I haven’t been able to blog in awhile. There’s been a lot going on lately and I’m just now catching somewhat of a break!
I’ve been wanting to post about this shoot I did for Cantina Laredo in Uptown Birmingham for a couple of months now. The’d installed a huge TV wall in their upstairs, open air bar area. This is perfect for watching the most important thing in Alabama, college football. Try as they might with their phones and personal cameras, they could never get a good photo of it. Either the screen was too bright or everything else was too dark. Finally after many frustrated attempts they decided to call in a professional.
The problem they were running into has to do with the limited range of brightness a digital camera is capable of capturing. This is called “dynamic range” Our eyes can see a very broad dynamic range but cameras need some help. When they exposed for the TV (which was MUCH brighter than everything else), the background would be super dark. Exposing for the background made the TV blown out.
The solution is not to take a single photo, but rather several and combine them into one. For the main photo above no less than 20 images were used to create the final product. Each exposure range was captured and then blended. I used a flash on a stick (photographer slang for monopod) to light key areas of the photo.
In total it required 30 minutes of shooting and 3 hours at the computer to create an image that represented what the human eye would actually see when there. The end result is something that grabs the attention of the potential patron and makes them want to go there. That’s what I do. I create images that show off a space for potential customers. I help architects, builders, businesses, and designers put their best foot forward. This takes time and attention to detail. Something that can't be done with an iPhone!
click thumbnail to view larger image
Learn more about my architectural commercial photography for Birmingham AL here.