Indoor photography

[mikelangelo]

My friend is a curator at a local museum and has asked me to take photos of the interior of the museum for a brochure they will be doing. The kinds of things they want to hightlight will be the interior architecture and woodwork as well as some of the exhibits and such.

I have limited experience with indoor shooting. Does anyone have any suggestions, resources, or example photos where I can get a sense of how to proceed.

I'm doing it for free. I'm building them a Web site, so I can use the photos for that anyway. One of the things I'm concerned with will be the harsh lighting.

Thanks for any suggestions or links.

[nephoto]

Harsh lighting? Are you going to be using the camera's pop up flash then? And a huge factor is how fast your lens' are that you will be using (aperature), and how much available light you will have. Post the gear you will have available to you and we will be able to offer a lot more help.

[Connie]

I would recommend to use tripod + slow aperture

if you have digital camera, keep in mind that you will have either "artificial" or "neon" light, I don't know the correct english words for that

[mikelangelo]

I'll be using my Canon Digital Rebel (300d). I have access to a shoe mounted external Vivitar Flash. The two lenses I have are the Canon 70-200mm f/4.0 L lense and the cheapo 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 lense that came with the camera. I'll probably use that one for most of the shots (bleah).

I have a tripod as well which, as connie suggested, I'll probably use for most of the shots. Along with my remote shutter release.

[blinking8s]

something like a macro, a 50 and an 85mm would be ideal

def going to have to use a flash, and an off camera shoe cord would be ideal to get the flash at an off axis direction

a remote and tripod would help too

with you're setup, they are going to be fairly straight forward, i doubt you'll need the 70-200 at all, unless you get a ringmount for the tripod, handhelp isnt going to turn out as clean

[mikelangelo]

Cool. Thanks for the tips guys! I'm sure I'll post some when I get 'em.

[derevaun]

IMHO a tripod is a much better choice than a flash if there's no movement in the room. The DRebel will compensate for the lighting, and you'll get more depth of field if you use a small aperture, like f/22 or f/32. In any case, you'll need to try different bounce angles with the flash to avoid unnatural bright or dark areas.

[mikelangelo]

yeah.. I have access to a reflector at the office (gold on one side, silver on the other)...I may consider trying that for fun as well.

I've also been itching to use my remote shutter with my tripod. I think you're right that the natural light will be better than the flash. Especially with my inexperience with external flash units.

[jeffjirsa]

Tripod, remote, natural light, and you'll be fine.

[blinking8s]

is it for design or just photos on a website? if the images are going to be used for design stuff, make sure you get "detail" shots...closeups, minor details and such, dont always shoot a full scene ect

[mikelangelo]

yeah... I haven't seen the facility but I was hoping to get some nice close-ups of woodworking/architecture, windows, exhibits. I've never specifically tried shots of a building's interior before. This will be a learning experience.

As far as use... They are creating a brochure, and in the future, I'll be creating a Web site for them.

THanks for the tips!

[blinking8s]

pull up some stock photo sites and look up museums and stuff, i bet you can get a good idea on what to aim for

[mikelangelo]

crud.. why didn't I think of that? Good tip! thanks.