Room Lighting for Decorator

[william_rubin]

<p>My friend is a decorator and wants to take pictures of the rooms she decorates for her website. She wants to do this herself instead of hiring a pro in order to keep costs down for her clients. What lighting system/brand do you recommend she would need to get the job done herself? She's on a tight budget. I'm sure she would be willing to buy used but what lights to get? Maybe 2 with 2 umbrellas?<br>

Thanks for your help!</p>

[bobcossar]

<p>It's not a matter of what tools she has. Doubtless she has access to a pair of pliers, but that doesn't equip her to be a dentist. Hire the pro to get it right.<br>

But then why would anyone hire a decorator? Anyone can do it if the just buy the right stuff....no?</p>

[william_rubin]

<p>Thanks for the thoughtful reply. How my friend chooses to use the lights is irrelevant. She cannot afford to hire a photographer. I can show her the basics. What I am looking for is someone who can recommend lights for this sort of job.</p>

[brian.]

<p>Well let's see ... what lighting system/brand for a decorator to shoot interiors with? ... I can recommend the setup I use: 2 Dynalite 2000ws packs, 2 1000ws Dynalites, 4 4040 Dynalite studio heads, Pocketwizards on all the packs, various light modifiers like 6x6 Scrim Jims, vellum for windows and accent lighting, reflectors, fill cards, medium Chimera softbox, Chimera lantern, speedrings, flags, C-stands with arms and knuckles, sandbags, ... you get the idea. Or she could just put the camera on a tripod, drag the shutter, and use the built in camera flash for some fill. There really isn't one simple answer to a question like this.</p>

[bobcossar]

<p>Yes there IS Brian. She needs to hire an expert.</p>

[frolickingbits]

<p>Just a heads up-asking a bunch of pro photographers how your friend can get around hiring a pro is likely to not get a whole lot of helpful responses, as you may have noticed. Wording is rather key when asking a question like this. It's kind of like walking in to a dentist's office and asking what tools you should buy to pull your own teeth, or calling an electrician to get a shopping list to wire your own house.<br>

That being said, there are tons of ways to approach this. I would really suggest working with natural light as much as possible, camera on a tripod, white cloth to bounce light where you need more, black cloth to control reflections, and go for it. A couple speedlights can do wonders if used thoughtfully. See the strobist website for more.</p>

[tony_palmieri4]

<p>I just photographed a home interior (basement, kitchen and family room) the other day using ambient light. I brought my Photogenics but realized they would have been more of a headache to use. I resorted to using my camera (5d) on my tripod, shutter release cable, hand held meter, bracketed all my shots in manual mode, shot in raw, used both my 28-70mm and 20mm. Took multiple photographs of the same image metering for shadows, midtones and highlights so I can combine layers in Photoshop to ge the image that looks best. What will probably happen if your friend does this herself is she'll end up with images that she'll be dissatisfied with. My suggestion is to have her trade talent with a professional photographer. Bartering has a cool way minimizing dollars out of pocket and sometimes professional working relationships can be formed. Hopefully both of them can walk away satisifed. Just my opinion.</p>