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Dining Room

© John H. Siskin

Dining Room

Uploaded: March 07, 2008

Description

Shot with an 18mm lens on a full frame camera. 3 lights: 2 Norman 200B strobes and a Calumet Travelite 750. The key is to balance the two ends of the table, the far end lit by daylight and the close side lit by strobes.

Exif: F Number: 9.5, Exposure Bias Value: 0.00, ExposureTime: 1/45 seconds, Flash: did not fire., ISO: 160, FocalLength: 18.00 mm, Model: DCS Pro 14N

Comments

M.Christine Duncan March 07, 2008

Wow, the lighting and composition is incredible! Until I'm able to take a course, I plan on watching work like yours very carefully. Lighting seems so tricky sometimes, but this is lit beautifully. Mr. Siskin, you're an inspiration to people like myself who one day hope to be able to do what you do behind a lens! #871841

John H. Siskin March 07, 2008

Hi Christine,
I am glad you like this shot. I shot this house earlier this week. I will be uploading more images soon. There is something special about a week where you shoot a 17 million dollar house and a half million dollar car. This can be a great job.
The key with lighting is to understand two and a half things: first color, if you mix light colors or use an uncontinuous source you will have problems. You may not be able to fix them. The second thing is the size of the light source. A big light source is soft and has less shadowing, like an overcast day. A small source shows texture and detail. Finally the half thing: the position of your light s is much more critical with a small light source than a large one. I hope to see you in one of my classes.
Good Luck! John Siskin
#5607471

Bruce A. Dart April 03, 2008

Hi John,
While we might have appeared to disagree on some previous discussions (actually we have not) I feel it only fair to tell you what a great job you did with this shot. As you know, the key to this type of shot is to make it appear that you did NOT use lights and that it was totally natural and that is exactly how it looks. And, even though photographing with a very wide angle lens, you kept all the lines parallel and vertical without distortion. Your "mixed light" situation is a little under stated -- that is often very tricky -- and the natural reflections on the table are very nice, without getting the reflections of your lights to show up on the table. An excellent job.
Bruce #5738378

John H. Siskin April 03, 2008

Hi Bruce,
I admire the dedication of you and others who post on BP. I know that everyone wants to help make better images.

I am very happy about this image. I always enjoy doing architectural work. As you say the goal is to make the work look as though you hadn’t done any word. Really a difficult trick. I have been doing a lot of this work recently; so I’ll be adding it to my BP portfolio.

Thanks, so much for your kind words!
John Siskin
#5740242

Bruce A. Dart April 03, 2008

You are welcome John. Sharing and helping one another is what it is all about. If we can help someone learn something a little easier or more quickly than some of the hard knocks that we might have had is a goal. I am impressed with BP and the quality of images I see. It is a joy.
Best wishes.
Bruce #5740612

John H. Siskin April 03, 2008

Thanks Bruce! I am shooting more architecture lately; it is so interesting to do. I should point out that Richard Lynch (another instructor here at BP) and I have an article about shooting architecture in the current issue of Photo Techniques. Thanks again for your comments! John Siskin #5740705

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