How can I photograph a room and still keep detail outside the window?
Asked 4/2/2013
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2 answers
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When I photograph an interior with a bright window, I usually end up with either a properly exposed room and a blown-out view, or a good view outside and a very dark interior. Are there practical techniques to balance both? I’m using a Sony NEX-3, often with a manual 28mm lens, and I’m open to simple gear or workflow suggestions.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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Any camera is going to struggle with the dynamic range of that sort of situation. Very hard to get the room and the outside both exposed reasonably at the same time. With enough flash power you can do it by flooding the room with light I suppose.
But the easier way is to use a tripod and take two exposures, one for the inside and one for out, and blend them together in your editing tool. I think it's best if you leave the outside exposure pretty bright, otherwise it looks fake.
You can use HDR, but if you have a few windows that are easy to mask, I'd just blend two exposures manually.
Simple example:
Light exposure for the room
Dark exposure for the outside
Blended exposure
Originally by user4191. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4191
13y ago
0
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This is a dynamic-range problem: the view outside is often much brighter than the room, so a single exposure usually can’t hold both well.
The main options are:
- take multiple exposures and blend them
- Put the camera on a tripod.
- Shoot one exposure for the room and another for the window view.
- Combine them in editing, either manually or with HDR/exposure fusion.
- Manual blending often looks more natural, especially around window edges.
- add light to the room
- Use flash or continuous lighting to brighten the interior until it’s closer to the outdoor brightness.
- This can let you capture more in one frame, or reduce how much blending is needed.
- combine both methods
- A little fill light plus exposure blending often gives the cleanest result.
Tips:
- Keep the outdoor exposure a bit bright rather than too dark, or the result can look unnatural.
- A tripod makes blending much easier.
- A different lens won’t solve the exposure-range issue; it’s mostly about lighting and technique.
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