As it is obvious by its name, taking photos indoors is known as indoor photography.
This type of photography is a very flexible genre. There are multiple other proper niches of photography that fall under the category of indoor photography. It can be portraited photography, real estate photography, food photography, or product photography. It also includes life photography, projects, and editorial images.
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Being a professional indoor photographer
Many photographers prefer outdoor photography due to the light. There everything is bright, and photographers do not worry about illumination. But some people have dedicated themselves to indoor photography. Photographers have taken indoor photography as their profession.
To adopt this niche as a profession, an indoor photographer must know the pros and cons of light sources. After all, the main difference between indoors and outdoors is light. Knowing how to deal with different types of lightning and how you can benefit from them under different circumstances is the first step to excel in this field.
Many people believe that to get the best shot indoor. A photographer must have an artistic, unique interior space. But that is not mandatory. Just like outdoors, there are unlimited possibilities indoors, too, if you deal with the issue of lightning. Surroundings do matter, i.e., having a dedicated studio with all equipment can make your shooting so much easy, but it is not the only thing that has to be looked upon.
Indoor photography requires talent and knowledge of photography. Learning a few basic rules and tips can polish your skills as an indoor photographer.
Equipment for Indoor Photography:
Basically, all you need as a beginner is a DSLR camera and source to provide you adequate lighting while you shoot but having some of this equipment can help you get better results.
Backdrops
As mentioned prior, indoor photography covers several other niches. What type of backdrop can work best for you depends upon the niche you specialize in but owning one can give your photograph an immaculate look, especially if you are taking close-ups or shooting portraits or want to highlight the features of the subject.
Tripods/Monopods
Shooting indoors means dealing with high ISO numbers and high shutter speed all the time. These camera settings increase the risk of blurs and shakes. Tripods/monopods can really come in handy to get blur-free and clearer images.
Lighting Equipment
There are multiple options for lightning equipment, <- Affiliate Link 🙂 i.e., overhead lights, softbox lights, umbrella lights to shoot through, umbrella lights to reflect light on the subject, rim lights, light disks, etc. Again, which option can work best depends on your shooting requirements and what you want from the output light.
6 Tips for indoors photography:
Some tips to improve your indoor photography skill are covered below
Indoor lighting arrangement
To have as impressive photos indoors as you capture outdoor is not easy, but it’s not that hard as well. Although both indoor and outdoor photography can not have the same results as both require different settings.
The most important factor to always be considered is the light. Good indoor lighting is an essential aspect of indoor photography. If you want to have mind-blowing images indoor, never overlook the lighting.
Find a spot inside with sufficient light. Adjust your camera settings accordingly and avoid the access of hand movements. This will make your image come out as good as you expect from outdoor photography.
Learn about light
With arranging light, also learn about lightning, i.e., the color output of different types of lights, the impact of the direction of light (mainly overhead, under, side light, circular/all around), the quantity of light required in different circumstances et cetera. Indoors there is no light present naturally, so there is no other way to master the art of indoor photography without learning about light.
Investing in a personal studio
Most photographers prefer shooting in their studios to have a right shot. Especially to capture small objects, the best option can be studios, where you will have controlled light no unnecessary background.
If you seriously want to pursue this niche, we recommend you invest in a small personal studio. <- Affiliate link 🙂 Your studio can be the smallest room of your house, but this investment will return you. Inside a studio, the light will be according to your adjustment. You can easily choose side lighting, backlighting, fluorescent, tungsten bulbs. You can make the light brighter or make it diffuse. It is also less distracting than outdoor photography. Using backdrops, et cetera in-studio will also save you tons of time which otherwise you have to spend on background adjustment before you shoot every time.
Using a tripod
One gear that will help you have the best shots is your tripod stand. A tripod stand will diminish handshaking, thus resulting in better photography. In the case of low lights, hands shakes must be to the least. The photographer must familiarise themself with the surroundings. In this way, you will know where to place your tripod, where the light is reflecting the best, or what can give you the desired light.
Understanding colors
The colors around your subject also play an important role in indoor photography. The colors of the wall also reflect shades that may have an impact on your image. Make sure the selected area is less crowded.
But this reflection isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You can use this to add different special effects to your images or to give them aesthetic touch. You can also use reflectors for this purpose.
While discussing the colors and reflections, you should also know the different colors/effects of the different lights you use. For example, keep camera settings, subject positioning, and everything else the same still. You will get a totally different result when you use a tungsten light and the fluorescent light.
Here’s a video with some interesting neon light techniques, from my friend’s YouTube channel Run N Gun:
Avoid the use of Flash
Although many people recommend using flash in indoor photography, it is, in fact, a bad idea. Many indoor locations prohibit you from using flash like theaters or museums.
During indoor photography, the use of a flashlight will give your photo a floodlight look. This means the background in your photo will totally blackout leaving only a portion of the photo lighted. It can also over-expose a photo to the extent that it is completely ruined.
Indoor flash can also cause red-eye and reduce results. The flashlight will also be visible in your subject’s glasses or in the windows around, which will ruin even the best images.
Indoor Shooting in Low Light
Capturing images in low light has been a great challenge for photographers. In fact, this can be listed as the only challenge faced by indoor photographers. Having the advantage of a digital camera nowadays, photographs can approach a broad range of techniques that allow photographers to capture the perfect image under challenging conditions. This is where knowing how to use the camera manually can help you a lot. To get better results in low light:
Use ISO settings
The beginners must first adjust their camera’s ISO settings. The ISO is a physical film placed inside of the camera. The ISO directs the kind of images the photographer can capture.
The standard ISO film speed is 400, and the higher speed is 800 and 1200 ISO. Wildlife photographers use the high-speed ISO to capture running animals or sports photographers.
In this era of photography, the ISO film can be found in digital cameras. Nowadays, the issue faced by digital photographers is no more the film sensitivity but rather the light sensitivity.
Image noise
With the digital ISO, you might face a problem of noise. It means there can be sandiness of high ISO images captured from digital cameras. This can be overcome with the help of editing software programs. One can now skillfully eliminate the noise and sharpen an image on software programs.
Shutter speed
Low light photography requires slow shutter speed. Photographers must keep their hands still in low light to avoid problems. Use tripod/monopod when dealing with such camera settings, especially for high ISO with slow shutter speed. Tripods will be a great option for event photography, like capturing a wedding.
Artificial light
ISO shutter speed settings can make a difference in low illuminated situations, but still, artificial lighting is the best option to get your desired images.
Photographers can also use the surrounding lights to capture their desired image, using a diffused light or reflecting materials.
Conclusion
Many people still do not explore the niche of indoor photography because it requires some basic knowledge about manual settings and lightning etc. And also, many of those people don’t know that this niche is as fun as outdoor photography. Just following the basic things we mentioned in this article can help you polish your indoor photographer skills.
