Lights vs No Lights

It almost seems contradicting- a photographer opting to go for darkness. 

When I first started experimenting with photography as a medium, shooting in a dark environment, or rather, an environment my camera saw as dark, required planning.  A fast speed of film (usually something above 800 ISO) and fill light for sure (flashes or strobes) at a minimum were required. However, technology has allowed us to go far beyond the analogue world of my youth, propelling our equipment into the future, where I not only can shoot in low light and compensate within my frame, I can fix said frame in post, by layering my images, to a point where the viewer is none-the-wiser, and my images look exactly how I want them to. Isn’t innovation amazing?

Real Estate photography was typically characterized by two prominent features when I came on the scene- the yellow light that pervaded every room, with every single light turned on, and the exaggerated width, strengthened by a super wide-angle lens (or fish eye- but neither was particularly attractive). In recent years, as real estate photos have become more creative, detailed, and following suit of interior design photography, a few tips have been picked up along the way, particularly within the realm of lighting.

While lights are not always a thing of the past, many images just look better when capturing a naturally lit room verses an artificially lit one.  I usually show my clients both and there is just no comparison. When drawing in lighting from the windows, you are often attaining a blue, crisp hue that just gives a natural vivid effect to the colors present. It also allows (IMO) for a smoother white balance process later since you are not dealing with any harsh yellow (tungsten) casts that will definitely lead to a more complicated process. (remember- yellow and blue makes green: if you have to white balance a tungsten filled room in post production, you are actually playing with green fire. Please trust me- it never ends well.). Cons:  I have had people tell me a room feels too sterile and cold.  

While I usually tend to turn off my lights while shooting, I do have clients that are just warm blooded…. what do I mean by this?  They just prefer a warmer tone to the room.  If I shoot with all the lights off, they ask me to go back, turn them on and reshoot.  Sadly its happened more than once, but art is subjective and so is taste.  Luckily, full spectrum lights make it slightly easier to white balance later.  So what might have actually looked really yellow and harsh (and dated and stuffy) can actually be white balanced to look very clean, and warm. Cons: sometimes, the balance is a failure and it really does look green. 

In general, I don’t use lights.  But in art, as in life, certain situations just call for something different. Best not to get stuck on any one method.