jwegge11 Loc: Stillwater, MN

Would love it if you could share any knowledge of the following:

1). Techniques for shooting outside and inside. Angles that are preferred? Things to include and exclude? Average exposure or other settings that 'show' or print better to show off a house?

2). Any marketing tips and/or bests ways to price for still pics only (not video).

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Jeff

jw32003 Loc: Oklahoma

Jeff....I've never had the oppurtunity or need to shoot the interior or exterior of a house other than one I lived in and sold.
All I did was shoot the most flattering features of the house. I really think if I was going to charge I would talk to a real estate agency and get their thoughts. Then do a search on the web and pose the same questions.

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

Use multiple photos taken from a steady tripod while bracketing your exposure +1, 0, -1 F-Stops. Create a 3 frame HDR to evenly light every aspect of the room being photographed. Digital film & shooting is free. Take many angles using the same HDR technique of bracketing shots. Process in CS5 or Elements. Industrial photography is an artform usually handled by specialists. Look for video seminars or tutorial online to give you an excellent idea of what you're doing. I watch a complete class on this subject on Kelby Online Training. There may be DVD tutorials on that subject available. http://www.kelbytraining.com


http://kelbytraining.com/online/watch/riley_architecture

Architectural Photography
by Richard Riley

jwegge11 Loc: Stillwater, MN

Thanks Bob---I just got the HDSoft Pro--love it. Super easy and fun to use. Here is one I did recently for my friends cabin he rents out for his website.

Nevermind Bob---I seen to have a heck of a time getting jpegs to actually upload. I hit Browse and then attach the file--when I hit "Send" it just erases the file I added. Any clue what I am doing wrong?

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

No, I'm sorry I don't.

jwegge11 Loc: Stillwater, MN

Let's try this for the 4th time

HDR shot w light painting


HDR Interior Shot w HDSoft


Sunrise off the balcony

pshaffer Loc: Worthington, Ohio

I think that these are excellent. It is interesting to me that the bar is now much higher than several years ago. At that time (I am thinking 2000-2003) people were just wowed with the fact that there were pictures you could look at . 99% were awful. When we sold our house, I did the photos myself. I had the advantage of being able to choose the right time to shoot, so that the light outside and in was balanced (~6 AM). The realtors typically would come in and snap some pictures with their (wow) digital camera with flash, and upload them. Yuck.
My mother is selling her house and the photos that were done were quite good. The guy obviously used HDR, but with some tone mapping that gave it that slightly "cooler than real" appearance. I personally would have backed off a bit on that, but to the usual viewer, who doesn't know photography, I think they will just think "wow". I am sure he has a set of tone mapping settings that he pushes a button and it all just happens.

pshaffer Loc: Worthington, Ohio

Oh - also - I find that ± 1 EV is not rich enough. Many cameras can only do this, though. So you can set the camera to bracket ±1 and then set the exposure to -1.5, get one set, set to + 1.5 and shoot another set. Now you have six encompassing -2.5 to + 2.5.
I am looking at a camera that will do many more pictures with a single snap, up to nine. The minimum, though, is a Nikon D300 which is about $1300 street price.

davidroyfulton

when you are doing indoor shots , have the widest lens set at f8 or f10 bounce the flash of the celling when taking shots of windows in the day time that way the window will not be over exposed and you will get a nice shot of the inside of the house and the view through the window. Also when taking shots outside always have some stock shots of blue skies that you can put the house in layers!!! hdr for the out side and in side is right on. so do not worry if it gray and cloudy out side take the shots layer in blue sky. You can also do this trick to windows that do not have a good view, have a bird flying across the window blue skies or a sunset ect...

brokeweb Loc: Philadelphia

Shoot your pics in early morning or dusk, when the sunlight is low in the sky.

Use a wide-angle lens when shooting inside.

Make sure your aperture is set to the largest depth of field so that everything is in focus.

Shoot at the lowest ISO you cane get away with to reduce any noise.

dongrant Loc: Earth, I think!

I believe that you have it there..

FOTOSTAN Loc: Ca..NYC..Fla.

UGH.. here we go again, "so-called" photogaphers takng away business from those of us who are tying to make a living..

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

??? Care to explain yourself?

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

Quote:"so called".

Just because you call yourself a professional photographer doesn't mean your work is worth a damn. Get off your high horse & smell the roses. A quick look at your profile shows this is your first post. You've not posted a single "so called" example of your "professional" work. Geesh! Just Sayin' ")

commodore-don Loc: Cleveland, OH

Our daughter is a real estate agent, so several times she has had me do photos of houses for her.

Ever since cameras were invented, when aimed downward, verticals fall outwards and when aimed upwards, verticals fall inward. This is why you see so many pictures which have buildings, walls, etc. which look as if they are falling down.

I use a wide-angle lens and put the camera on my tripod, which has a head with leveling bubbles. I make sure it is perfectly level and then take my pictures. She and the other agents in her office have been quite impressed with the results.

If using the D2X or D300, I use the Nikon 12-24mm lens, which sees about a 99 degree angle of view at 12 mm (18mm equivalent). If using my D700, I use either the Nikon 24-70 mm f2.8 sees about an 84 degree angle of view or my 14-24 mm F2.8 which sees a 114 degree angle of view at 14 mm.

For light, I use one or both of my SB-800 flash units with the deflectors mounted on them and bounced off of a wall or ceiling. Most ceilings I've encountered in residences are whitish in color and work very well as a bounce surface. I did once encounter a black ceiling, but believe it or not, it actually reflected enough light to illuminate the pictures while requiring only minor color balancing in Photoshop.