care is required.

 

[AmCam]

The spare room at the moment is just a tipping ground for stuff that is not needed anymore and it is going to take a few trips to the tip. The room is about 4 meters square. When I said I wanted to turn it in to a studio, that may have been a too strong a word. I have done macro stuff when I had my watches, but taking pictures of antique furniture is a bit bigger than a watch and I am just at the planning stage as I do not want to jump in and get the wrong stuff.

I have ideas in my head that just need to be translated in to reality and the first one I wanted to know is my original question of making the room bigger than it actually is. When I am sorted, I will post a few pics. But for now, I need to clear the room and decorate to how I see it in my head.

I have a Nikon D40 so what lens would be suitable to fit it? Thanks for the help so far.

 

[Scatterbrained]

The issue you're going to run into with a small space is finding a perspective and focal length that will let you get the whole piece of furniture and the wall, without getting the rest of the room. If you're dressing a certain wall for the shoot then I'd imagine you don't want the other walls showing. If that's the case you'll actually need something longer rather than shorter. In a small room I'd imagine about 35mm or so on an APS-C would give you a wide enough perspective to get the entire wall. Just be wary of perspective distortion when working that close to a large subject.

 

[unpopular]

I agree with Vintage here, you really need to learn a lot more before you can start this endeavor. I don't mean to be snarky here, but your incorrect use of the concept of a "zoom" lens indicated that you don't quite understand sufficiently the effect of simply decreasing focal length.

 

[runnah]

Few problems here. Vintage furniture tends to be big. To get good lighting you are going to want lights above what you are shooting. Also an ultra wide angle lens is going to make straight furniture all curved and distorted.

 

[unpopular]

Few problems here. Vintage furniture tends to be big.

LOL. Makes me wish I had a scan of this little antique children's rocking chair I made look huge using view camera movements and a 90mm lens (4x5).

 

[pgriz]

Actually my reply with kinda tongue-in-cheek. The truthful answer is that your studio probably needs to be at least 4-6 times larger than the working space (ie, where your furniture actually sits), just so that you can install appropriate lights, backdrops, etc., and give yourself enough working distance between camera and object, to avoid distortion and other effects that show up with wide-angles. A common problem is not having enough space between your object and the background, or enough ceiling room to allow you to arrange the lights. There is a reason why real studios tend to be large open rooms with high ceilings. Bonus if you can have large, north-facing windows.

 

[unpopular]

^^ yes, trust me, working in too small of a space is hugely limiting as anyone who has worked in an apartment can tell you.

 

[dennybeall]

You're looking at a space roughly 13 feet by 13 feet. If you're going to accurately represent the furniture you can't go with a really wide lens or it will be distorted I think. I'd paint two walls and a part of the floor white, get a turntable to put the item on and take multiple shots of the item at close to normal view (50mm full frame or 35mm cropped sensor). You could take 3 or 4 shots and have an accurate representation of the piece.

 

[unpopular]

I'd imagine tilt/pan would have similar drawbacks to a WA lens, at least with a planar projection. I know that stitching software can correct this, but IDK how well it works with only a few shots. Lateral (side to side) stitching would be ideal, but time consuming.

 

[AmCam]

I just sell the occasional bit of furniture that has either been restored or "up-cycled" (I really hate that buzz word) and I am looking to get a website up and running with items to sell and good pictures would help in the sales. It is all a learning curve and I may even just hire a professional photographer, but I like to have a go at things myself before I give up.

Thanks for the comments and hopefully, I will have an image to eventually show you.