Sunday, July 1, 2007

Superwide on the Inside: Custom Home Interiors with Sigma's 10-20 DC HSM

In preparation for a website I was commissioned to build, we shot a custom home interior for a custom home builder. I used Sigma's 10-20/4-5.6 HSM DC with all shot taken at f8 - f10 - the sweetspot for this superwide zoom. While DOF at f8 is not a problem at the 10mm setting, it becomes necessary at 20mm to go up to f16 for maximum depth.

Using your superwide with view camera techniques (swings and tilts), orient the lens to bring the image into proper alignment visually - a planoparallel relationship to the subject is needed to minimize distortion. Further corrections to straighten verticals can be made on the computer where compositions cannot be perfectly attained in the viewfinder. Then, go on to retouching and sharpening.

Fill flash was provided by my SB 600 / SB800 units and Lightspheres - in close quarters these have proven to be really effective where umbrellas are just out of the question as they cannot be hidden easily from the image area or provide the omnidirectional lighting needed for illuminating large spaces.

Without further adieu...

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You don't need to shoot an entire room if you can communicate the purpose of each room with enough details - the sideboard added the details needed in this scene...

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By necessity, I had to retouch out the feet lightstand in the hallway of this image...

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The exaggerated lines in this bathroom scene are almost uncomfortable - I'll let the photo editor decide how much ceiling they would want to show here...

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Some shadows (behind the door and by the nightstand) are needed to prevent the impression of an overlit image. My goal was to prevent the viewer from locating the source or direction of your lighting. I had a magazine editor ask me if I used additional lighting in this series - wow, each one was shot using the Lightshpere. I took that as a compliment!

Mule

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