Friend of mine asked me to shoot his recording studios -
so I just turned up with my K-x - without any extra/supplemental lighting -
and shot as-is. His main aim was to show the studio as spacious and comfortable looking.
With just the in-situ lighting I thought the shots turned out fine -
and it is mainly because of the K-x extraordinary high ISO performance.
The "main" shot:
There was way more arranging the equipment and furniture than actual shooting.
My first "test" shot just to show them how the picture would look like was:
although the overall feel was fine we felt it was a bit "sterile" and a little empty looking - so I suggested setting up the studio as if they were just doing a recording session - so they set things up to very good detail including plugging it all microphones and instruments - one of them realized that photos can be very revealing so the lack of attention to detail would be "exposed" as faked and set up - I was impressed.
The rearranging consisted mainly of removing the untidy piles at the furthest wall - mic'ing the drum set - moving the bass and guitar racks into the shot placing a vocal mic and distributing headphones (so it looks like a real recording session) then laying a guitar on the chair and arranging the carpet.
Having taken the big pic above they thought the table lamp in the far corner didn't look so good as a lamp and decided to try out a floor lamp stand:
this was actually my very last shot of the studio space - but the lamp stand changed the dynamics of the lighting and just did not look as good as the more "cheesy" table lamp in the corner - we agreed the top big shot would be the one.
The test and used shot were both
ISO3200, f/3.5, 1/15sec, 18mm.
The changed lamp stand version was just a shade darker at:
ISO4000, f/3.5, 1/50sec, 18mm.
Having got that shot "in the bag" - we then tried out different shots just to supplement that shot -
Studio space from another angle:
ISO2500, f/3.5, 1/50, 18mm
Close up of vocal mic:
ISO5000, f/4, 1/15sec, 28mm
(this shot shows that the SR is obviously working well for me)
and finally as an afterthought almost they said it'd be great to have a view through the window from the control room - but would the sound proof glass cause a problem - so I took a test shot and they liked it - didn't realize it could look that good, and then said it would be great if only they had a musician playing in the pic.....
"hey, you're a bass player - go in and play some" I said to my friend
and that's what he did - and my resultant shot, and last of the evening:
ISO5000, f/3.5, 1/50, 18mm
yes, there is noise - after all it is at ISO5000 - but a little more emphasized due to my sharpening to bring out a bit more detail in the player.... and the junk on the opposite wall toward the left of the pic which were moved out of the way for the main shot - but they all kind of fit the overall feel -
turned out to be my favorite........