House interior pictures - DPChallenge Forums

Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX-DC HSM

11/26/2007 04:42:07 PM · #1

I am creating a website for a friend of mine to help him sell his house. It is a large expensive house and I am seeking advice for which shots to take/where to focus my attention and so on. Any advice is appreciated. Also, do you know of any good house interior shots or house selling websites that I should look at?

Thanks!

Shadowi6

Nikon D200

11/26/2007 05:08:11 PM · #2

you just typed right up my alley :)

I work for a real estate agency (well till Friday anyway, Im changing careers after 6 years, but I digress) after my d200 purchase I started taking all of the photos for the company. I'm by no means the best in the bus but I do have a solid understanding of what buyers want to see.

The first shot should be the exterior of the house.
No or little road in the shot, no or little neighbors house in the shot as well. Taken from a 45 degree angle to show the depth of the house. (Straight on makes it look small)

For Example

Ive also used my heavy light stand to get some height and that works out well as well.

The only time that you shouldn't use the front of the house as your first shot is if its a really unappealing style of house, but it still needs to be in the top 3 shots regardless of how it looks, buyers need to know what the outside looks like. It gives them context.

The other main shots are the Kitchen, Bathroom & entertaining area, I cant stress how important it is to remove clutter, when a seller hasn't done enough I move it all out of shot, and back again afterwards. Clutter isn't your friend. Over expose, or lighten in photoshop, kitchens, bathrooms, any internal walls, not to be deceiving but just to show that the paint is good.

I use my sb800 flash off camera for most shots, just to fill out the shadows, but turn on all of the lights, try to get a bit of the ceiling and the floor in each shot, try to get the outside showing through the windows,

& fake skys can work well if the time of the day is wrong and you have to expose for the building and blow out the sky.

Bathrooms try standing out the door with the camera on one of the sides of the door frame, and down around belly height, because they tend to be rather small & shiny with mirrors looking back at the photographer, they can mean lots of cloning to get yourself out of the shot.

Ive gained tips from the following site

//www.vistech.net/users/rsturge/realscop.html

& one other that I cant find right now, perhaps when I get to work.

Feel free to ask any questions, I should be able to help

ohh also gardens are mostly made up of yellows not greens in photoshop change the hue of the yellows to a slight green, drop the saturation a bit to make it more real as well, just turning it back to what it actually looks like

Message edited by author 2007-11-26 17:11:10.

11/26/2007 05:18:19 PM · #3

Sweet! Thanks for the tips. I am going to do my initial shoot Wednesday during my lunch break and then on Saturday if the pictures/weather didn't turn out good. I will try and remember to post them in this thread just in case you are curious.

Thanks again for the info, I will go through this in great detail when I get home!

-- Dave

Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX-DC HSM

11/26/2007 05:37:53 PM · #4

Some questions:

1. Should I take a shot of each room or is it more important to focus on the bigger, nicer, more important rooms?

For instance, there is a huge finished basement with high ceilings and beams and columns. I am definitely going to shoot a couple in this room. There is however also a 2nd room in the basement that is primarily used for utilities and is relatively poorly lit. I can probably get 1 shot here.

2. On a website, what order should these be in? Should they be ordered by their location in the house or by genre? Bathrooms together...

3. Should all my shots be wide angle full room scaled shots? Should I have some closer shots to highlight the beams for example?

4. If it is daylight out, won't the glare from the outside interfere with a shot on shiny surfaces? Should I go for a "matte" look if there are a lot of reflective surfaces like a TV?

Thanks!

-- Dave

Shadowi6

Nikon D200

11/26/2007 07:45:33 PM · #5

Originally posted by hyphaefungi:

1. take as many shots as you can of all of the rooms, they probably will not be used but Ive sold a number of homes to people who never visit the property before they buy it, and they love to see heaps of photos.

2.
Outside first then flow through the house, but ensure that the best looking photos are in the top 3, functional photos ie garage put to the end. the order isnt as much about walking through the house but more showing off the best bits first.

3. You can have some arty style shots, the beams might work ok, just make sure that it doesn't highlight only things that the owner will take with them, ie furniture paintings etc

4. Night time internals work really well, Ive always enjoyed them but you will need extra lighting off camera preferably 2 flashes. Daylight will not be a problem for reflections as much as you think, just close the blinds if it is. Try to get there earlier in the day or later is possible, less harsh light. make sure the tv is turned off unless its a biggen that is staying
like this one

also ensure toilets seats are down :)

Good luck with it, any other questions feel free to ask
Steven