The Architectural Photographer's Rules of Thumb

These rules relate primarily to interior views, and are merely points of departure. As with all artistic endeavors, there really are no rules. However, the following points will certainly steer you in the right direction. One aspect however is unchangeable great architectural photography is all about light. That's what makes this work so difficult. Learning to light spaces with style and precision takes study and practice. Now, let's look at a few basic guidelines:

THE CAMERA

Height
Generally speaking, most interior views are photographed with the camera between the photographer's waist and chest level. You can also think of this as being about eye level if you're seated in a chair. This elevation gives a natural and comfortable perspective.

Level
Unless you're going for some weird perspective, the camera must be level and plumb. Use one of those nifty two-way levels that mount in your hotshoe, or use a tripod with a two-way level in the head. I recommend using tilt/shift lenses so that you can compose your shot with your camera leveled out. However, without tilt/shift lenses you may have to tilt your camera up slightly and then correct converging vertical lines in post-production.
Lens. The natural tendency when shooting an interior is to use the widest lens you own not always the best choice! Granted, some interior views will require an extremely wide lens; however, explore the possibilities of composing a view with a medium-wide, normal or long lens. I often find that some of the most interesting compositions are achieved with longer lenses.

COMPOSITION

Furniture 
In my experience I've rarely photographed an interior without moving some or all of the furniture. Furniture placement is key to a beautiful composition. Make your decisions about furniture placement by looking through the viewfinder of your camera, and don't allow a pushy designer or art director to dictate placement. They may hate you for the moment, but they'll love you when they see the finished photograph. Pay particular attention to foreground objects, objects that violate the edges of the frame and negative spaces.

Accessories and Propping. Few interiors are "filled up" enough for photography. Unless you're photographing a modern or minimalist design, you'll likely have to bring in additional accessories like flowers and plants, books, throws, lamps, pillows, food items, etc. When it looks a little "overdone", scrutinize the composition through your viewfinder you'll often find that it will look about right through the camera.

The View
Generally speaking, you'll want to compose a view that shows just two walls. It's possible to show a bit of a third wall and make the composition work, but too much of a third wall and you run the risk of making the room look like an uninteresting box. Often some of the most interesting compositions are a view of a single wall with a carefully arranged foreground and middle ground. Take a look at an issue of your favorite architectural magazine and you'll see what I mean.

LIGHTING

Direction
I believe that successful interior views show a definite direction to the light--whether from a perceived outside daylight source, or from a main interior source. When placing a main light I prefer to position it as a classic "3/4 back light". To understand this lighting style, visualize a clock face with the camera position at six o'clock. The main light would then be placed at either the ten o'clock or two o'clock position to achieve the 3/4-backlight effect. There's certainly some variability in this setup, but don't ever place your lights forward of the nine o'clock or three o'clock position. With the main light in this position, the shadows fall forward towards the camera, giving the scene a very natural look. It's not uncommon to use two opposing main lights at ten and two, with one being the dominant source. Once this main source is established use additional lights to fill in shadows and reduce the overall contrast to a useable range. Often lights bounced into the ceiling out of frame will provide adequate fill.

Foreground & Background Values
We all know that the eye is drawn to the brightest part of the scene. Use this to your advantage by adjusting the background value of your scene to a higher value than the foreground. You may want to fine-tune this balance by placing ascending light values through the scene to deliberately lead the eye through your composition.

Accents
These are the little lighting touches that are akin to adding diamond jewelry to an already beautiful woman. You may want to place one or two small accent lights to highlight important areas of the design. Grid spots are often used for accent lighting. The smaller the grid, the more delicate the effect. I sometimes like to add a small streak of light across an otherwise boring sea of carpeting or wall, or a little accent to a fine painting or piece of sculpture.

Variety
I often like to break up my lighting by using a cuculoris (cookie) or by lighting through furniture or indoor trees and plants. The effect is to break up the light and add some patterns of interest on an otherwise blank wall or expanse of flooring. This technique is second nature to most cinematographers, but not often used by us still shooters.

EXPOSURE

Ambient Balance
To give a natural look to your composition, strike a balance between the ambient lighting in the room and your strobes or tungsten lights. It's important to see some definite effect from the existing lighting. For me, a successful interior looks as if the lighting is ALL ambient. If your own lighting draws too much attention to itself then the purpose of the photograph is defeated in my book. If you're using strobes, use your shutter speed to achieve your ambient exposure and then adjust your aperture and/or strobe power for your strobe exposure. If you've got windows in your shot, I recommend overexposing them by a stop unless you're selling the outside view.

Depth of Field 
I realize that the conventional wisdom when shooting an architectural view is to stop way down for maximum depth of field. However, I often find that a shallow depth of field can be just as interesting. I think it's important to use either one or the other. Depth of field that's neither deep nor shallow often just looks wrong. If you're using a deep depth of field I recommend making sure that your foreground objects are sharp. Having the background fall off slightly will not be objectionable. On the other hand, if you're using a shallow depth of field, make certain that your area of sharp focus is very deliberate it has to make sense to the eye that the sharp area is an important area.

The AD Dusk Shot
We all know this look: a beautifully lit tungsten interior view with a rich cobalt blue sky visible through the windows. It's become somewhat of a cliché but it's nonetheless a beautiful technique. In fact, I receive more questions about achieving this look than any other topic. It's really quite simple, but requires serious planning. Here's the technique:

First, make sure you know when dusk is! You'll want to have your shot completely composed and preliminary lighting in place well before dusk.

Second, you'll want to adjust your lighting to the tungsten balance of the existing interior lighting. If you're shooting digital, set your camera balance to tungsten. And if you're shooting film, use a tungsten balance film. I prefer to do this by using tungsten auxiliary lighting rather than color-corrected strobes. Keeping the lighting all tungsten is a much more predictable approach in my book.

Third, make sure that you don't have any of your lights reflecting in the window glass. The effect of reflected light sources may not be easily visible when you begin your setup. A poorly placed light reflected in the windows will draw attention and ruin your shot.

Fourth, once you're completely set up and lit, begin metering the value between your interior and the windows. Most shots of this type will look right when your windows are between 1/3 and 1 stop LESS than your interior. Remember, exposure values are going to change FAST! I recommend a spot meter for this type of shot. I usually start making exposures when the outside value matches the interior value, and then continue to make exposures until the outside value is two stops less than the interior exposure. 

There you have it my attempt at defining a few rules of thumb for architectural interiors. These may seem like simple tips, and obvious ones at that. However, if followed they'll certainly give your photographs a more professional look and allow you to stand out as an architectural specialist in a world of generalist photographers. Now, go out and give them a try for yourself!

©Alan Blakely

Blakely Photography

Alan Blakely Architectural Photography 

The Association of Independent Architectural Photographers