Mbr 1.2

[Loose Canon]

I had planned to do a couple of other compositions of the MBR and after the awesome comments I’ve been getting this is one of them.

I’m not really in love with this one. But I’m putting it out there in case anyone might have some thoughts on the matter.

Instead of mentioning some of the issues I’m coming across I’ll just wait a minute and let it settle.

What I will say is that this is, for me, a difficult room and I’m coming to the conclusion that a big part of this is just like anything else.

If you can’t control every aspect and detail, then you end up in the position of doing the best you can with what you have to work with.

The shot is an ambient, and an overall flash shot with two lights bounced off the ceiling on either side of the camera in the main room, and another flash bounced in the ensuite (bathroom).

Another shot with a flash pop in the shower stall to give it a boost and I did two flash bang shots in the far room (with the guitar).

I purposely limited myself to 24mm FL here.

Hand composited.

A couple of questions are coming to the forefront now and could go either way.

I have seen a couple of the Biggies in this genre state that as the eye travels a distance into another room, said room should be lit a bit brighter to keep the eye in the shot, traveling that distance and back, to make sure the entire space (including the far reaches) gets a good view in the limited amount of time a shot is viewed.

Lighting.

In my limited experience with interiors I am finding shadows are unavoidable in most situations. Especially blending an ambient. The best wisdom that makes sense to me is when lighting try to have the shadows falling where they would fall in an ambient as according to windows/natural lighting of the room. Soften them if and/or as much as you can. I have seen a few shots where I’ve seen no shadows at all but few. Most are HDR and look a little iffy to me. HDR software works sometimes but will also introduce more problems than it solves. In this shot, there is a sliding glass door to camera left of the armoire, and a two-story split (standard width) window on the extreme camera left wall where the headboard of the bed is. Nothing on the camera side of this room and it needed some help. No windows in the ensuite and it was a black hole. One narrow wall height window in the far room and it is in shade from the exterior features so not a lot of help there. In fact its main quality was causing a hotspot on the floor. Not a lot of help there either.

Composition:

The spaces in this house are not always obvious compositions to me. The main spaces are not rectangular, segregated rooms, not always bright daylight, and it has a kind of flowing feel by design. Extreme altitude (sharp gables) in the ceilings. I’ve painted the entire house inside and usually had to base camp the day before and summit the next day to caulk, trim, and coat the extremities! That is if it didn’t snow up there over night! Thank god for bottled oxygen and Sherpas!

It has occurred to me that if they called it inferiors instead of interiors I’d already be pretty good at this!

I think it needs a pile of clothes on the bed!

[JBW]

First impressions
-it looks staged
-except for the bottom right of the bed I don't see any texture
-there are not enough shadows
-I like the guitar but once it is seen the rest of the scene just fades.
-are earth and sky tones a good mix for the entire scene?

Are you trying to get too much into one shot?

the overall impression I come away with is that this is not real.
B.

[Shadowman]

I think you are getting closer to something that might please us, but the real question is what do you want? I think the 24ml FL is limiting your chances of getting a complete composition, the partial elements (the edge of the bed, the blocked bureau) is making for an incomplete setting.

[MrB]

.....the overall impression I come away with is that this is not real.

+1 ...more of the appearance of CGI rather than photography.

Cheers.
Philip

[Donald]

Now, I'm going to be awkward here and say that I like this very much indeed.

From this image I can 'feel' the sense of the room. It feels like a living space. The guitar gives a good focal point in the background and shows us a sense of distance and scale. I like the shadows from a) the wardrobe at the left and, b) the decoration on top of the chest of drawers. I like how I am given a hint of what's through the opening at tghe right and I wsant gthe next image I look at in the brochure to be one of that area so I can see it properly and 'fix' it in my mind in relation to this space I'm looking at now.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Terry,

I particularly enjoyed your description of the problems surrounding decorating at high elevations.

This does look natural, you do have something organic, plus some fairly natural looking shadows.

The guitar is good to include, although (for me), its placement draws too much attention to it. However, I can't really complain it is contrived, because you probably would put it in a corner to keep from colliding with it.

Thought needs to go into the relative light levels of other rooms, what you did here looks perfectly normal to me, you have the bathroom brighter and the other room slightly darker.

HTH, Dave

[IzzieK]

Although I am not qualified to give you any suggestions at all regarding real estate, I just want to say that I like this image very much because at least the shadows gives it depth around the corner...my only take is that you could have shown a little bit more of the bathroom and less of the cabinet...just a thought...

[Loose Canon]

Thank you guys!

A lot of good points raised and I appreciate that.

I am obviously missing some things dealing with other things! Hopefully that will change as I work my way through!

[jcuknz]

I love the wood I have exposed rafters and wood ceiling but not nearly as tidy

[IzzieK]

Throw those clothes back on top of the bed!!! or put a throw at the edge. That'll teach ya!!!

[Rob Ekins]

Terry,

A couple of points to open with:
#1: This image is leaps and bounds ahead of the first image that you posted not so long ago.. the living area one, so stop kicking your self! You are obviously taking things on board, working with the feedback you are getting, applying it to your vision and getting good results....that is awesome!

#2: Move house now! That place is a nightmare of strange conjoined spaces and weird angles that will only do your head in while your are trying to learn composition......I am kidding of course, but you are right, this is a difficult spaces to try and mould into a single image that will tell a bigger story.

My 2c on composition lighting and post, keeping in mind that these points are subjective and relevant to my market not yours.


Composition:
I like the guitar as it immediately pulls your eye through the space, good move putting it there, the down side for me is that I think the shower cubicle should have more prominence in the frame, ideally I would take a step to CL and pan right but with the bed there you may not be able to do that. This is still a little wide for me, with to much bed (1/4 of the frame maybe?) I would crop in the same ratio to lose the armoire to CL. See below.



Lighting and post:
You have done well to keep the image feeling natural and bright, the shadows are indicative of natural light falling across the room. The only shadows I would work on are from the arrangement and chest of draws, perhaps your CR fill flash could burn them out a bit. What blend mode are you using for the flash layers?

There are some colour cast issues on the shower door from top to bottom that could be addressed as well as the side of the draws looking like a different timber than the face.


All in all a vast improvement on both of your previous images. You are getting really good at this really quickly..... I hope you are researching your market for what the top agents are after in an image now



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