Lighting help !

johnboy693 · Mar 24, 2016

Hey guys, I 've been reading the forums here for ages and have gotten SO much help from others posts on here, I decided to join and ask for some help!

Ok so I'm trying to shoot photos of the restaurant that I work for and I'm having some issues with lighting. We use a LOT of natural light, but because of that when I take photos of the rooms they are either too dark, or blown out because the light is coming from one side of the room, and we have very large windows. When they want me to photograph the room there will be lots of people coming in and out setting up so I cant use any external light source to try to correct it. Do any of you have any advice on how to shoot the rooms? Even merging together 2 or more photos to get the correct exposure on different sides of the room?

Thanks!

John

table1349 · Mar 24, 2016

Use lights and fake it when the place is closed.

If they don't understand the idea then give them a bunch of carrots, celery and hotdogs and tell them to make a standing rib roast out of it. They will understand then.

You are going to have to balance the light, plain and simple.

tirediron · Mar 24, 2016

What gryph said! Some things you simply can't fake. Jobs like this need to time and space, and likely a lot of light; not so much "volume" but in many different locations.

beachrat · Mar 24, 2016

My favorite subject.
LIGHT!!!

table1349 · Mar 24, 2016

beachrat said:
My favorite subject.
LIGHT!!!

My favorite subject.

beachrat · Mar 24, 2016

OK.
You got me there gryphonslair.
Lighting is my SECOND favorite subject.
Maybe 3rd.

dennybeall · Mar 24, 2016

How about shooting the window area when nobody is there and then expose correctly for the rest of the room at the time you need to shoot and then merge in Photoshop?
It would really be great if you could get the windows shot earlier then close some shear curtains over the windows while you shoot the action shots.

beachrat · Mar 24, 2016

What camera and lenses are you using?

johnboy693 · Mar 24, 2016

Unfortunately for the setup I can't come when it's closed. It's easter brunch so it's set up that morning and will be doing things until the doors open. So I'm stuck with what I got.

I'm shooting with a Canon 5D MKII and a Tokina AT-X Pro FX 16-28mm f/2.8 probably.

beachrat · Mar 25, 2016

The only way you can do what you're describing is to either blow out the highlights,or run with a bounced speedlight.
Shooting Canon,which I don't,my recommendation would be to buy Syl Arena's book and learn to light.
Great book no matter what equipment you're using.

KmH · Mar 25, 2016

johnboy693 said:
Hey guys, I 've been reading the forums here for ages and have gotten SO much help from others posts on here, I decided to join and ask for some help!

Ok so I'm trying to shoot photos of the restaurant that I work for and I'm having some issues with lighting. We use a LOT of natural light, but because of that when I take photos of the rooms they are either too dark, or blown out because the light is coming from one side of the room, and we have very large windows. When they want me to photograph the room there will be lots of people coming in and out setting up so I cant use any external light source to try to correct it. Do any of you have any advice on how to shoot the rooms? Even merging together 2 or more photos to get the correct exposure on different sides of the room?

Thanks!

John

Yep.
If you can't set up supplemental lighting to balance the light and compensate for a dynamic ranger greater than your camera can capture your only hope is to merge several photos together.
It's a situation that can be coped with by using the HDR technique of blending a series of bracketed exposures.
But.
Unless everyone stays completely still between shots you'll have blurred people in the final image.
Plus there's a learning curve that would have to be negotiated.

This is Friday. Easter is this Sunday. Good Luck.

johnboy693 · Mar 25, 2016

John[/QUOTE]Yep.
If you can't set up supplemental lighting to balance the light and compensate for a dynamic ranger greater than your camera can capture your only hope is to merge several photos together.
It's a situation that can be coped with by using the HDR technique of blending a series of bracketed exposures.
But.
Unless everyone stays completely still between shots you'll have blurred people in the final image.
Plus there's a learning curve that would have to be negotiated.

This is Friday. Easter is this Sunday. Good Luck.[/QUOTE]

Thanks luckily I'll be able to shoot when. People aren't in the rooms, so I'm just take a ton of photos with a bunch of different exposuresizes and hope for the best I guess.

Thanks for all the advice