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Thread started 24 Apr 2020 (Friday) 10:19
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Struggling with light balance in large space/windows - HDR/Commercial Architectural

 
Architective
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Apr 24, 2020 10:19 |  #1

I am an architectural photographer that focuses primarily on commercial projects. I've been at this 12 years, but there's always been something that I've struggled with. Yesterday, I photographed a large workout space with about 18' curtainwalls, with work equipment on a dark colored floor inside. I'm trying to get the light to come out evenly without a lot of lucky.

My process:
Canon 5D Mk4, 17-40L
Aperture mode, f/8, ISO 100
AEB, 5 stops, -2,-1,0,1,2
Metered on lower corner of window frames
Brought into lightroom, stacked, processed using Enfuse. I can get the whites to balance but then the darks are grainy and the objects in that space don't read.

This is my typical process, and it normally works great. This space has been a challenge for me. I typically shoot without flashes, although I'm looking into purchasing a flash setup soon. I'm looking into the Godox AD200Pro and/or AD400Pro with softboxes to supplement lighting.

Embedded are the shots and the highlighted images are the enfused versions. Not as high quality as I typically deliver.

Do you have any suggestions for me?


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_igi
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Apr 26, 2020 14:41 |  #2

with huge windows the trick is to turn off the artificial lighting, so everything is lit by daylight. You can shoot second exposure with only yellow light and then merge them in PS. If you have only one HDR image, good thing to do is create virtual copy, one balanced for daylight, second for artificial light and then mask one on top of another. Cheers.


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Pebal
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Post edited over 3 years ago by Pebal.
     
Apr 27, 2020 06:42 |  #3

Use SNS-HDR, it's much better than Enfuse. It's best software for real estate photography from all HDR softwares.




  
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Architective
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Apr 27, 2020 23:24 as a reply to  @ Pebal's post |  #4

Pebal - I'm not finding a lot of information on SNS HDR. Can you sell me on it?

I don't mind trying or buying something else, but I've had tremendous luck with Enfuse for the last 10 years with very natural, non HDR looking images.




  
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Pebal
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Apr 28, 2020 02:04 as a reply to  @ Architective's post |  #5

Try the free Lite version which works in the console, just like Enfuse, and try demo of the Pro version (www.sns-hdr.com (external link)).

HDR image created from 9 RAW files in the Pro version.

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LVDJC
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Oct 29, 2020 20:22 as a reply to  @ Pebal's post |  #6

Curious, could you show an example of that software on a room with large windows and multiple lights in the room please? Would like to see how it does on a difficult shot. Thanks




  
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Joe ­ Thibodeau
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Mar 14, 2021 15:35 |  #7

I am not a working architectural photographer however I have shot indoor/outdoor scenes. Unless I am dealing with a huge contrast range I have techniques where I apply curves on shadow and highlight data in a single curves adjustment layer. As long as shadows and highlights are preserved you can manipulate the contrast and level in each. This approach is scene dependent as you might expect. However it is much faster than bracketed HDR.

As an example: 13 (5 image HDR) and 16 or 17. The later frames are pretty close. You can protect highlights or shadows in Raw (Nikon) and reduce the overall contrast with efficient post processing techniques. I shot a home a few weeks ago. I thought I might need HDR but it turns out I didn't. The images came out fine and I was shooting 5000k WB in mixed lighting which gave the room warmth while maintaining the cool temperature of outdoors. A very nice balance.


Joe Thibodeau

  
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Struggling with light balance in large space/windows - HDR/Commercial Architectural
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