Photographing Lighting

[Tammy]

Does anyone have any advice/suggestions on how to photograph lighting? I work for a company that designs lighting, both interior and exterior and a co-worker was wondering what he needs to do to photograph examples of our work.

 

[Sharkbait]

Are the lights going to be on or off? If they're on, it'd be tough to get a good shot without a hotspot of light around the bulb area. hmmm...I'll have to ponder this one :scratch:

 

[Tammy]

The lights will be on because that is what we want to highlight - and the hotspot is exactly what he is having problems with.... (thanks for your help)

 

[i like yoda]

This is purely a suggestion, but why don't you try combining two images.

Take one with the light off to get the correct exposure for light fixture itself, and one with it on to get the correct exposure on the light.

I don't know if it would actually work though, as I have no experience in the field.

 

[Walt]

How about putting low wattage bulbs in?

 

[hobbes28]

How about a ND filter to bring the brightness down some or the circular polarizer to get rid of the hot spot.

 

[drlynn]

I'd say bracket by +/- 1 or 2 stops. Start by metering the shot with the actual lightbulb not in the frame, but just off to one side. Metering with the bulb in the frame will cause exposure problems.

You might also need to reflect some light back into the shot to even out the illumination. A silver or white reflector would be best.

 

[StvShoop]

wow, an architectural thread 8)

the company designs lighting, do they do fixtures or do they design lighting arrangements on-site?
any more details on what's being shot? colors, textures, sunlighting, reflective surfaces, hard/soft lights?

this same issue came up in my environmental systems class last year. my professor would occasionally show the class a series of photos, stopping at each one and saying "good lighting, bad lighting?" and the class would reply "oh, that hotspot there, and oh, that's way too bright, it hurts my eyes!"
but many of the spaces in the photos were on campus. i visited some of them and eh... the photos were not accurate. experiencing the lighting firsthand was very different from looking at photographs. i've come to distrust photography as an effective way to show a bit of architecture

this particular job is quite a tricky task! good luck with it