I don’t know how the hell has it taken me this long to get around to adding this shoot to the website. So better late than never here is a post on the incredible eco homes over in Saxilby by Chiselwood. There are 6 of these stunning award-winning homes on the development all at varying staging in their construction.
As an architectural photographer it’s homes like these that get you excited - I mean just look at that roofline. The angles and the stark contrast that black-clad structure strikes against a blue sky, truely beautiful stuff. These homes are just exciting to look at, they are so unique in their appearance - I love it. Step inside and you can instantly see the level of craftsmanship is off the chart for these homes. Chiselwood has gone to town as they always do on making sure every inch of these properties is finished to perfection. Styling on the day came from Santa Maria, she did a great job of bringing the interiors to life with expertly chosen furniture.
Photography wise there is a mixture of flash and ambient for most of the bigger spaces on this shoot. For all of the shots we needed lights on and then lights off. My workflow is to always shoot with the lights off, that way you cancel out all of the weird and wonderful colour casts that come from having the lights on. It's so much easier to paint the lights in photoshop rather than try and man handle the colour casts that come from shooting with the lights on. Having that subtle yellow/orange glow from the lights is so much more appealing than a big blanket of yellow/orange that covers the scene when you have them on. The benefit of the lights off approach as well is that you aren't fighting with the inevitable issues of dynamic range that can come with having lights in the scene that aren't controlled by dimmers. Trying to balance the light levels between the room and a white hot bulb just involves a bunch of extra steps messing about with flash to bring up the light levels. It’s all about making your life easier at the end of the day and for me lights off every time.
Enjoy the shots and I am hoping that I will get a chance to come back and shoot the development once the rest of the homes are all finished off. Watch this space.
