Would love some tips on shooting real estate pictures!
Capturing moments wrote:
Would love some tips on shooting real estate pictures!
Tripod
Wide angle lens
Auxillary lighting
Make sure your images are level and not distorted
TriX
Loc: Raleigh, NC
PixelStan77 wrote:
Tripod
Wide angle lens
Auxillary lighting
Make sure your images are level and not distorted
...with all vertical surfaces/edges exactly vertical (if they’re not, try to crop them out). Pay attention to color balance if you have multiple temperature light sources (such as windows in a tungsten-lit room), and consider HDR if you have Windows that you don’t want blown out. I find that my 17-40L on a FF is ideal. I try not to exaggerate size by using ultra wide and creating a misleading impression of the room. I know this may sound silly and trivial, but be careful of reflections of the photographer in mirrors 🙀.
Capturing moments wrote:
Would love some tips on shooting real estate pictures!
What exactly is meant by 'real estate pictures' Are they photos of houses etc for Realtor listings or Architectural / Interiors intended for publishing in magazines etc.
AndyH
Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire
TriX wrote:
...with all vertical surfaces/edges exactly vertical (if they’re not, try to crop them out). Pay attention to color balance if you have multiple temperature light sources (such as windows in a tungsten-lit room), and consider HDR if you have Windows that you don’t want blown out. I find that my 17-40L on a FF is ideal. I try not to exaggerate size by using ultra wide and creating a misleading impression of the room. I know this may sound silly and trivial, but be careful of reflections of the photographer in mirrors 🙀.
...with all vertical surfaces/edges exactly vertic... (
show quote)
The golden rule of real estate shooting. "Keep the verticals vertical".
You can correct some in PP, but if you stick to this, and crop extreme wide angle shots so they don't look distorted, you've got a good start.
Lighting to balance natural and flash lighting, and use of tripod/light stand mounted flash are techniques you will need to learn. These make the difference between acceptable and great shots in this field.
Andy
Gene51
Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)
AndyH wrote:
The golden rule of real estate shooting. "Keep the verticals vertical".
You can correct some in PP, but if you stick to this, and crop extreme wide angle shots so they don't look distorted, you've got a good start.
Lighting to balance natural and flash lighting, and use of tripod/light stand mounted flash are techniques you will need to learn. These make the difference between acceptable and great shots in this field.
Andy
Or, as far as balancing two different color light sources - use a ColorChecker Passport to quickly make a dual illuminant color profile. This resolves the color from both sources to a common neutral balance. I've done this and it really does work.
AndyH
Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire
Gene51 wrote:
Or, as far as balancing two different color light sources - use a ColorChecker Passport to quickly make a dual illuminant color profile. This resolves the color from both sources to a common neutral balance. I've done this and it really does work.
Yes. Also great advice. But keep those verticals vertical! Rule @1 and #2...
Andy
billnikon
Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
Capturing moments wrote:
Would love some tips on shooting real estate pictures!
When I did real estate I liked to have a natural look when showing outside through the windows. Easy to do, use manual on your camera and adjust it so you are shooting slower than 1/250 sec. Your flash should be set on TTL. I turn my flash head up and behind me to light the interior just fine. So, you have now balanced the outside light with the indoor light for a pleasing image.
Gene51
Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)
billnikon wrote:
When I did real estate I liked to have a natural look when showing outside through the windows. Easy to do, use manual on your camera and adjust it so you are shooting slower than 1/250 sec. Your flash should be set on TTL. I turn my flash head up and behind me to light the interior just fine. So, you have now balanced the outside light with the indoor light for a pleasing image.
In the "old" days, (film era), I would use a blackout cloth to darken the window(s) then shoot a double exposure, or shoot at a time when the window light was lower in intensity. Many of my clients were interior designers and architects and they put a lot of time and effort into getting the lighting in a space right, and wanted their work represented correctly. But I worked mostly in black and white, so color balance was not an issue. Using a 4x5 camera made it easy to do multiple exposures. And of course it helped to have clients that paid more than $150 a property.
"Tripod
Wide angle lens
Auxillary lighting
Make sure your images are level and not distorted"
Basic and effective set up. Look at magazines showing real estate properties to get a grab of it. Then practice.
Have you thought of HDR for interior shots? Shoot raw so you can manually change white balance to get a pleasing image with multiple light sources.
Capturing moments wrote:
Would love some tips on shooting real estate pictures!
From my limited experience, I think it depends on what type of real estate you will be shooting; high, medium, or low end, interior and/or exterior, etc. For lower end, you probably need only a decent wide angle zoom lens, a tripod, and a flash. For high end you may also need tilt-shift lenses, portable lighting, etc. Learn how to shoot and PP interiors with bright windows without resorting to HDR, especially for higher end. There are any number of U-Tube videos about real estate photography.
Learn to light paint and then combine the areas with layers in Photoshop. You can use a flash or any other light source. You then mask yourself from each layer and allow the lit areas to show.
Windows with exposure layer and keep the lines correct.
I'm a Realtor and I love taking pictures of my listings for the MLX...mostly condos with great views here in South Florida. I've commented before on the importance of shooting the view from the inside balancing the outdoor setting with the indoor flash usually bounced, both on manual, trying not to pop on the glass doors and mirrors (TG for PP). Recently discovered from studying others, to try to center a corner, even between the ceiling and floor, and beween 2 walls. I recently realized that you can get an aesthetic look by turning up the brightness in PSE, though there might be a better way to achieve this effect...???
Take lots of pictures with different angles and settings...with and without flash...get down on your knees and up on chairs!
And then edit where necessary in PP. I hope this was helpful!
If you want to reply, then
register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.