with Kristen Duke, photographer/blogger

Photographing Rooms & Projects

www.KristenDuke.comInstagram: kristendukephotography

Know Your Camera

ISO-set first, according to the light in any given space

F-stop (Aperture)--set second depending on how much you want in focus ex: f/2.0

Shutter Speed-set last unless using tripod, measured in fractions of a second ex: 1/250

White Balance-color temperature depending on shade, sun, lightbulb

White Balance

Color Temperature of an image

Lenses

50mm lens--great lens for projects, limited for rooms, inexpensive: recommended if you don’t have

35mm lens--great lens for rooms as it is more wide

28-75mm--great versatile lens, may not be as crisp

14-35mm--wide angle lens, likely distorts space, helpful for small spaces such as a bathroom

Shooting with Natural Light

* Shoot in the middle of the day, or early afternoon when the light is at its best

* Position your projects close to a window or large opening

35mm 1/640 sec; f/2.5; ISO 400

35mm 1/320 sec; f/2.5; ISO 200 (for both shots)

*Open your front door: use ladder, table, or chair to display items

35mm 1/640 sec; f/3.2;

ISO 250

85mm 1/200 sec; f/1.8;

ISO 320

Text

35mm 1/200 sec; f/4.0; ISO 500

35mm 1/1600 sec; f/2.5; ISO 400

*Open the garage door

Text

35mm 1/250 sec; f/3.2; ISO 200

* Avoid harsh light. Bright early afternoon sun is great, but it can also be extremely strong and lead to very large strong highlights, and very harsh shadows.*If in direct sunlight window, have a sheer sheet to diffuse or push table back. Make your own shade.

35mm 1/400 sec; f/2.0; ISO 500

Merging Images

If you have a beautiful view outside the window that you want to capture, you can show off the room and the view at the same time. Using a tripod, set up your camera settings to expose for the view outside the window or door. Then, without moving the camera, change your settings to expose for the room. Finally, merge the photos together in Photoshop.

35mm 1/2500 sec; f/3.8; ISO 500

35mm 1/125 sec; f/4; ISO 1000

Photoshop Steps: Open up both images, Copy/Paste one on top of the other. Get eraser

tool and “erase” the part of the bottom image that you want to show through, flatten and save image.

Two images merged to make a perfect shot

Shooting with Artificial Light

I rarely use artificial light. I shoot all my projects during the day, but if you find you are needing to shoot more at night, here are some options.

I’ll shoot some steps in the evening with my camera on manual, using the lightbulbs, and my white balance set accordingly. This stirring picture below was just that: at night, no flash, with artificial light bulbs above

35 mm lens

1/160 sec; f/2.8;

ISO 800

*Make your own lightbox for tabletop projects

*Use an external flash, bounce the light or diffuse it. (I use a lightsphere www.garyfongstore.com) or on your pop up flash use www.lightscoop.com

The only time I will use artificial light during the day when I have available natural light is when I’m shooting into a window. The bright light coming through often fizzes out the details with a smoky halo around the window. By popping on my flash, I am able to see the details around the window better. (Or you can use the tip above and take 2 shots with different settings and merge them together in processing) Below is the room taken without flash.

35mm 1/125 sec; f/2.5; ISO 160

35mm 1/160 sec; f/2.8; ISO 400 with flash

Room taken with flash, details of orange light are more defined

Taken at a different angle in natural light, and the light is more

clearly seen

Tips for Styling Products

Small items that fit on a table top. I’ve got a great kitchen table right by a big window. This is where I photograph all of my projects that are small enough to fit on top.

35mm 1/320 sec; f/2.8; ISO 400

35mm 1/320 sec; f/2.8 (3.2); ISO 400

*Leaving negative space in your shot invites the viewers eye towards the main subject being photographed.

*tri fold foam board

*flat foam board

*painters tape

*craft paper

*frog clips

*clamps

*wood boards

** Craft paper is very versatile and great to create different moods, but don’t go overboard because it can overtake the product or may evoke seasonal emotions that you might not want. Neutrals are best. I often defer to an all white background to focus on my project

Items I use to photograph projects

Misc. Items helpful for photographing projects

*scissors

*linens

*dishes

*stacked books

Use the elements of your project:

*nails

*hammer

*sandpaper

*tools

*paint

*paint brush

*recipe ingredients

*paint swatches

*showing off the tools you used

Explore different angles for tabletop photography

*soft light (shaded window light--open shade)

*backlight

*shoot from above

*up close for detail shots

*Take a bunch of different pictures with and without props, different angles, then decide in processing which is your favorite using several shots or just a few.

35mm 1/160 sec; f/2.8; ISO 1600 dark room on cloudy day

35mm 1/125 sec; f/3.5; ISO 500 front door open

35mm 1/125 sec; f/3.5; ISO 500 front door open on cloudy day

Photographing Rooms

Most DIY home bloggers are showing off rooms they’ve redone or projects in a room. This can be frustrating because you can’t bring the room to a well lit spot by a big window, you have to work with what you have. The best advice I can give is to use a slow shutter on a tripod and it will brighten up your room immediately.  The reason you need a tripod is because you will get camera shake if your shutter is too slow being handheld. Sometimes setting the timer and setting it down works, but that can be limiting.

35mm 1/125 sec; f/2.0;

ISO 1600dark

& grainy

35mm 0.6 sec; f/4.0; ISO 100 With tripod (slow shutter speed): Brighter

and less grain

Without Tripod

With Tripod

More Interesting Room Shot Tips

*Place something in the foreground of the shot that is blurred out, placing the emphasis on the background, framing the shot

35mm 1/200 sec; f/2.8;

ISO 400

*Incorporate human elements with motion: people walking by, kids playing on the floor, someone reading in a chair

*Show different Perspectives: shoot at different angles such as on your knees, up on a counter, or down to the floor. I stood on my kitchen counter for this “head to the ceiling” shot.

35mm 1/200 sec; f/3.2; ISO 500

*Show the Before & After Shots:

*Don’t give the ceiling too much dominance

*STAGING--Throw a blanket over a chair, open a book on the table, have a cutting board out on the kitchen counter with knife and chopped vegetables, add a vase of flowers

*DE CLUTTER!--There is pretty much only ONE day that my room is perfect, and that’s on the photographing day. Hide cords, dust spaces, hide remotes and empty trash cans.

*Peek through the room with a cracked door to draw in the interest

*Stitch images together in editing for a panoramic view

*Study the room in the days before photographing to determine what time the best light falls on the room. You’ll want to avoid harsh shadows that fall from direct sunlight, you want the soft diffused light.

*Don’t give the ceiling too much dominance

*When photographing a room, to keep the whole room in focus, use an aperture of 5.6 or higher so that the entire image (foreground, middleground, background) is in focus. However, having a lower aperture (2.8) adds a bit of visual interest with some pieces of the room in focus and some out of focus. When photographing a specific object within a room, a chair for example, lower the aperture, since you want the chair to stand out from the out of focus room.

After the Shot

Photoshop editing, PicMonkey, Lightroom: There are so many great tips and tools to use in photo editing to help enhance images.  I am a very big advocate of taking a well exposed shot and learning your camera settings to get the shot, then enhancing with photo editing software after. However, there are times when all you’ve got are dark or orange images and you need software to help you out.

I shoot in RAW, which makes photo editing much quicker than altering a .jpg image. In short, a RAW file can be edited and tweaked, and it doesn’t affect the overall file (like a film negative, it stays constant even after tweaking). Shooting in RAW simply gives you more control over the non compressed image, and keeping the full quality of the image. The negative is not directly usable as an image, but has all of the information needed to create an image.

RAW processing: I can switch the white balance of 40 images at once in seconds, and slightly adjust the exposure that quickly as well. They are large files that when done with basic editing will need to be converted to a .jpg file, but I generally keep my top 10 images as RAW, then delete the rest (a good month or two after I’m done with them).

RAW files do take up more space on your memory card and computer (2-3 times more)

I use Camera RAW with Photoshop CS, but if you don’t have photoshop, look up Capture One to edit RAW files.

If you’ve never done it, try RAW+JPG mode and you get both (takes up lots more space on memory card) and see a comparison

Cropping in RAW is also quick and easy with no long term commitment. But you have to be careful with cropping, because if you crop it in too close, you will lose quality of the image and it will be pixelated. I generally crop just a touch to alter the angle of the image. Leave the reader wanting more with a crop that doesn’t show the entire project.

color pop my images to brighten the flat-ness that comes from all digital photography. It just isn’t as rich in color as film. Using curves and saturation, or finding a great class action that you love.

Dodge--using my brush tool to lighten a small area (on 30% or lower opacity) such as a dark background

Burn--darkens an area (also on 30% or lower opacity)

Patch Tool or Healing brush--takes out an unwanted object

Other post processing

Collages & Text on Images

Though I can navigate in Photoshop, I like PicMonkey for quick and easy collages. They are simple to alter. The only drawback is that right now, you work the collage and save it, but if you close out the internet based program, you can’t alter that collage again. Collages are a HUGE draw for bloggers wanting to share their step by step process on Pinterest, and it’s a great idea to add at least one collage with each blog post.

Also, once you have your “hero” shot, adding text with fun fonts also draws the readers attention. Learn to leave some negative space in your shots to allow for text later.

Closing

Questions?

Comments?

Concerns?

Winners?

www.KristenDuke.com