rrg6481 wrote:
I am a real estate photographer seeking info on how to shoot pastel yellow walls in a home where there is also very deep walnut red wood cabinets and trim. I shot the whole house in HDR and am now being asked to re-shoot because the walls do not look natural. More bleached out under outside window light and more natural in the shadows. The problem is the mixture of daylight and ambient light. I am tempted to just on camera flash each room and deal with the shadows that are created. I know there is a way of using flash to bring out more of the natural color by strategically placing speed flashes within each scene but that is very time consuming. I need to get in and out within 2-3 hours when shooting a 5000 sq ft home. I am shooting with a Nikon d7100, in RAW format, in bursts of 10 photos 5 at a time 1EV apart. I have used Auto White balance and custom. Doesn't seem to matter. Processing in Photomatix Pro. Post in LR CC then retouching in Photoshop CC and some in ACR. Anyone out there have any experience with this? Yellow seems to give me the most trouble. Thanks in advance.
I am a real estate photographer seeking info on ho... (
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You have a real issue that most RE guys struggle to solve, judging from the results I see on MLS and on photographers' websites.
A couple of things.
1. You probably don't need 10 shots of each room that you use HDR in. You can do it in three, and maybe two shots.
2. Auto white balance is a no-no for color critical applications. So is custom in your situation. Better to use an Xrite ColorChecker Passport to profile your camera for the scene - it has a dual-illuminant mode that will effectively mix the colors of two light sources together.
3. You will benefit from increasing your post processing skills - masking, compositing, using a brush in color blend mode to sample the color the way you think it should be, and painting the wall with it.
4. You need to be skilled in local color adjustment, using the HSL controls in your software.
5. You should also look into frequency separation, though you probably won't be dealing with much editing on the high frequency side of things - more on the broad color elements, like color casts on walls.
4. If you want to use speedlights, that's fine. But you need to understand that you are now introducing a third light source color into the equation - and you'll need to be comfortable working with color correction filters and such.
5. You need to charge more - a 5000 sq ft home requires at least a day on premises and possibly another day on the computer to properly represent a home.
I've been mentoring an RE guy down in Scottsdale - this is his work:
http://ronnachtwey.com/skills/luxury-homes-overview/http://ronnachtwey.com/skills/luxury-exteriors/http://ronnachtwey.com/skills/luxury-interiors/As far as using speedlights, you might find this "illuminating" (pun totally intended)
http://lefeverphoto.com/methods/speedlite-interior/And here is a nice overview of the ColorChecker Passport - it has a good section on the dual illuminant feature at 18:12:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDtebpvATzcAnd lastly, a very generalized overview of some of the specialized tools needed for architectural/real estate photography
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/architectural-interior-photography-equipment-and-techniques/