This week I had the opportunity to open my home for a Lighting Workshop for Professional Realtors which was being hosted by Sam Dumas of Windermere Real Estate. The workshop was called “Lighting Tips for Excellent Interior Photography from an Expert” and was presented by Seth Joel, a professional photographer with over 30 years of experience who is a leading contributor to Getty Images.

Professionals will tell you that in order to take a great interior shot you must have good skills as well as equipment. You cannot take a “point and shoot” camera and expect to get a result that would be at a level which could be published in a magazine or create a room that appears to be naturally warm and inviting. This workshop that Seth developed teaches the skills that professionals use to take photographs for books and publications.

I asked Seth what made him choose his profession and he told me that “photography is in his blood”. His father Yale Joel was a photo journalist for Life Magazine and Seth grew up studying Polaroids while on photo shoots with his father and he fell in love with the glamorous life. Once he experienced the fulfillment of creating something that could become a documentation of time he knew there was no other choice. Over the course of Seth’s career he has created photographic documentation for several museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art as well as the Arm and Hammer in Los Angeles. He has also photographed for publishers such as, Harry Abrahams, Simon & Schuster and Conde Nast. Some of his periodical work has been with Life Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and People Magazine [the lifestyle section].

Seth’s career has taken him around the world and while on an assignment in India he met his wife, Charlie Holland. Several years ago Seth and Charlie came to Prescott to visit a business colleague who had recently moved here. They fell in love with the Prescott area and the people and decided it would be a perfect place to develop a stock photo library. So far they have done a project involving photographs of active seniors and people in small business as well as some of the local ranchers and realtors. They have created about 20 different photo shoots in the Quad City area as well as in Skull Valley.

Those who follow interior design and housing trends will look to photographs of interiors for inspiration. I personally use architecture and interior design magazines as a reference point for certain elements or styles and I tell my clients that it is a great way to create “tear sheets” or ideas for their dream homes and/or dream rooms. It takes a trained eye and a professional to make a room “magazine ready”. It is an art form which takes hours of preparation for just a single shot. Digital cameras have revolutionized architectural photography by not only giving us instant images to review but by giving novice photographers the ability to experiment with photography in a more economical manner.

In the past it was primarily professional photographers who were hired to take photos of properties and interiors; these included properties which were going on the market to be sold. With the downturn of our economy many realtors are now starting to do their own photography. Seth realized that a concise full day workshop which could concentrate on the essentials of lighting and working with a digital camera would enable an amateur photographer to take advantage of professional instruction while helping to improve their photographic skills.

One of the reasons Seth developed a workshop to teach lighting tips is because even though the digital camera is easy to operate you still need to have specific skills to be able to dissect a photo to see all of the details. Seth said this workshop gives him the opportunity to get back to the roots of shooting with hot lights as opposed to strobe lights and that it is a technique that can be learned by any amateur photographer.

A prime example of his “ideal student” is someone like Sam Dumas. Sam had taken some photography classes at the local college and felt that this workshop would help to hone her skills while learning specifics about photographing interiors so that she can provide her clients with more professional shots of their properties for marketing purposes. Even if Sam is not the one taking the photographs she has now learned essential skills on how lighting will affect the final image; and how to set up a room so that it is photographed from the most advantageous angle.

About 12 realtors came to the “boot camp” and then 4 continued on for the actual hands on photo shoot training. At the boot camp the participants learned how to set up lights, evaluate a room for lighting and then proceeded to light the room. They were then instructed to take a photograph that gave an aesthetic effect that pleased them by use of controlling their color temperature a/k/a white balance. They further learned about exposure, depth of field and iso, shutter speed and how to use a self timer for triggering a camera when it is on a tripod.

During the field photo shoot the realtors received further instruction on how to light a room and photographed it on their own cameras starting with a “before” and then taking an “after” photo so they had a good benchmark. Seth gave each student a one on one critique and explained various settings so they could continue perfecting their shots and see for themselves exactly how to make a picture warmer or cooler.

I was told that the most common mistake of the novice is that even if they have a digital SLR camera they never take it off of the auto setting so they are never in control of the camera; thus they are never in control of the outcome. One of the unique challenges of photographing homes in Prescott is that you have rooms with views. Typically a camera with an automatic or limited function will only photograph just the room or just the view and in order to capture an image with the room as well as the view in the same frame requires a professional skill set.

Another benefit of taking this course was the ability to purchase a special customized lighting kit specifically designed for a realtor’s [or interior photographer’s] needs so that they can create professional interior shots for their marketing purposes.

Seth’s wealth of experience as a professional photographer is further underlined by the love he has for his career. He claims that “a camera is like a passport; it creates the opportunity to meet people that you might never have had the chance to meet otherwise.” For more information you can check out Seth’s website at www.sethjoel.com

Photo of Seth [right] giving instruction to Brian Matuskey of AZ Event Video; a local videographer [left]

Photograph taken by Seth Joel – “BEFORE” Photo taken with a digital camera on auto setting.

Photograph taken by Seth Joel – “AFTER” Photo with appropriate lighting and settings applied.