Lighting Techniques for Large Scale Architectural Images

Lighting  •  Photography Tips

The challenges of photographing large architectural structures are many; however, one of the most time consuming parts of the job is lighting. The process Mike Butler uses to light large structures, such as the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami, requires individual sections of the structure to be lit using various lighting equipment then photographed before reassembling the setup on another section of the building. Take a look at how he does it in the following video:

After the entire structure has been photographed, Butler takes the images into the digital darkroom where he uses composite photography techniques to stitch the images together into one beautifully lit photograph.

After 10 hours of editing all the images together

Here’s another challenging lighting situation where Mike is on location in Bogota Colombia: