bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

Have you ever experienced lens distortion with that wide angle lens? What I'm referring too is the findings that really wide angle lenses cause vertical lines to collapse on each other, leaning toward the center of the frame from both sides.

nicelights Loc: 30 miles east of LA

First, the shots are excellent. On Interior #1 I would have tried to straighten the column on the left a bit but overall you should be proud of what you have done. As to the griper that someone is "Going Pro". Sit down and shut up.
I too am just starting to work with a Realtor doing a bit of photography for her. You see I have been unemployed for 2 years and don't have a degree or a half dozen years working with LED lighting. However I do have 45 years experience in producing photos for resumes/portfolios, catalogs and web pages and photographing Lighting Fixture showrooms as part of my "regular work". So now at 66 I'm trying to reinvent myself. I am very grateful to my friends who are encouraging me to find a new me.

And,thanks to all of you who contribute to this forum. I am picking up excellent information and ideas every week. Raising my coffee cup to you all).

billybob40

WERE ALL OUT HERE TO MAKE A LIVING. WHAT ARE YOU HERE FOR???????????

dongrant Loc: Earth, I think!

Bit of an elitist there aren't we, there Buba. It is a free country, and the current economic system is free enterprise. Also, one would do well to watch who they challenge. Just a work of caution, when you open your gun ports you need to keep in mind that the mast that you are eying though the fog may be attached to Man of War with guns aimed and ready. While I do not see eye to eye with all here I do respect their views and work, there are some excellent photographers on this site. So tread lightly with cutting comments. You may be the one to get cut.

gessman Loc: Colorado

You got some very nice shots. In Feb '09, Canon introduced 17mm and 24mm tilt-shift lens. Don't know if Nikon has matched Canon in that or not.

Tilt-shift is the standard for architectural photography and is the feature in large format cameras that has allowed the "state of the art" to be established because it has the ability to eliminate the "tilting in and out" and converging and leaning back of the vertical lines of buildings in images. Might be good to consider and check out. On a full sized sensor... Not inexpensive - around $2k each. Just a thought.

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

Remember!

dongrant Loc: Earth, I think!

Well put, Bob.

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

I'm a forum rat. I've got a dozen graphics stored & handy for every occasion.

Yup

D2hundred

First let me commend you for wanting to shoot good real estate photos. It's been brutal looking at listings where the photos are shot through trees from the road on a high contrast day and worse, and you can't make out anything. My recommendation is to shoot in the most even light possible and on a sunny day it's usually near sunrise or sunset. That's when the best color is anyway. Harsh shadows are murder. Overcast days are best otherwise. Use a wide angle lens (18mm - 35mm) and shoot an aperture at no less than F8 so you don't go blurry in the foreground. Look for the building's strengths and don't be afraid to get creative. Above all don't use a low resolution cell phone. Don't focus on the current occupant's furnishings instead of the house unless it adds to the shot.

commodore-don Loc: Cleveland, OH

As I said in my original email, the secret is to have the camera perfectly level. So no, I have never experienced any lens distortions with those lenses.

They do have a very small amount of pin-cushion distortion at maximum wide angle, but that is very easily corrected in PS, especially since these are all quality lenses and have very little pin-cushioning.

Wide angle lenses can give some rather "weird" affects to things which are very near the lens and in the corners of the picture. I try to stay away from that situation.

I specialize in photos of wooden antique and classic boats. When shooting at a boat show, where you are standing on a dock right on top of the boats, you can't back up unless you want to go swimming. On some hot days I wouldn't mind that, but the cameras sure would.......they don't like getting wet!
Actually, unlike the home pictures, the camera is never level in these situations, so I do a lot of geometric distortion corrections in Photoshop. I would guess that most photographers use telephoto lenses more than they do wide angle. I'm just the opposite!

When we look at the scenes with our eyes, we don't see verticals falling down. That is because our brains automatically correct that situation for us. I guess that is why walls falling down in photos bother me so.

davejann Loc: Portland Oregon

Get the proper exposure for the windows and then add flash fill for the rest of the room starting from closer to the camera out. This may require several speedlights.

les_stockton Loc: Eastern Oklahoma

I would just google real estate sites and look at a bunch (I mean hundreds) of photos. After a while, you'll get the idea of what works for interior shots.
For instance, with interiors, in most cases, the wide angle is a good thing. Plus, for kitchen shots, since you not only want to show the cabinetry and appliances, but you want to show countertops, a view from the top of a ladder is probably going to be the best.
I think going through other real estate shots though and taking your time will get you the best ideas. Id' stick with the high-end real estate, as chances are, they paid a pro to go through and take the shots, so you'll be getting a view of pro work and will know what works best.

dizit Loc: Cambria-Pines-by-the-Sea, CA. USA

At one time, in addition to being a script supervisor, I shot location stills. If I was shooting a house I would take multiple shots at various times of day. That way I would be guaranteed of hitting the best light for the house and location. At times, I would actually sit in my car from dawn to dusk, taking a new set of shots every 15 to 30 minutes. This was an excellent solution to getting the *right* shot.

Houreal

I'm a newbie in area of photography, but have been licensed in Real Estate since 2000. My advice is take a nice clean picture, and make sure that what you take is as close as possible to what the buyers end up seeing.

A lot of times buyers will walk the home, and say that it looks different from the pics IE., smaller, or bigger rooms than what they look like in the pic.

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

A friend shot her home with precision and forethought...save one problem. Every bedroom had the identical white bedspread on every bed (she'd even bought the same identical four twin bedspreads for two rooms). Four bedroom house. House was a colonial, with period furniture. The agent received the same tired response: "Why do all of the rooms have the same white bedspread?" A photographer told the agent that he'd re-shoot the house, nearly a year after the house had originally listed. Updated linens helped created a different, more attractive presentation - different for each room. Moral: - Agents, scour the photos and know they are the best match to your product (the house)and - Photographers, watch were your lens takes you. If you're seeing double, might want to take another look.