A Thoroughly Controlled Shoot For A Change

My last job of 2011 was one in which nothing moved unless it was intended. This is dramatically different from my typical jobs on which I must keep up with activities totally beyond my control.

I shot the interior designs of my friend, Susan Currie, in the home of our mutual friends, Joe and Therese Duke, in Uptown New Orleans. Unlike most of my jobs this one required a bunch of equipment including several light sources, my laptop computer for remote shooting and a supply of gaffer tape. The idea is to get the best look at all the elements in the scene, reducing shadows and highlights so it looks like what your eye sees. It's bringing everything into the dynamic range of the image.

On most of my jobs I get general direction from the client and the occasional "Make sure you get...". In this case Susan directed everything but my exposure settings even suggesting some lighting moves. This is like taking shots of someone's art. Susan knows how it should look. I just have to get to that look with my equipment.

The first image is the only one of the four that was used alone. The others are composites using the best exposures of each portion of the scene. All were shot with the Canon 5D Mk2 and the 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. The above shot was done at .3 sec @f/9 with the ISO at 400. I had the camera on a tripod for everything so I could use long exposures and the remote shooting feature of Canon's EOS utility program on my laptop. That also lets me show the live view and the individual shots to Susan so she can make adjustments.

For this shot I used 3 different images to get the look we wanted from the items on the lower shelf of the coffee table and the best look of the lamp and the details of the items on the table. The lamp was on a dimmer which helped a lot.

I used 2 Canon Speedlites shooting into a 32" umbrella as a reflector left of the camera to balance the incoming light from double doors to camera right. Over those doors we hung a white satin background cloth and used it to diffuse and reduce the indirect sunlight. I also used a white reflector with a small optically triggered flash to fill in some of the shadows behind the chair and the hutch on the left side of the scene.

Big thanks to our friend, Joe, for letting us turn his home into our photographic play area for 5 hours...also for the bourbon.