Shooting Industrial Interors

[Tom Henkel]

Anyone have any tips/suggestions for shooting industrial interiors? Here's a shot I did recently. I sort of like it, but think I could have done better. I was shooting through a locked gate (the lens fit through the gap between the two gates) so I was somewhat limited in terms of angle.

http://idisk.mac.com/med007/Public/64136124.DVwimHsy.factory_floor_2a.jpg

Any thoughts?

Tom

[David Miller]

I wonder what direction the windows face. If it's east or west, shooting at the right time of morning or evening could result in interesting shafts of light and shadows. Any chance the owners would let you in there? Looks like a fantastic place to shoot. As for this image, I'd like to see tonal adjustments to darken the mid-tones, and the wall behind the columns, so that the columns stand out more.

Dave

[Tom Henkel]

I wonder what direction the windows face. If it's east or west, shooting at the right time of morning or evening could result in interesting shafts of light and shadows. Any chance the owners would let you in there? Looks like a fantastic place to shoot. As for this image, I'd like to see tonal adjustments to darken the mid-tones, and the wall behind the columns, so that the columns stand out more.

Dave

That's a good suggestion to darken up the back wall to make the pillars stand out. I'll have to work on that.

To answer your questions, the windows you can see are facing northwest. There is another set of windows facing southeast on the opposite side. It was early morning, so I was using the moriing sun to provide some of the lighting.

I would love to spend some time snooping around this building. I think the owner is Massport (the state transportation agency). The building is not currently in use, and has some serious condition problems. The structure was built in 1940 when the area was being used as a military base. I wouldn't be surprised if there are multiple toxic contamination issues with the site. I'm guessing the state wouldn't be keen on letting anyone in there.

Thanks for your input.

Tom

[Asher Kelman]

The link to Tom's first image is broken. The image is missing in his web page. I'll contact him!

Asher

[Asher Kelman]

I like this image and the challenge so Tom kindly sent me the file to repost.

http://idisk.mac.com/med007/Public/64136124.DVwimHsy.factory_floor_2a.jpg

This is a common situation in industrial sites. Just poking ones camera through a small space and getting that picture is commendable. The image is plenty impressive as is. There's a lot of power there and the blood red paint at the foot of the massive steel pillars seems to say something about the work that went on here and how it made or borke men's live's.

Several things I'd consider, and this might annoy purists who might insist that the image should be shot as is on site. I might swing my camera arounf the optical axis to get more of the industrial space to the left and in the front so as to be able to have compositon choice after the fact.

One can also use a wider angles with the Sigma 12-24 or the Canon 16-35.

I'm thinking that a Better Beamer would be great to throw light all the way up to where the men would be in the lift.

Anyway, I'm glad to have this link repaired for further enjoyment!

Asher