canon Lee

I am expanding my business and going into real estate photography. I am interested to hear from those that have experience in this field. please touch on wide angle lenses, techniques such as HDR or others, & what programs would you suggest. I did my first house, & shot without lighting using only ambient light for a natural look. I have been shooting in my business for over 10 years, so understand that I do know how to use my camera.
Anxious to hear from you.

Meives Loc: FORT LAUDERDALE

I don't know about the lens, but many use Photomatix Pro and I like it a lot.

canon Lee

From my research on line that program has come up a lot.

lightcatcher Loc: Farmington, NM (4 corners)

Full frame DSLR 35mm PC lens.

orrie smith Loc: Kansas

Any lens from 35mm to 105mm would work great. As for HDR, Photomatix pro is excellent, but if you already have Lightroom, it will do a great job also. learn how to make some favorite presets, or purchase a package online, and save the cost of a new program.

charles brown Loc: Tennesse

Agree, would think that a PC lens would be invaluable for indoor photography. Costly, but is a write off business expense.

fishone0 Loc: Kingman AZ

For HDR I use Nik HDR Pro 2

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Lee,
I've used a 20mm f/2.8 with a FF camera a number of times for indoor architectural work. It's proven to provide sufficient angular coverage to capture rooms quite well. The only trick is to make sure the axis of the lens is parallel to the floor. Along those lines, I've found that any wider angle lens presents problems with convergence and distortion.

In all reality, I'm not sure what your intent is in HDR techniques. I would avoid using HDR and concentrate on getting excellent exposures with a single photograph. HDR can get out of hand very quickly and render an unrealistic rendering of the scene.

Here's a couple of mine taken with the above mentioned lens.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-128345-1.html

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-303979-1.html


--Bob

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Buckle your seat belt - as I will be taking you off the beaten trail........

I did interiors and and some real estate back in the film era using Horeseman 6X9 technical cameras.

If I were to do it today ( and I have thought about it ) I would be using a Sony camera with in camera HDR and sweep pano. I really do not think you need full frame - unless you are selling to Architectural Digest.

So, on a Sony mirrorless crop frame body I would be using a Samyang 14mm full frame lens and a tilt/shift adapter ( they do make these - available on ebay) - this way you can bounce light off the ceilings and shift down to NOT include the ceiling - without distortions. On the exterior you can also use the shift for taller structures. You can also use the shift for not including yourself in mirrors.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

You will get a lot of answers on this topic, I have to assume that if you are a professional photographer then you are shooting with a full frame camera, I would strongly urge you to check out the Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 HSM DG II, it is a heck of a lot less expensive than the Canon 11-24 and is actually a great performing lens. The Sigma does however have significant distortion at 12mm, but that is mostly gone by 16mm where other ultrawides are their widest and exhibiting their most pronounced distortion. Canon's 16-35's are great lenses, but they just can't get nearly as wide as the 122 degree view of the Sigma. If you don't care for the Sigma then my next suggestion would be the Canon 16-35 f/4 IS, a great lens but not nearly as wide as the Sigma, many reviews will come right out and declare this the best ultra wide that Canon makes. If I were shooting with the 12-24 I would also have something like a 24-70 with me on the shoot, wide shots are not always the best shots. Lightroom in my opinion is a really good post processing program for Real Estate photography and you can find many outstanding tutorials on YouTube as to how to get the most out of that program.

I am posting a couple of links that will give you some tips in shooting Real Estate, one is for a website dedicated to Real Estate Photography and a second is a Flickr page set up by that website, on the flickr page they ask their members to post information about their shots, how many flashes were used and where they were placed etc... it should be helpful for you.

http://photographyforrealestate.net/

https://www.flickr.com/groups/photographyforrealestate/

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Real estate is a pain. To do it right, you need to give yourself ample time to set up the rooms, light them properly, and then do the post processing to get it to look amazing. You have to watch your color and white balance when using just HDR to get the windows to have a brightness level that color is in proper balance. Often the solution is to use an Xrite ColorChecker Passport and it's dual illuminant capability. For a natural look you need to place your lighting with care, otherwise the result looks like you went the budget route to get the "natural look" - the best architectural/interior/real estate photography is lit so perfectly that it looks totally natural, and not cheaply done. But your budget of time and $$$ may not afford such a luxury. You can always get inexpensive speedlights and radio triggers, and either set up an entire scenario for a room to be taken in one shot, or "paint" the light in using a composite of multiple shots all done with a single speedlight.

Here are some ideas worth exploring:

Mulitple lights, single take:

http://fstoppers.com/location/eleven-beautiful-architectural-photographs-and-how-they-were-made-5706


Single Speedlight/multiple exposure composite:

http://lefeverphoto.com/methods/speedlite-interior/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHtbkIKmzgQ


As far as lenses go, I don't recall what camera(s) you use. But if you are on the Canon platform, you are in luck - you can get a 17, 24 and 45mm tilt shift lens. These are considered the holy trinity of real estate photography, though I will tell you right now that only a few actually use them or even know how to. But being able to make the proper perspective and focus(depth of field) corrections before you start post processing will result in better looking images. Also by orienting the camera in portrait mode, and using just the shifts to take a multiple row pano without moving the camera is a great way to increase your field of view without the corresponding wide angle distortions (not keystoning, which all lenses will do) but the volume anamorphosis that occurs when "stuff" in your composition at the edges or in the corners, and the size or perspective distortion that shows background objects as tiny and foreground ones disproportionately larger than life, with normal rooms presenting as if they were as long as bowling alleys. use an ultrawide lens and that is what you will get. That being said, there are times when you have no choice in the matter - so you do the best you can. When using an ultrawide lens, orienting the camera to portrait causes the stretching to occur at the top and bottom of the frame, and if you do a pano, you will likely crop that anyway.

I've been mentoring this fellow for the past 2 yrs.

http://ronnachtwey.com/bas/beforeafter-residential/

He gets it right, and he uses various software applications including LR/Enfuse, Lighroom and Photomatix Pro for exposure fusion, and he does all of his post processing in Photoshop. But he also uses blackout fabric on the windows, selecting the right time to shoot, gelling the strobes and lights to get a good color balance with different lighting scenarios, and he uses a stylist to set up the rooms so they look perfect. He is also very critical and strives to get the best work possible from his gear and his software. As you can see, it pays off.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88053574@N03/27354008416/in/pool-photographyforrealestate/

Great group to follow as most will give very detailed info about the shots. Good luck with the business.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

Not to derail the thread, but with your mindset, shouldn't Pros use Medium Format? Just thinking out loud.

On the other side of the coin - A Pulitzer-Prize winner and National Geographic Photographer who uses M4/3

http://www.jaydickman.net/Information/Bio/1

tdekany Loc: Oregon

I know that you are a good photographer, but if you were to merge in LR, you will get natural looking results. And while I have never shot real estate, I do study those who do it for a living, like the Flickr link I posted above. Bracketing seems to be the norm when needed.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

There are some good, detailed how-to books on real state photography - it may be wise to pick one up and study it thoroughly. Also, getting plenty of practice before taking on assignments I think is a good idea. Out of convenience, start with your own home, then move on to other venues you can practice on undisturbed. With the experience you gain, you will waste less time trying to figure things out while on the job, and you will have more confidence in what you are doing.