Lighting is perhaps the most important aspect to photographing interiors. How to control the natural light and/or artificial light & balance them with the external light can be a challenge.

There is no quick & easy formula that applies to all situations, but here are a few techniques that help get more pleasing results in many cases:

1) Get the balance - Normally the room is too dark compared to the bright external natural light. You want to boost the ambient interior light as much as possible.Turn on any lamps & other lights in the room & in adjacent rooms. Open all the curtains to allow as much natural light as possible.

This photograph of a bedroom was taken using a combination of the soft ambient light from the chandelier, some tungsten spotlights in the ceiling behind the camera & the natural light comng in through the windows & doors. No flash was used.

2) To flash or not to flash? Occasionally I shoot a scene where the combination of ambient & natural light is sufficent to produce a great photo & the use of flash is not necessary. But more often than not, the use of flash is essential. If you have a a speedlite or similar flash head attached to the hotshoe of your camera, try directing the flash head upwards so it fires into the corner of the ceiling above & behind the camera & subsequently bounces back into the room casting a more natural looking light into the scene than a flash fired directly from camera level would. Sometimes, additional flash systems as well as umbrellas can be used to add more light to the scene, but thats a whole other story…!

Don’t overdo it with the flash though. Often in real estate marketing I see photos where a powerful flash has been bounced into the ceiling and it completely dominates the photo & makes the scene like cold & unnatural. I appreciate that this is a quick way of ‘balancing’ the exterior light so the outside scene is perfectly exposed, but personally I prefer to see the exteriors slightly overexposed & a warmer feel to the interior, where the flash compliments the scene rather than overwhelms it.

In the above image of a living room, a single Sunpak 383 flash head was used on camera & bounced off the ceiling to boost the ambient interior lighting & balance it with the natural light coming in through the main window. You can also see the spotlights around the perimeter of the ceiling were also switched on to add a little warmth.

If you are limited to a built-in flash unit, it still can be beneficial to use it. Try one shot with it on & another with it off & compare them. If you can access manual settings on your camera, try a longer exposure in conjunction with the flash, this will allow more of the ambient light to soften the harsher light from the flash. You can even try putting a small make-up mirror in front of the flash & bouncing the light to the ceiling. Experiment with the different combinations of light & remember to use a tripod!

3) Shoot at dusk - At this time of day, the intensity of the exterior lighting is more balanced with the brightness of the interior. The time when the light is suitably balanced is fairly brief, perhaps a window of only 15-30 minutes so you gotta be quick! The exact time of day obviously varies depending on season & location. In the days preceding the shoot, take note of the best time to shoot for your location.

The photo above was taken at dusk. Notice the soft, cool, blue colour of the exterior light in the windows that is well-balanced in intensity with the warmer, ambient interior light.