Using Stunning Sunlight to Elevate Show Home Photography

The style that is in right now for show home or interiors photography is sunlight that casts shadows. We had a client show us a mood board and give examples of what they were looking for as they wanted to launch a series of images as part of their campaign to show off their new show homes.

To achieve this look, it’s easier said than done because the best results happen when there’s alot of sunlight already there, rather than an overcast day. Sometimes we have to check the forecast and choose the best day to shoot. Below are some examples of the natural sunlight coming in and when artificial light can be helpful.

Tips

Turn off all lights in the home, or as much as possible, to give the images the right feel. Having the lighting fixtures on can add color cast (yellowness) to images and additionally, with how bright the lightbulbs can be, it takes away from the aesthetic of the lighting fixtures themselves.

While sunlight coming into the home can be bright and cast those beautiful shadows, it may not be enough to fill in the areas you want to feature in the home and you’ll get darkness to shadows where you don’t want so you’ll need to properly expose your camera or lighting for that. How we do this is use strobe lighting, or known as studio lighting, to get the “fill” light where you’re trying to add the exact amount of light you want to fill in the foreground. We usually bounce the light off the walls that are there to soften the light and avoid harsh lighting.

 

These are just a few examples of how sunlight can elevate show home or interior photography. As you can see, the sunlight coming through bring attention to the areas that you’d want to see, including showing more detail, almost like a mini spotlight.

For our flash kit, we use the Elinchrom BRX 500, but there are many newer models and other brands that also have internal batteries that would be super helpful in shooting interior photos. Please see the links below:

https://www.elinchrom.com/product-categories/lights/?filter=monolight

Another great brand is Godox for flash lighting

https://godox.com/product-b/Flash/AD600ProII.html

 

About Vivid Ribbon Photography

Vivid Ribbon is a photography and video business based in Edmonton, Alberta that specializes in show home and interior photography. We work with interior designers, home builders, and commercial builders to produce marketing-ready visuals that are used to highlight their projects and abilities to secure new clients and build their brand awareness on social media. You can view examples of our work and portfolio here: https://vividribbon.ca/portfolio