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Beginner real estate photographer
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Aug 5, 2019 09:44:37   #
Rob C
 
Need some help. Just starting out as a real estate photographer. Got a Nikon d7500 and some good lenses but what kind of flashes and triggers do you recommend. And something that's budget friendly. Thanks ,Rob C

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Aug 5, 2019 12:59:19   #
Photocraig
 
Rob,
When I did my Real Estate photography, optical triggers, available built in on many Manual flashes today was completely adequate. Even for the largest Lakefront Homes at Lake Tahoe, one room isn't beyond the optical sensing range. I'd trigger them from my built in flash or a hot shoe mounted flash, or a PC cord or TTL corded off camera flash. If using on camera flash or built in as a trigger, you may choose to mask that light with a diffusing layer or a black card, if it interferes.

Certainly radio sensors are excellent and with the ability to use groups and change settings from the camera location is a great advantage. Also, a great advantage would be an articulating screen and smart phone remote control on your camera to be able to get low angle shots with the camera close to a corner or wall. Remote will let you be outside of teh room, and issue in smaller rooms and wide fields of view lenses.

If you're going TTL/Auto flash, the triggering set ups are usually restricted to the Camera/Flash or independent vendor specific models. I used a flash meter, so the manual set up (especially since it was film) made using manual easier. Beware of the flash coverage limits when using wide angle lenses, and the same issues for "stitched" images for a wide view.

C

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Aug 5, 2019 13:29:58   #
speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho
 
Rob C wrote:
Need some help. Just starting out as a real estate photographer. Got a Nikon d7500 and some good lenses but what kind of flashes and triggers do you recommend. And something that's budget friendly. Thanks ,Rob C


Just read up on the specs of the speed lights, that fit your requirements and shooting style best and go by that. Nikon has many excellent speed lights!

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Aug 5, 2019 13:37:02   #
Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)
 
Rob C wrote:
Need some help. Just starting out as a real estate photographer. Got a Nikon d7500 and some good lenses but what kind of flashes and triggers do you recommend. And something that's budget friendly. Thanks ,Rob C


Which lights you choose is less important than how you use them. Which RE photographers do you aspire to be like? What is your market? Are you looking to do this full time?

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Aug 5, 2019 16:09:09   #
Rob C
 
Just part time now but also gonna be doing product photography

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Aug 5, 2019 17:56:29   #
E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada
 
In my commercial photograhy business I do a good volume of architectural interior and exterior assignemts. Some of it is for real estate brokers- homes apartments and condos, some for architects and contractors and also for interior decorators. I also work for the hospitality and foodservice industries.

How you approach the lighting has many considerations, mainly your knowledge of lighting methodologies. Other factor ar the time and budget allowable for each assignment. If you are doing "mass production" real estate work and have half an hour at each location to the gun and run there are certain limitations and a lot of improvisation that must be employed. If you are shooting upscale homes and apartments and have more time to dedicate to each shoot you will have more control. Architectural and interior decoration, and restaurant and resort hotel work is somewhat more demand, aesthetically, but there is quite a bit of crossover technique that applies to all of this.

Surprisingly, many of the assignments I have been given were done strictly by available light with perhaps just a bit of all- over fill from a flas or continuous source. this is because an aesthetically pleasing natural or artificial light design is incorporated in the architectural or decorative plan. You can easily find a white balance for most natural and artificial sources.

My method is this- If the dominant light souce in any room us natural daylight, I expos and balance for that and fill with flas or even an old-fashion blue photo bulb- just enough to fill the shadows and not too much to kill the mood. If the primary light sour in the room is incandescent, LED, or halogen I fill with a bounced 320000K 500 or 1,000 Watt Quartz lamp, or a and LED portable light source. If the room- sometimes an office is lighted wit fluorescent sources, I can fill with a fixture that I rigged to a light stand with the matching tubes. Weh time is limited, you can improvise some of these methods with a speed light with the appropriate filters over the flas unit.

If there are no applicable available light sources to create good lighting, I recommend MONOLIGHTS as opposed to speedlights. These units can be used directly or with modifiers to light various aspects of a room. They can be placed off the camer/subject axis to creat modeling, depth and rendition of textures. You can drag the shutter to record incoming daylight, out-of-door landscaping, fir place ligh, or details such as decorative chandeliers or stained windows or lamps.

Monolight have modeling lams so you can see exactly the effect of your lighting. Budget wise, there is overlap- you can use theses ligh very effectively for product photography, The work exceptionally well with softboxes, grids, and other modifiers. Most better models are significantly more powerful than speedlights so you can bounce, modify and diffuse them and still have sufficient output for a depth of field considerations. Many can be powered down for just a wink of fill ligh when required.

Any of the Nikon Speedlights or some of the Godox units will work well with your camera for quick jobs. I have had my Photogenic Powerlights, a few Speedotrons units and a couple of old Bowens monolights working reliably for years. For continuous ligh sources, you can find some old Colrtran, Lowell, Smith-Victor and even some old Sylvania Sun-Guns on the used market- cheap! The use 350- 500 and 1,000-watt quartz lamps.

Another trick- I replace the bulbs in table lams wit 250-watt Photoflood lams and boost the room light and then fill with a bounce quartz unit.
Daylight exteriors will usually require no additional lighting- may be just a wink of flash. I might to an evening shot at twilight, expose and white balance for the interior lighting or add a touch of incandescent light. The building will show in its accurate color and the sky will go a super-rich blue!

I find that keeping my white balance in control, exposing carefully and keep the camera level to avoid keystoning and other distortions decrease my post-production time- clean files just need to odd tweak and off the client.



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Aug 6, 2019 06:09:22   #
Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD
 
I’m using Adorama Streaklight 360 (Godex) lights along with an on camera flash bouncing off the ceilings and walls. Radio controlled units are essential when lighting separate rooms within view of the main room you are focused on. I suggest you look up Rich Baum on YouTube. He has a great method for entry level and advanced photographers.

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Aug 6, 2019 06:52:50   #
E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada
 
I have used Pocket Wizard radio slaves, since they came out on the market. I still use the first units that I purchased and have added additional receivers since. The are extremely reliable and have an exceptional range. The signal penetrates walls and I can light vast areas with perfect synchronization.



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Aug 6, 2019 07:01:24   #
billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
 
Rob C wrote:
Need some help. Just starting out as a real estate photographer. Got a Nikon d7500 and some good lenses but what kind of flashes and triggers do you recommend. And something that's budget friendly. Thanks ,Rob C


Use a Nikon SB-800, or SB-900, or SB-910.
Use this method.
Set the camera to manual and the flash to TTL. Aim the head up and behind you for the best results. (remember to center the meter and keep your shutter speed at 1/250 sec. or slower, slower being better)
If you have a window and you want a balanced exposure, take the camera to the window and center the meter using manual at a speed of less than 1/250 sec. Now, back up, include what you want and shoot using TTL on the flash. Make final adjustments using exposure compensation on the flash as needed.
My recommendation for a lens, would be the 10-20 Nikon. Fine turn exposure using the exposure compensation on the flash.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=nikon%20af-p%20dx%20nikkor%2010-20mm&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps

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Aug 6, 2019 07:38:43   #
rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona
 
Mine are all Nikon strobes, occasionally studio strobes. I trigger them with Godox radio triggers. I found the optical capabilities of the on-camera flash too limiting. Godox triggers and receivers are affordable and reliable.
--Bob
Rob C wrote:
Need some help. Just starting out as a real estate photographer. Got a Nikon d7500 and some good lenses but what kind of flashes and triggers do you recommend. And something that's budget friendly. Thanks ,Rob C

Reply
Aug 6, 2019 09:54:17   #
Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb
 
I have used no flash and HDR. This dives me a broader range from dark to light and the interior room shows as does the outside yard.
This is me but, they're manny good ways to do it.

Reply
 
 
Aug 6, 2019 11:42:51   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
E.L.. Shapiro wrote:
In my commercial photograhy business I do a good volume of architectural interior and exterior assignemts. Some of it is for real estate brokers- homes apartments and condos, some for architects and contractors and also for interior decorators. I also work for the hospitality and foodservice industries.

How you approach the lighting has many considerations, mainly your knowledge of lighting methodologies. Other factor ar the time and budget allowable for each assignment. If you are doing "mass production" real estate work and have half an hour at each location to the gun and run there are certain limitations and a lot of improvisation that must be employed. If you are shooting upscale homes and apartments and have more time to dedicate to each shoot you will have more control. Architectural and interior decoration, and restaurant and resort hotel work is somewhat more demand, aesthetically, but there is quite a bit of crossover technique that applies to all of this.

Surprisingly, many of the assignments I have been given were done strictly by available light with perhaps just a bit of all- over fill from a flas or continuous source. this is because an aesthetically pleasing natural or artificial light design is incorporated in the architectural or decorative plan. You can easily find a white balance for most natural and artificial sources.

My method is this- If the dominant light souce in any room us natural daylight, I expos and balance for that and fill with flas or even an old-fashion blue photo bulb- just enough to fill the shadows and not too much to kill the mood. If the primary light sour in the room is incandescent, LED, or halogen I fill with a bounced 320000K 500 or 1,000 Watt Quartz lamp, or a and LED portable light source. If the room- sometimes an office is lighted wit fluorescent sources, I can fill with a fixture that I rigged to a light stand with the matching tubes. Weh time is limited, you can improvise some of these methods with a speed light with the appropriate filters over the flas unit.

If there are no applicable available light sources to create good lighting, I recommend MONOLIGHTS as opposed to speedlights. These units can be used directly or with modifiers to light various aspects of a room. They can be placed off the camer/subject axis to creat modeling, depth and rendition of textures. You can drag the shutter to record incoming daylight, out-of-door landscaping, fir place ligh, or details such as decorative chandeliers or stained windows or lamps.

Monolight have modeling lams so you can see exactly the effect of your lighting. Budget wise, there is overlap- you can use theses ligh very effectively for product photography, The work exceptionally well with softboxes, grids, and other modifiers. Most better models are significantly more powerful than speedlights so you can bounce, modify and diffuse them and still have sufficient output for a depth of field considerations. Many can be powered down for just a wink of fill ligh when required.

Any of the Nikon Speedlights or some of the Godox units will work well with your camera for quick jobs. I have had my Photogenic Powerlights, a few Speedotrons units and a couple of old Bowens monolights working reliably for years. For continuous ligh sources, you can find some old Colrtran, Lowell, Smith-Victor and even some old Sylvania Sun-Guns on the used market- cheap! The use 350- 500 and 1,000-watt quartz lamps.

Another trick- I replace the bulbs in table lams wit 250-watt Photoflood lams and boost the room light and then fill with a bounce quartz unit.
Daylight exteriors will usually require no additional lighting- may be just a wink of flash. I might to an evening shot at twilight, expose and white balance for the interior lighting or add a touch of incandescent light. The building will show in its accurate color and the sky will go a super-rich blue!

I find that keeping my white balance in control, exposing carefully and keep the camera level to avoid keystoning and other distortions decrease my post-production time- clean files just need to odd tweak and off the client.
In my commercial photograhy business I do a good v... (show quote)


Some great suggestions E.L. - I never thought of replacing table lamp bulbs with photofloods. I’m bookmarking this page for future reference.

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Aug 6, 2019 11:56:23   #
PGHphoto Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
 
Rob C wrote:
Need some help. Just starting out as a real estate photographer. Got a Nikon d7500 and some good lenses but what kind of flashes and triggers do you recommend. And something that's budget friendly. Thanks ,Rob C


Look at Neewer branded flashes - good quality and easy to use. They are well matched to Canon gear and I imagine should be good with Nikon as well. For inexpensive and reliable triggers - take a look at Cowboy Studio. They do not support TTL but for basic triggers they work well. Or keep a watch on ebay for previous generation Pocket Wizards. You can find them very inexpensively and often in sets of 2 or 3 for below the price of a new single unit.

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Aug 6, 2019 12:30:40   #
E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada
 
TriX wrote:
Some great suggestions E.L. - I never thought of replacing table lamp bulbs with photofloods. I’m bookmarking this page for future reference.



I use this interesting "antique"! Years ago the "Color-Tran brad of continuous lighting gear worked with this ColorTRANsformer which boosted ordinary 250 watt light bulbs to 2900, 3200, or 3400 Kelvin high output lamps. Lie Photofloods, the lamps had significantly short life spans. I no longer have the old fixture but I held on the transformer - I can plug in up to 6 table lamps, floor lamps or torch style lamps and simple repace the regular bulbs with 250W lamps. I can also use 100-watt lamps but the color temperature will be somewhat lower. I then fill in with a quartz lamp (2300K 1,000 watts) bounced off a far wall or ceiling or a white unbrella and the room records as if it were normally lighted with the various practical lamps- nice mood. The boosted light makes for shorter exposures, more depth of field, and easy color balancing. The ratio can be easily controlled by the intensity of the fill light

When doing this or using Photofloods, replace the original ordinary lamps, make my reading and turn them off while focusing, composing and making final adjustments and then turn them back on shortly before exposing. The additional heat can melt the lamp socket or set fire to the lampshades if left on too long.

I hope they still manufacture Photofloods. I still have a few cases of #1 and #2 types and a couple of 1,000 watt lamps with the Mogul base for which I have the old sockets and reflectors. I stock the regular and blue types.



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Aug 6, 2019 18:01:04   #
Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara
 
ok im not a real estate photographer but whenever I've tried to shoot indoors with wide-angle lens the distortion to lines is hard to fix even with lens correction software. Ive always felt it was easier using my tilt lens. None of you mention which kind of surprises me.

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