Interview With Architectural Photographer Sean Conboy

Architectural photographer Sean Conboy, renowned for photographing some of the world’s most famous buildings, joined Karl in studio for this fascinating live talk show.

Sean invited viewers to take a look at what it was like working as an architectural photographer, shedding light on a profession that centres around early mornings and late nights, precision, patience and technical cameras.

Together Karl and Sean looked at some of Sean’s work, examining the lighting of various scenes and exploring how he would balance complex mixed lighting. Sean also shared the gear he takes with him on a shoot and how he handles working in light-dependant situations.

©Sean Conboy

Topics covered in this live photography talk show:

  • Architectural photography
  • Balancing natural and artificial light
  • Working with technical cameras and tilt and shift lenses
  • Composing a strong image using leading lines, focal length & light
  • Shooting interiors vs exteriors
  • How to photograph in busy places

Links:
www.seanconboy.com

Comments

  1. Brian R.

    Hi Karl, great video. @59:24, you asked Sean about view camera brands; I’m not sure if I caught a few of them since I’m not very familiar. I think it was Alpa, Cambo, Arca-Swiss, Sinar, and Linhof?

  2. Thanks a lot, great interview and I do share your opinion on HDR, but as everything, it’s not about the technology but on how we use it. I shoot a lot of HDR and my main concern is to keep it real. Usually some tweaking on the saturation and vibrance sliders makes for some good results.
    Sometimes I go to as much as 12 different exposures, but end up using just the 4 or 5 that work better together. Also, I always do it manually, never in camera or LR auto mode.
    Trickiest thing – to me – is to use flash and HDR, as it tends to create some weird shadows when you try to blend the photos on LR. Not sure if it’s the slight variations on flash power from one shot to the other, or any other factor I might be missing.

    1. Yes agreed but if using flash then it would be more likely you don’t need HDR because you are using the flash to fill the shadows and balance the exposure range.

      1. Totally – most times you won’t need flash if you’re doing HDR, but there are some situations when it would be great to have the best of both worlds, like HDR is great to get more dynamic range on the whole scene and fill the shadows, but it’s also nice to have flash to get some details pop (a chair, a sculpture, etc). I’ve done it with light cubes as they are super small and easy to hide, but they are miles aways from the power of a flash…

  3. Hi Karl,
    great interview with Sean.

    I read through the comments and your answers on “popping” the flash for multiple exposures. I wondered if you currently have a video to teach this? Would you modify the daylight balance of the flash within a tungsten lit hotel room? And does this process require two people or is there a piece of gear to trigger the camera shutter while walking around with the flash , say on the Nikon digital system?

    Blending the lit areas smoothly (particularly if it’s a ceiling) feels a bit tricky. Would I find answers in the Post Production section on “using layer masks”? Also, for blending two RAW files capturing lights in a room with different colour temperatures?

    Thank you,
    Ken

    1. Hi Ken I’ve copied your comment below to best answer your questions:

      ‘I read through the comments and your answers on “popping” the flash for multiple exposures. I wondered if you currently have a video to teach this?
      NOT YET BUT WE HAVE ONE COMING

      Would you modify the daylight balance of the flash within a tungsten lit hotel room?
      YES YOU CAN PUT TUNGSTEN GELS OVER YOUR FLASH IF NEEDED

      And does this process require two people or is there a piece of gear to trigger the camera shutter while walking around with the flash , say on the Nikon digital system?
      IT’S EASIER WITH TWO PEOPLE BUT SOME CAMERAS HAVE A REMOTE TRIGGER OR A PHONE APP THAT ALLOWS YOU TO TRIGGER THE CAMERA FROM A DISTANCE (TRY MIOPS).

      Blending the lit areas smoothly (particularly if it’s a ceiling) feels a bit tricky.
      IT IS, YOU OFTEN HAVE TO USE YOUR BLENDING BRUSH AT AROUND 50% AND WORK IT IN FROM BOTH LAYERS GRADUALLY, OCCASIONALLY YOU MAY ALSO NEED TO SELECT AN AREA MAKE A NEW LAYER AND GAUSIAN BLUR IT TO BLEND THEM BETTER.

      Would I find answers in the Post Production section on “using layer masks”? Also, for blending two RAW files capturing lights in a room with different colour temperatures?
      YES MOST OF THESE TECHNIQUES ARE COVERED IN OUR POST PRODUCTION CLASSES

      2. David

        When you’re popping a flash to emphasize areas of interest in a room do you recommend a Siros 800L with a small soft box attached or is that too heavy?

        1. Hi David, you can use pretty much any light you are comfortable holding, a much smaller light would suffice and even speedlites with the correct attachements and control can work. Often though it’s not done with a small softbox it is more common for it to be undertaken with a reflector with a honeycomb grid so that you can select precise areas to ‘pop’ a spotlight of light to and then you build multiple ‘pops’ of light around the room. Generally you would do this with the light coming from above to emulate the direction of light from a ceiling. A softbox could be used to add some light to a room but it would be broader spread out because of the nature of a softbox and the dispersion of light.

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