The past month has seen me spending hours and days painting a rental property that my wife and I own. The tenant had lived in it for the seven years since we purchased it, and was already there for about four years when we purchased the duplex. So, needless to say, when that nice old lady finally decided it was time to leave, the place showed plenty of wear.
I loaded my truck with tools and pretty much moved in to change a worn out house back into an inviting home. Finally, after what seemed to this lone-painter to be a never-ending job, it has reached an end. I have painted the complete interior for the one side and all the exterior trim for both sides. Whew!
We have decided to sell and relinquish the job of landlord to other investors, and that means after I pick up all the ladders, paint cans, brushes, and vacuum the place; my fun days will begin. It’ll be time to get out my camera, tripod, and flashes, and produce images of that shining place that will make it easy for a realtor to find buyers for us.
I suppose pointing a camera inside a building to take a few pictures has never been easier than it is today, and I have seen some interior work where a photographer saw and worked with the existing light, without any additional flash units, and was able to produce excellent images. But I like using flash, and any chance I have to modify a room’s ambient light I am going to take. Yep, I just like using flash.
I remember the difficulty of trying to hide my lighting unit’s power cords before we had the benefit of Photoshop, and then after Photoshop was available the extra time it took to clone out those ugly flash cords. However, now everything is wireless, the cords are gone, and I no longer pack in large studio type lights.
Gosh, other than the light stands, my whole lighting “kit” of four-hotshoe type flashes fits into a small seven by ten inch bag.
Later this week I’ll show up at the renovated rental unit with two flashes on light stands and start taking pictures. I don’t like to use lenses that are too wide angle. Everything gets distorted, so I will be using my full frame D800e and a 24-70mm lens. I prefer the zoom rather than a fixed focal length (prime) lens because it gives me a bit of in-camera perspective control. And although I use a tripod, I find much of the time I end up jamming my shoulder into a corner, or sitting on the floor, or standing on a stool to get the most interesting view of the small rooms. The neat thing about using a wireless sender/receiver on one’s camera and flash is that the flash can be positioned in another room to illuminate a hallway or give the effect of light coming through a window.
I’ll arrive in the late afternoon and stay till late morning. There’s lots of food and drink in the refrigerator and I’ll stick some CDs in my portable player and start having a great time, listening to music and doing my photography.
Photographing any interior space presents a variety of photographic challenges and coming up with interesting ways to light the indoor space to show texture and form, and solving the challenges that windows and exterior lighting introduce is time consuming and enjoyable.
Adding light to a portrait is probably one of the best ways to improve the mood, feel, emotion, contrast, and impact for viewers. And the same applies for interiors and architecture.
These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net. Stop by Enman’s Camera at 423 Tranquille Road in Kamloops.
I sell an interesting selection of used photographic equipment. And if you want an experienced photographer please call me at 250-371-3069.