Some Observations on Lighting for Architectural and Interior Photography

A few personal observations related to architectural and interior photography that may provide photographers and those who commission them with some food for thought:

• The camera does not see the way the human eye does. 
• Lots of visual information does not necessarily make for a compelling photo.
• The quality of the ambient lighting in many interiors, especially residential, is often not of very high quality. 
• More than anything, it is the quality of the light that is most important in a photo. 
• An ordinary subject with great lighting will look infinitely better than a great subject with poor lighting. 
• Even interiors that make use of a great deal of ambient daylight and/or have well-designed artificial lighting are often affected by substantial compromises due to cost or functionality considerations, with the result that the ambient lighting could use some kind of help, whether in the form of real or (digitally) manufactured supplementary lighting. 
• While some remedial processing can be done in Photoshop, to compensate for poor ambient lighting, Photoshop is not all powerful. That is, you can't always "just photoshop it" and expect to get high quality results. 
• Tastes, styles, talent, budgets and markets will differ. 
• The ambient lighting for a building will never be at its best for all parts of the building at any one time of day. 
• A great deal of light does not necessarily mean good light.
• A very low light level can sometimes be very attractive.

The above observations are in no particular order of importance.