Chapter 3. Lighting an Interior Nighttime Scene Using IES Lights

When it comes to creating visually compelling images, it is generally acknowledged that photographers always have to work that little bit harder and perhaps be a little more skillful in their craft when it comes to creating nighttime shots. This, in part, is because the whole image capture process becomes much more reliant on the photographer being able to configure the tools and technology at his or her disposal. Only then will they be able to get the best out of whatever shooting situation they find themselves in.

When working in nighttime conditions, camera settings and exposure options have to be configured with much more care and consideration than is necessary at other times. Insight and understanding have to be applied to the situation in order to get the best out of available light sources, be they natural or artificial. It may even be that photographers will find themselves needing to skillfully create or at the very least augment the existing lighting found in the environment.

In many ways, much the same can be said about creating genuinely photographic nighttime renders, be they the interior or the exterior type. In these scenarios, the role or skillset of both the CG render artist and the photographer can become somewhat interchangeable given that much of the same knowhow and understanding will need to be applied to the final setup in order to get the best possible image solution from it.