Lighting for Interiors

My recent discussion on direct flash got me thinking about lighting alternatives for interiors. I went back through my copy of John Freeman’s classic book “lighting for interiors”. This book is essentially an illustration of interior lighting setups that in addition the final photograph shows the camera and lighting equipment placement that was used to create each image. The feature I like the most is the little narrative with each setup and photo that talks about how the photographer analyzed the light situation and the considerations for choosing each lighting setup. The images in this book are the kind of images you would find in Architectural Digest (my benchmark of interior photography).

A lot can be learned from this book. However, one needs to remember that real estate photography is somewhat different than the photography in this book and Architectural Digest. As a real estate photographer you don’t have the time to spend on each image as these photographers do. And you probably will not want to carry as much equipment as they do. These photographers don’t use compact digital cameras! Other than that your mission is much the same.