Tota light and a prayer

[Ben Calwell]

A friend has asked me to shoot some interior shots of a condo project he's developing. He needs them for a Web site, so I'm going to do the job with an Olympus DSLR.
As an amateur, my lighting "kit" consists of one, 1,000-watt Tota light.
I plan to do this in the daytime and use available light coming in through windows. I'm thinking that the best way to use my Tota is to simply bounce it off the ceiling or walls to boost the overall interior and then take my shots.
I'm sure the windows will overexpose, but I've seen that look in many magazines, so I guess it's Ok.
I guess my question is: will judicious use of the one Tota suffice, or should I get out my credit card, call B&H and order a couple of more Lowell lights?

[Frank Petronio]

Try it, it maybe actually be too much power. One thing you can do is two tripod-mounted exposures, one for the windows, one for the interior, and merge them in Photoshop. Don't try to make it look too perfect, have the windows somewhat overexposed for plausible daylight shots.

Often times you don't need any supplemental lighting, or if you do it needs to be gentle to simply open up the shadows, not dominate the existing lighting.

If there are large windows, half the battle is waiting for the light to benefit you.

[erie patsellis]

If you do use a tota light, be sure to use a CTB filter over it, quite likely a full CTB or 3/4, otherwise your color temps will be way off, some like that look, I prefer a 1/2 CTB to retain some warmth in the interior lighting, but not too much, experimentation is the key here.

Frank's idea is better, be sure to shoot raw, and shoot 2 shots of each, use a gray card for one of the interior shots, to establish a white balance reference as well.

[Gordon Moat]

Basically what Frank suggested: one shot of the window to show the exterior, and another of the interior well exposed. Then combine the two shots in post. Just shoot tripod mounted and you will be fine. Unless you have one particularly dark area in the condo, I would leave the light at home.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

[Darryl Baird]

Just use the Tota-Lite as a general fill (behind or nearly behind the camera), with the main source being the daylight from windows... especially IF you want some of the exterior view in the shot. I did this for years for real estate developers, with a tota and a blue gel over the light to lower it's warmth. ISO 50-80 , 1 second at f/16 was usually in the ballpark on my Velvia chromes. Bracketing is a good approach if you want to mess with HDR combos.

Another idea is to use the Tota as the main light source (from the best angle possible), at dusk. You get a nice cool exterior, a slightly warm and bright interior, with your white balanced to the tungsten source.