Overview
There was NO WAY I was going to try and balance this many cubic yards
of interior with that one little splash of sunshine on the white
piano....so I upped the shutter speed so it wouldn't just be a white
blob over there, and then concentrated on the rest of the scene.
Had I really wanted to preserve detail on the piano, if I were a
high-powered architectural photog with an assistant, I'd have
positioned some black scrim outside that window to cut the sunlight by
a few stops.
The rest of the scene is lit as follows:
SB80 just around the corner beyond the piano, diffuser cap &
bounced off a little corner over there.
SB80 way back around the corner in the dining room, bounced out of the
corner.
SB80 in the stairwell. This one took a few attempts, because the
stairwell has big windows and so was pretty bright, but there was one
very dark area so I had to figure out how to light up that area
without overdo-ing it in the bright areas.
SB24 w/ radio trigger in the kitchen.
SB600 on stand behind the column at image center.
On-camera 430ex aimed up and behind me, bouncing off the corner behind
my head.
Comments and faves
richie taylor (64 months ago | reply)
thats one hell of a home and one hell of a photo
rrdphoto (64 months ago | reply)
lol - richie is right on both accounts there! nice photo.
Perhaps you could throw some thin material into your kit that you could use in situations like this. I'd imagine that there was a rod or some kind of window dressing on that window lighting the piano. You could pretty quickly & easily hang something that would have brought the intensity of that light down.
Any thoughts on that approach? Again, great photograph.
Jany (64 months ago | reply)
Amazing shot!! You should always carry window blinds with you ;)
Maybe should have just pushed it out of the shot!?
Or taken another shot underexposed and did a high dynamic range shot?
SydneyGirl1 (64 months ago | reply)
Scott Hargis you rule! Your clients must always be so happy with your work. A gorgeous photo, nice house and amazing colour balance. Tks for showing it, Av
M James - jnorthen.com (64 months ago | reply)
That's a cracking good shot Scott - Outstanding balance and control.
M. James
Doug Cranmer (64 months ago | reply)
Great job as usual, phenomenal for such a large space.
Doug
jon54 (64 months ago | reply)
Awesome...and it has a piano! (A white one no less)
Tim Broyer [deleted] (64 months ago | reply)
Thank you for sharing that as well as the lighting. A Top notch photo.
andi.dixon (64 months ago | reply)
Beautiful! You are my RE photography hero!
Thanks for sharing!
Scott Hargis (64 months ago | reply)
Gosh.....thanks, everyone!
I've thought seriously about the scrim.... it wouldn't get used very often, but in some situations it could save me a lot of post.
I recently rented a big 6' x 6' white silk diffuser screen for another project, and it's designed to be mounted atop a large heavy stand that would allow it to be raised a good 12' - 15' feet off the ground. That might well work in a lot of RE situations. In this case, it was a big set of french doors with no way to cover them, but positioning a large screen of scrim just might have worked.
@Michaelasgian -- too long, and not enough!
@jon54 -- no, no ---- it has a staircase! That's the important thing!
bigDphotographer [deleted] (64 months ago | reply)
A+W+E+S+O+M+E
jyearwoo (64 months ago | reply)
You shall henceforth be referred to as the "Macgyver" of Real Estate photography. That is some serious light placement.
about face (64 months ago | reply)
Great stuff!
maddcovv (64 months ago | reply)
Very nice! Is an SB80 an older SB800?
KLnyc added this photo to his favorites. (64 months ago)
KLnyc (64 months ago | reply)
Hot damn...6 strobes :)))
Great shot!!
RadioFreeCalifornia (64 months ago | reply)
Jim....I always tell Tyra to pull the curtains or draw the shade. No curtains or shade for the piano?.... ;-)
Nice little work of art you created there....
Michael Shattuck (64 months ago | reply)
Dude...stop raising the bar! I feel like the little chubby kid hanging from the chin-up bar...fighting to eek out one rep! Oh yeah, that was me (but I digress).
Great work Scott. I really appreciate you posting your work to help everyone else (and in your mind, yourself as well) improve. Man, I hope you're getting the just compensation you deserve for your talent.
Scott Hargis (64 months ago | reply)
Yes, some people would say I'm getting exactly what I deserve......
Thanks for the nice comments, everyone!
muha..., luisx.com, trdwijaya, Charles Soper, and 6 other people added this photo to their favorites.