 Photo: dreamstime.comPerhaps the hardest part of installing a great landscape lighting project comes at the very end of the job: capturing that incredible view of your work for posterity.There’s an art and (some say) a science to capturing the subtle nuances, hues and shadows on film or digital card when, well, it’s so dark. And yet, great evening photos can be a contractor’s best friend when it comes to selling jobs. “Seeing is believing, literally,” says Jeff Tullis, president of Accent Outdoor Lighting of Chesterfield, Mo. His approach to the critical marketing facet? “My motto is, have a few high quality photos instead of a slew of marginal shots and always hire a pro.” With the economy being what it is, many lighting pros simply cringe at spending money on something that might not always translate into an increase in sales. “I do all my own photography – unfortunately,” Paul Gosselin Sr., says with a laugh. The president of the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals (AOLP) and catalyst behind NightScenes Corp. in Kingsland, Texas, sees the merit in hiring photographers – but he still chooses to shoot his own photographs. Gosselin, who had his company’s work featured on an episode of ABC-TV’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” has some tips and tricks on how to take the best possible “semi-pro” photos of lighting work. “Here’s the thing: if you have a decent camera where you can turn off the flash – an SLR, or digital single-lens reflex camera, would be the lowest grade – that’s the place to start,” he says. “Then you should have Photoshop or an equivalent computer program and a tripod. What that will allow you to do, when you turn off the flash, is to keep the lights themselves from disappearing into the night. What I like to do is drop (photos) into Photoshop, do a shadow highlight and my pictures come alive.” Gosselin is on the right track, at least according to Jeff Wignall – photographer and best-selling author of “The New Joy of Digital Photography” and several other books that qualify as “lifelong learning” manuals for photo buffs and semi-pros looking to brush up their skills. “First, I always tell people to work on a tripod when they can for a lot of reasons,” Wignall says. “For one, working with a tripod – even an inexpensive one – slows you down. People tend to rush through photos when they are handholding a camera and don’t always pay attention to details. It’s far better to choose a good vantage point, put the camera on a tripod, shoot a few test frames and then examine the images on the LCD while the view is still framed nicely,” the Connecticut native says. “Then if you spot something that needs correcting, you can fix it and just reshoot the same shot.” Wignall is big on tripods for another reason: They allow for “sharper photos because of the slower shutter speed … more depth of field, or near-to-far focus.” He also recommends contractors shooting their own work heed the ambient light from the sky. “Probably the most important thing about shooting lighting installations is not to shoot in total darkness, but rather at twilight,” he says. “At twilight, you’ll get some nice fill light from the sky, which helps to reduce the contrast and dark areas – not to mention a nice sapphire blue background for your shots. Commercial photos of architecture shot using artificial lighting … the photographers almost always work at twilight. I begin to set up the shot about an hour before sunset and then wait until the lights on the building or landscape blend nicely with the sky.” Wignall also recommends doing your own image editing, as Gosselin does. “If your camera allows it, and you do your own image editing, learn more about shooting photos in the RAW exposure mode. In the RAW mode, you can adjust the white balance – the color balance of the lighting – after the fact, so you don’t have to be perfect when shooting the image.” Most professional photographers shoot in the RAW mode. Wignall says, while the images “take up more room on cards and computers” than typical photo file formats, if your digital camera supports RAW, “you can shoot even complex lighting installations and come back with some really great photos.” |
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