Over the last 20+ years I have had the pleasure of photographing some great home technology projects. Telling the story of these spaces visually is challenging, as much of the installed tech is mostly hidden from view. What follows is an overview of what I have learned with the obvious goal of working on more of these projects, perhaps yours.
Home Theater | Audio Images | TK Theaters
A great architectural photographer will want to understand the story that is being told, and then capture that story. Telling that story is key. I welcome the input from the client, and use that information to make choices on what is to be included in the frame. Once the composition is established, a great deal of attention is lavished on the space. Dressing a room for a photo can involve all kinds of activity- from pushing around furniture with the aid of a tape measure, to raking carpeting, to staging objects for the camera. This process alone will elevate the image out of the real estate photo category and raise it into the architectural level. Next comes lighting. I have yet to come upon an interior that could not benefit from some supplementary lighting and this goes double for theaters. Often, they are in reality small dark rooms that need to be lit for photography. As an example, the theater to the left had decent house lighting installed yet we supplied at least a dozen additional fixtures to bring out the textures in the carpet, curtains, ceiling, wrought iron etc. I trailer quite a substantial grip and lighting package to every job. Like any trade, having the right tools at hand when needed makes the work go faster and easier, with predictable results. Having the right lights for the job enables a skilled photographer to paint any mood desired, highlight or play down elements within the shot, or increase or reduce the drama as needed for the story you are telling. The ability to view a scene as it exists, know in your mind what it could look like, and have the means to achieve it is a skill set developed over years of shooting experience. A word of caution when hiring a photographer to shoot architectural interiors, if they don’t bring a lot of lights, then you have the wrong person.
Integrated Media Room | Audio Images | Max Michelle Interiors
This living room shares space with a bar + wine cellar and spills out on to an adjacent patio. The McIntosh turntable was included to help balance the frame and show a little of the cool hardware. Dusk was selected for the shoot time to avoid any sunlight reaching down to the deck. With no daylight intruding on the scene, we were able to match the color temperature of the existing can fixtures with our own tungsten lights from front to back including uplighting the tiled water feature on the far wall. Matched color temps means accurate color throughout with no unwanted color casts anywhere. With the longer exposure times afforded when working with hot lights, it was easy to record the heaters embedded in the ceiling and the glow in the fireplace. These small but important details offer a little warmth to the cool tones prevalent in the foreground.
Speaking of lighting, some theaters are incorporating led lighting as a major design element. Capable of rotating through different colors, it’s important to capture the different effects for compositing later in post. This theater below had lighting panels inset into the walls in addition to the star filled night sky effect on the ceiling. Captures were done to cover the different color changes available, composited in post and presented to the client who could then choose from among the many variations possible.
“Sunshine” Theater | Audio Images | Interior Design Sue Capelli (Passione, Inc.)
Media room | Audio Images | SIDG Design
In addition to dedicated theaters, you also have rooms that can transform themselves at the push of a button. This unassuming living room does exactly that, a screen unfurls from the ceiling, black out shades roll down, and a hidden projector in a wall turns on. Note how the colors on the screen image harmonize beautifully with the room. That’s no accident. Dropping in a screen image in a shot like this is akin to hanging artwork, and an important decision given how much real estate it occupies. Every screen image I use is either shot by us, or licensed as royalty free stock photos. Poaching screen images off the internet or feature films is just asking for trouble, yet unfortunately I see it done all the time. I would never expose a client to a potential lawsuit. As of this writing, there are no less than 13 image protection companies whose sole purpose is tracking down poached images, and suing for copyright infringement on behalf of the artist or copyright owner.
Getting good shots of the tech is very challenging given that much of it is tucked away in broom closets or behind walls. Nevertheless, I endeavor to produce the best possible image given the circumstances. This kind of work amounts to product photography on location, and I have used every trick in the book and then some on these kinds of images. As an example this projector lens is actually being reflected into an optical mirror and then viewed through a piece of glass in the wall. A black cat in a dark cave scenario. Fortunately we were able to tuck a tiny battery powered light in the cavity such that it pulled the lens up out of the shadows and into sharp relief. The nice gradation we got on the curved fascia piece was a bonus. The framed glass port was carefully lit and captured separately and then the whole thing composited together in post. This is a good example of a deceptively simple looking photo that actually took quite a bit of effort to pull off.
Rack by Audio Images
All CEDIA awards submissions require a photo of the back of the rack. The AV specialist’s work takes center stage here and prep work on the subject is critical. In addition to cleaning off the dust and fingerprints, attention is paid to the cable bundles, tie wraps, errant wires etc. Beyond dressing the rack, others issues may arise. In this example, the only available angle looked out into a very cluttered garage piled high with stuff. An 8x8 piece of duvetyne stretched on a frame cleaned up the background and put the focus back where it belonged. The camera height was determined with a tape measure, plumbed off, and boomed out until it touched the back wall to maximize the lens to subject distance. In this scenario, every inch counts. Bounced lighting provided by a few small fresnel fixtures gave us soft even illumination. Even with a wide lens, distortion on the product was kept to an acceptable minimum. Despite all the space constraints and obstacles, studio quality product photography on location can usually be achieved.
Today’s professional cameras are capable of resolving an incredible amount of detail. The black surfaces here will show the slightest bit of dust or fingerprints. Whether it’s the powdercoated rack, the anodized aluminum filler plates, or the equipment, it all needs to be wiped down and blown off with compressed air. I’m a big believer in pre-touching as opposed to retouching. An uneven floor can result in a lean with a tall freestanding rolling rack like this and so we will shim the rack back into plumb if necessary. Even with all the care taken at the shoot, it’s still likely that there will be some defects or perhaps missed smudges remaining on the surfaces. Using advanced photoshop techniques we can smooth out any offending pixels without altering the surface textures leaving a seamless near perfect result. Taken by themselves, these tiny little corrections may seem insignificant, however they add up and in the end work to create an immaculate product shot that sparkles.
Rack by Audio Images
Hopefully I have added value to your knowledge base for Telling the Technology Story. My area of business is Southern California. When you are ready to capture your great projects via photography, reach out and let’s get started.