Brian Doherty Photography and Design Blog | Brian Doherty Real Estate Photography: February 2013

Im often asked how I get my images to look so nice and bright. Followed up by what kind of camera I have etc etc. However what most people don't realize is that its not so much the camera but more so how your able to manipulate and control your lighting. Don't get me wrong the other stuff helps, but lighting is the most important part of a great photo. Let’s have a look at what goes into making a photo pop of the page. Here are two behind the scene looks at how I use speed lights to light interiors.

The first thing I do after I find my composition is to expose for the windows. What does that mean? well normally it’s pretty hard to subtract light, and that means that I’m going to expose for the bright stuff, such as the windows and light up the rest of the room.

Here is the shot el natural with no added light, right out of the camera.

YIKES!! obviously thats way to dark, so what I have to do is figure out where to put my lights to fill in all these dark shadows.

For the final shot I used 3 flashes. One shot through an umbrella towards the chair. Another bounced off the wall behind me to light the foreground of the photo. Then a third bounced of the fair left hand wall to light up the left side.