Exercise 18: How space changes with light – interior spaces

As my previous stab at this exercise was about exterior space I thought I have a look at interiors as well.

because of the orientation of our house we have two rooms that get bright sunlight at opposite ends of the day so I thought they’d make a useful case study. All the shots in this groups have been prepared by blending 5 shots in Picturenaut HDR software

First up then – one of the front room and the dining room at around the same time – 09:30 in the morning.

  

As we can see the front room gets oodles of direct sunlight – there are strong and dramatic shadows and there is the possibility that it may even be a little too well lit. The dining room on the other hand is receiving no direct light – although the garden outside the window is in bright sunshine – the overall effect is a little dark and unwelcoming at this time of the day.

At the other end of the day the situation is completely reversed as these two at 19:45-ish show.

  

The front room is still nicely lit – the benefit of a bay window – and seems somehow more relaxing than earlier in the day. The dining room now has dappled sunlight pouring through the patio window and is transformed into a location for a cheerful lunch ort family dinner. The warm colours in the room complement the warming colour of evening sunlight.

Unsurprisingly there are variations on this theme at other times during the day. This shot of the front room was taken around 11:30 in the morning The brightness of the sun is easing as it moves around to the right and the room is more relaxing than the first shot above.

As the evening progresses the dining room receives more direct light as the sun clears the trees which are providing the dappling to the shade and as the sun is correspondingly lower in the sky the shadows are longer and the room develops a real summer evening feel. (This shot at 20:40)

Just an hour later and the sun is almost set (it would have been completely gone if I’d waited 5 more minutes) and their is no direct sunlight in the room. The room is starting to revert to the flat lighting of the morning shot.

Conclusions

Choice of timing can make a significant difference to the feel of a room – probably more so than I observed in the exterior shots at the Tortworth Court. For example, if you were doing an interior shoot of the dining room, and were relying on a table setting as the centrepiece, you would probably choose afternoon/evening, or have to add artificial light to liven the room up