How to take a picture of a room with huge windows letting light in?
I'm trying to take a picture of the individual offices and also show the great view they have. The problem with taking the picture is the windows are huge and let a lot of light in. So when I take a picture the view looks great, but the room looks dark.
I have a Nikon D80 DSLR so I can adjust ISO, f stop, manual focus, etc
HDR photography is one solution.
Take 3 or more exposure bracketed images using a tripod, and merge them in HDR software.
Here's an example: 
(not my photo)
Free HDR software: Luminance HDR http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/
Or if you have a recent copy of Adobe Photoshop, it has a merge to HDR function.
There are both software and hardware solutions… Another approach might be to use "fill flash" to fill in the dark spots, and then do further balancing in your editing program. Some programs, like Photoshop, allow you to use fill-flash in post.
It is a lighting problem. There may be certain times of the day when the interior and exterior light is more balanced. Maybe dawn or dusk would limit the sunlight to balance with interior lighting?
Or use an HDR process - and shoot the scene once exposed for exterior window light - then shoot again exposed for interior light. Use a tripod, camera locked down for all shots. Then merge the various images in Photoshop or an HDR software.
Another solution Hollywood cinematographers use is covering the windows with and gel film - a photographic type of window tinting. And gel comes in rolls and may be expensive for some AND it drops the interior light level - so now will require lighting skills for the room.
Shooting into bright windows is challenging for photographers.
Options…
1. Darken the windows and brighten the interior lights
2. Brighten the interior to match the windows
3. Bracket the exposure and merge the images in computer
4. Shoot at dawn or dusk "magic hour" for dimmer sky
Have fun.
Use a tripod so that the camera position doesn't change between shots;
Option 1. Meter for the light outside the windows and take a shot then meter for the room and repeat. Blend the two exposures in post.
Option 2. Do the same but shoot multiple exposures, half/third stops apart and use HDR software to blend.
Option 3. Meter for the outside, as in 1, then use off camera flash to light the room to the required level (may require more than one flash/umbrella in large rooms).
Illuminate the interior with flash.
Set your exposure for the view in manual with a shutter speed within the sync range of the camera.
There are several ways to approach this situation. One is to use a flash as you would if your subject were outside with sunlight cming from behind ("Fill light"). Another would be to take the images when the sun is lower in the horizon, or away from the windows in question. These two are the easiest methods. You can, alternatively, use a tripod and take several bracketed images (remember, use the tripod to keep the images steady and constant) and then use your HDR software to merge them; a few more steps, right? That's why I made the first two suggestions.
You have 3 options:
1) Use off camera lighting. Sometimes difficult due to space constraints.
2) Use multiple shots with lighting set specific to various areas of the room. Time consuming, requires layering in Photoshop.
3) Use HDR process. Snap 3-5 shots with different exposures and use a tool like Photomatix Pro to blend them for you. This is by far the fastest and easiest way, but you have to be careful to not get "fake" looking HDR results.
If you are concerned with getting the inside right, set exposure for indoors. If you want to highlight what's outside, expose for what's outside. Cameras don't see exactly how human eyes do. You have to select which to show.
If you choose indoors, the outside will be overexposed, too bright but the indoors will come out good. If you choose outdoors, the inside will be underexposed if not black with nice colors outside. If you really must get both (which will come out weird in a photograph), see how to do HDR.