# Shooting interiors of buildings...(recording studio)



## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 22, 2010)

I have a gig tomorrow shooting a new recording studio to go into a couple newspapers and I had some questions regarding tips.

So my questions are, Best lens for interior shooting without skewed structure? Im thinking the 50mm or the 17-35. Then also exposure  bracketing... almost HDR? im not sure what kind of lighting is in there, im assuming halogens.

well....what kind of info can you provide?

thanks in advance.


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## c.cloudwalker (Nov 22, 2010)

Is this a paying gig? If it is, good luck.

It seems you have no idea what you're doing or you are not telling enough. For example, what's the HDR for? Some studios do have windows (Peter Gabriel's place is a nice example of that) that may require an HDR treatment but most studios do not have windows and therefore no need whatsoever for HDR.


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 22, 2010)

oook thanks, i guess

I dont know if it has windows or not. They reason i asked about HDR depending if there isnt enough available light and I would create it stacking multiple exposures. This is why im asking. Ive never done specifically interior shots before...or atleast for a specific reason.


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## c.cloudwalker (Nov 23, 2010)

HDR has nothing to do with how much available light there is. It has to do with the limitations of the tonal range of cameras, ie if the lightest area and the darkest area of the image are too far apart for your camera to register.

And you should know if the place has windows. At the very least you should have asked what the studio looks like. But even better would have been to go and look at it yourself. It's all part of planning and preparing a shoot.

90% of studios I have been in, I can shoot with a tripod being my only accessory.

Sorry if I am being a bit harsh but you seem to need a wake up call.


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 23, 2010)

i gotcha ill find out right now.


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 23, 2010)

ok and the verdict is no windows. Planning yes i know this. I was called about an hour ago asking if i could do this tomorrow. So not much in my favor i would say.


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 23, 2010)

This is what it looked like in october but they re did the whole thing with new "everything" he said but this photo is just to show the room. 







and after seeing this i pretty much answered my own question.


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## c.cloudwalker (Nov 23, 2010)

Ub3rdoRK said:


> I was called about an hour ago asking if i could do this tomorrow. So not much in my favor i would say.



True, but you are in charge of your schedule, aren't you? I do not work this way. Tomorrow? No way my friend, my dearest friend, I may be able to do it the day after tomorrow, but I will have to charge you rush fees so as to compensate the client I'm moving back... And you charge 400% more, lol.



Ub3rdoRK said:


> This is what it looked like in october but they re did the whole thing with new "everything" he said but this photo is just to show the room.
> 
> and after seeing this i pretty much answered my own question.



Somebody's living room, lol.


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 23, 2010)

ah true, good point in timing. 

and no its a studio inside of a music store that does shows and lessons etc. its not a huge place, but one of the only local spots in the next 3-4 surrounding cities that have this kind of venue/storefront.


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## gsgary (Nov 23, 2010)

Your going to need wide and fast lenses, i wish i had my 24-70 when i shot a band recording their new album i was at iso3200 all day and it had small windows, this shot i used the light for the monitor


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## bigtwinky (Nov 23, 2010)

Are you just shooting the inside of the studio without people?

If so, then just bring a tripod as the shutter speed won't matter. If you are shooting people working inside the studio, thats a whole different ball game.

50mm on a full frame is standard viewing. Anything wider than this and you can start to see distortion. You can limit distortion if your lens remains straight...the more its pointed up or down, the more you will emphasize the distortion. If you are shooting a crop sensor camera, then you need to factor that in to the lens focal range calculation, all depending on which camera 1.5, 1.6, 2.0,..)

Keep in mind that the intended output is in a newspaper and most probably a small print size.  So you can push the ISO a bit higher without an issue (again, camera dependant) as this won't show up too bad on the print

I totally agree with cloud though...if this is a rush job, last minute, charge more.  And you dont have the skill or knowledge to pull it off and you are being paid to give a quality product and don't feel 100% comfortable you can do that, then say no.


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 24, 2010)

Ill post pics soon. They turned out great.


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 24, 2010)

When i got there, they told me what they wanted to get done. Basically it was to show off their new "artist lounge" and the (control room) of the studio part....Not the actual studio where they do the performing. 

Basically the idea of this whole thing is a "big shot" from my local town (which has no music culture IMO) that went out made a couple gold records with his band that I went to highschool with. Came back to this town to start producing records for the local scene.

I shot with my D700 and 2 SB 900's on remote release with a tripod for the 2nd shot.

To show off the "Artist lounge" they wanted this photo.





To show off the "control room" they wanted this. 





Please keep in mind nothing has been edited yet, just slight crop adjustments. Personally i didnt like the control room shot because of the hard lighting with the shadow of his arm but they said it gave a "cool effect" and they were EXTREMELY happy with it.


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## bigtwinky (Nov 24, 2010)

A client's extreme happyness is not in direct relation to the quality of the images 

I really dig your first shot, nicely done.  Maybe a slightly higher shooting angle to get more of the room in behind as the posted shot looks more like a shot of a guy and not a shot of a lounge.  But generally, its a nice shot.  Small nitpick on the corner of the window being cutoff on the top left.  

So considering your initial question and lack of knowing what to do, I think you did a pretty good job getting some nice results.
The studio shot.  Not bad, but I dont like the flash.  I dont mind the shadow, I just dont like the intensity of the flash.  I would of done the scene a bit differently and maybe had a bit more activity on the table, have the guy take off his jacket so that it looks like he is working.


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## Tbini87 (Nov 24, 2010)

Looks good Ub. Nothing really stands out for me as thinking WOW i would have to chill in that artist lounge or anything. It looks super basic from the pic, but if that is what they wanted then cool. Who is the band if you don't mind saying. I am from Escondido and worked in Temecula for a while before heading up north for school.


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## c.cloudwalker (Nov 24, 2010)

Considering how you went into this job, the 2nd one is not bad. I agree with your assessment of harsh light but you show both the studio and the control room in a way that most people will recognize even if they have never been in a recording facility. Didn't you get to shoot a few different tries? I would have turned down the power of the flash in the control room and gelled it. But if it's getting printed in B&W, the gel would make no difference, lol.

The first one, on the other hand, I would never had known it was a lounge. To me it's a portrait of some guy (the big shot?) and, I would have asked the person sitting behind him to move. His legs are annoying.

The fact that they wanted the lounge photo this way is of no importance. You of course shoot what the client wants, but then you shoot better and hope they pick the better one. And if you can show the client why it is better, they usually will pick your preferred shot. A lot of people who don't deal with photo very often need to be educated by you, the photographer.

And believe me, I know musicians can be a big pain. Because they are artists themselves they think they know it all but music and visual art are very different. As the photographer, you want to push them into using the best photos even if they are not the ones they want. After all it is your name associated with the work...


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 24, 2010)

Im assuming they will be in black and white i have others in variation of flash power of in the control room as well. ive been playing with black and white a little to tone down the flash but im not sure what else i can do with the shots? the facial expression and body movement of the guy sitting in the chair was not always the best. It seemed as if this was the best one.

 I think the lounge shot is where they wanted to make it about the owner of it, with kind of a sneak peak of the lounge area.

as for the comments i highly appreciate them. I am going to spend some time with the photos and if I cant get what i want out of it i may re stage it....yet it shouldnt be a problem either. 

As for the band member it was Alex Pappas from Finch.


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## Tbini87 (Nov 24, 2010)

Loved Finch growing up!


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## c.cloudwalker (Nov 24, 2010)

Ok, I'm gonna be harsh again but you seem to be able to take it...

You should not assume anything. You should know what it is you are shooting when you go into a job. A lot of shots can be converted to B&W when they are going to be printed in a cheap newspaper but, overall, it is better to know to shoot for it when that is going to be the end result. A shot that is planned as a B&W will most times look better than a conversion after the fact. B&W is just not shot quite the same way.

That said, don't spend too much time on those shots if they liked them. Just learn from what happened here and try to not let it happen again. For your sake.

As I said earlier, you did much better than I expected and if you learn something from the experience, :thumbup: because that is how most of us learn.


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 24, 2010)

Wow thank you. I completely agree with you on that. I'm going it to them in saturday then I guess it might be all that they need. I'm not too sure. Thank you again.


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 24, 2010)

I generally can take harsh comments because it's a good way to learn from mistakes. So yeah.

And yes finch was a good band!


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## GeneralBenson (Nov 25, 2010)

Ub3rdoRK said:


> I generally can take harsh comments because it's a good way to learn from mistakes. So yeah.



Man, we need more of this attitude on this forum! :thumbup:

Most people are just interested in being glad-handed and receiving compliments; and if you give any constructive criticism that even borders on negative, they freak out and get all pissy. 

Well, done. You'll learn quickly with the attitude. 

Good job on the images as well. But I think they are a little too posed for my taste. The first one, the guy up front is clearly only standing there to pose for the picture, and you can't see enough into the room to tell what the artist lounge is really about. And the second one is just way over the top posed, to the point of looking like it was intentionally looking like it was posed. Maybe that's what the client wanted. I don't know. But if it were me, I would have been trying to capture more authentic moments.


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## Ub3rdoRK (Nov 25, 2010)

I agree with the posing but that's what they wanted. I could have done better with the lighting but they were happy. I'm obviously not a professional but extremely passionate about what I do with photography. It wasn't a paying job but I am getting advertisement for the bands that record and play shows there. So it'll work in my favor because that's what I strive at. So basically for a couple of shots I get a newspaper credit, website credit for their venue and recording....plus I got a free dinner out of it .  I make pretty good side money shooting promos and live bands because of that venue so I feel it will all work out.


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