| Author | Thread |
|
|
08/17/2011 06:54:24 PM · #1 |
Hello folks, I'm working on my portfolio on real estate photography and would like some feedback from people who have done this type of work before, or even if you just like this type of photography. I have one full shoot I've done as practice but I have zero real-life photographer friends and thus no real feedback besides the 'oh they're nice' comments from friends and family.
If you have the time would you please give it a view and give any feedback you may think of whether it be positive or negative, don't be shy. :)
Thank you very much.
Here's the link.
Split Level Home |
|
|
|
08/17/2011 07:22:39 PM · #2 |
I'm no expert, but I've done a half-dozen or so real estate shoots. I think overall they're decent shots. I don't know if it's just that house, but the shots don't seem to enhance, nor detract from anything. There's some issues with staging - the bathroom towels and toilet paper holder, garbage cans in the driveway, etc. Also, I believe it's ok to clone out dead grass spots and other minor things although some people argue about that.
The interior lighting seems to be somewhat yellow and I try not to shoot with interior lights on when they are shinning directly at the camera. I shoot on a tripod, AF mode, at about f8 - f10, bracketed -2, 0, +2. I use the under & overs to fix some of the lighting issues (layering, erasing, etc). But like I said, I'm no expert and I probably spend more time editing than professionals would. Here's some of my past interior shots, fwiw. |
|
|
|
08/17/2011 08:54:33 PM · #3 |
I looked at all three interior galleries. I wonder if you realize how repetitive your POV tends to be? You're nearly always backed into a corner and using a 2-point perspective model, mostly with things in the foreground jutting into the image. I know it's hard to change it up, but you've got to. The mark of the amateur, unimaginative interior photographer is corner-shot-2-point-perspective over and over again, because that covers the most area with the greatest ease. And nearly all your shots are from the same, eye-level POV, you're not varying your camera height much at all.
You're showing a real annoying lack of attention to detail too, over and over again. Cords visible on the floor, things overlapping that shouldn't, inappropriate staging (or rather lack of staging); at least once your camera bag is even in the picture :-( The devil's in the details in this kind of work. It's really useful to have a netbook or something with you that you can drop files on to so you can check the setup as you work. By way of comparison, we used to spend, routinely, 2-3 hours per interior shot for high-end architecture. I realize that's not feasible for you, but you have to start thinking of every single shot as its own separate set-up if you want to do this well.
You're in treasonable control of your lighting, so that's good, it's relatively even an unobtrusive, but there's no drama or emphasis to it at all. Sometimes you have some of the lights on and others off in the same picture, and that's no good. It's usually best to have the lights on in residential interior photography; it helps a lot of they are on dimmers. We used to carry plug-in dimmers for that purpose, actually.
I don't mean to be negative, but I'm approaching this from the perspective of someone who had a career as an architectural photographer, so that's how I judge things. I realize that a production real estate photographer won't have time for such niceties, but even so you need to develop an eye for rapidly arranging a space to best advantage. Buy yourself some high-end shelter magazines and STUDY how the photographers do this work; that's source material for learning. Ever look at Architectural Digest? That's as high-end as it comes, and some of the photography in there is eye-popping for the way it replaces the banal, everyday POV with something startling and engaging.
Good luck!
R. |
|
|
|
08/17/2011 08:55:57 PM · #4 |
Thanks Ken. The house here was volunteered by a friend and I didn't want to start re-arranging things in her home as this was also our first meeting, she's my gf's sister. I understand that too much clutter is a big nono in interior photography. As to your comment about the images not enhancing the look of the house (I agree), both my gf and her sister were amazed at how the images did, in fact, enhance the home. lol I too think they're yellowish and I'm not particularly impressed with that look. I'm going to use only natural light in my next shoot or at least minimize the use of the incandescent lighting in the rooms. I've ordered flash triggers just for this purpose, and a million others. ;)
Your shots are superb dude! Wow I didn't know you delved into real estate photography. You did a great job on all of them. I like the way you concentrated on a particular section of the kitchen or dining room in one house. It helps a whole lot when you're photographing a large new luxury home, doesn't it.
Here's one I did a few months ago, not a large luxury home but very comfortable indeed and newly renovated from top to bottom. Very old house built in the 19th century, although you can't tell looking at the photos.
110 year old house |
|
|
|
08/17/2011 09:13:26 PM · #5 |
Hadn't seen your post Robert before posting mine. That's exactly what I'm looking for with your comments. Thanks. I understand everything you've mentioned and saw all those things while I was shooting. These three galleries are just tests, mostly my 7-14mm lens. Like I said in the post to Ken I didn't want to start re-arranging people's things, although I did ask for them to tidy up their homes before I got there.
I understand too about the angles. I have other shots of the same rooms but with the rooms being so small they don't really enhance the size of the actual room whether I'm in the corner or in the middle. I'll look into what you're talking about the next time I go to my magazine shop. You know as well as I do that real estate photography isn't always up-scale high end homes and palaces. Around these parts I won't be handling many high end homes, but that remains to be seen. Also from what I've seen on real estate agents webpages there's not much room for creative photography. Most of these sites are using software that only use small low res images that do not enhance any particular photographer's style.
Again, thanks for your input, much appreciated.
Message edited by author 2011-08-17 21:14:09. |
|
|
|
08/17/2011 09:50:41 PM · #6 |
I *did* point out that I realize your game is different, but regardless, there are certain fundamentals which, if you aren't motivated to pay attention to them, why bother doing this at all? And I'll readily grant you that the chances of your ever photographing an Architectural Digest home are somewhere south of nil, but that doesn't mean we can't learn a few tricks from the guys that get paid the huge bucks to do this stuff, eh?
If you can figure out a way to do this work tethered to a netbook or an ipad or something, that would be absolutely golden. WE used to use large-format polaroids, and it would have been almost impossible to do our work without them. A lot of the details stuff I'm talking about is impossible to make out on the small LCD screen, is all...
R. |
|
|
|
08/17/2011 11:14:56 PM · #7 |
Cool Robert, I'm so glad you've taken the time to post. Like I said earlier, I have no real life photographer friends and their input, although sincere, isn't quite what I'm looking for.
It's these fundamentals that I want to discover and apply to my photography and your input has opened my eyes to something I need to grasp in a better, ahem, light. ;)
Like the lighting. Is it better to mix both available room lighting and natural lighting in interior photography like I'm shooting for or should I concentrate on making one type of light take precedence over the other? In darker situations like long hallways or entrances I don't see how I can avoid using the ambient lighting like a ceiling fixture. I see many interior images where the lighting is very white and others mostly yellow. I'm wondering how they achieve the bright white colour balance, they surely must be using some sort of artificial lighting, like flashes. What do you think? |
|
|
|
08/17/2011 11:38:23 PM · #8 |
| One thing that is very important in architectural photography is to keep lines true. In other words, vertical lines should be straight up and down and horizontal lines should be exactly that. While there are times when you will shoot at an angle to feature a detail or to distort creatively, you will not be taken seriously as an architectural photographer if horizontal and vertical lines that should be straight and true are not correct. Wide angle lenses can distort significantly if they are not level causing keystoning where vertical lines, especially those near the edges of the image tilt in or our out. Look through your viewfinder while tilting the camera up and down and you will see the effect. Wide and lesser quality lenses can also cause barrel distortion where the lines near the edge that should be straight are bowed. Keystoning and bowing are evident in may of your photos, especially those with a door frame at the edge. The solutions are to use better quality lenses that distort less, make sure your camera is level, and if necessary, make corrections in post processing. If you have vertical lines near an edge that you will have to correct, shoot wider so you have room to make the corrections and the necessary cropping that goes with them. When processing, it is very helpful to overlay a grid on your photos to check your lines. It is also important to note that you don\'t always have to show the whole room. You can shoot tighter compositions using longer lenses that distort less and focus on portions of the room that contain key elements and have less clutter. I also agree with the other people about eliminating things that do not belong in the photo such as trash cans and power cords. It is much easier to move a few things around than to try to photoshop them out later. I hope you find this helpful. |
|
|
|
08/18/2011 12:29:32 AM · #9 |
I do this and get paid. Here are a few pointers:
1) There is ONLY one objective in shooting real estate listing photos - to get people to visit the house. Your work flow and processing needs to be just good enough to do this. And the faster the better.
2) Robert and Ken are right - drama creates interest - and interest draws potential buyers.
3) You've got pretty good mastery of your camera and your post processing - but your composition needs work. Suggest shooting from a lower perspective; try unconventional angles; think hard about what features will sell the house to potential visitors and shoot these with care. Be rigorous to minimize distraction and clutter. Clutter turns visitors away. Good staging (realtor's job) will make a tired house look great. If the house isn't staged, feel free to move furniture, unplug and move appliances, open windows, close windows, change the lights, ... d learn to do your own mini-staging.
4) You've got light issues (dark interiors and bright exteriors). I always shoot with natural light and shoot HDR. It gives me great light without carrying a lot of light gear and once you have a routine workflow, it's much faster than lights. Not the only way, but the only way for me.
5) You don't need to shoot the best real estate photos on the planet, but your photos need to be better than most at the price point of the listing you're shooting. Study the quality of the photos used to sell this price point, and be quite a bit better than they are. There are tons of listing photos for houses up to around $400K shot with realtor camera phones or point-and-shoot cameras, no post processing, and so on. As listing prices go up, realtors can more and more afford pros. Pick a price point where you can do better than what raaltors are showing and as your skill grows, move up the food chain where you'll shoot more photos, and charge more for them.
Here's a link to further advice in another thread.
PM me and I'll send you a link to a portfolio of listing photos.
|
|
|
|
08/18/2011 12:33:03 AM · #10 |
| Just be careful of areas looking bigger then they really are. |
|
|
|
08/18/2011 12:56:55 AM · #11 |
| I've been doing a ton of real estate photography lately... mostly for properties that sell for multi-millions. The most important elements IMO are keeping the camera level with straight vertical lines, maintaining proper white balance, bracketing every shot on a sturdy tripod so you can recover details in windows and/or shaded areas, and using a high quality ultrawide angle lens to open up tight spaces. Make sure the scene is as uncluttered as possible, and try shallow DOF to highlight interesting architectural details. A high point of view is often helpful for exterior shots, and holding the camera overhead on a monopod with the self-timer can reach 12' or more with little effort (watch out for power lines). |
|
|
|
08/18/2011 06:35:43 AM · #12 |
| you could probably do ok as you are, you could do well taking the advice given here, but, if you really want to make any money you'll have to move to Connecticut ;-) |
|
|
|
08/18/2011 09:15:51 AM · #13 |
Originally posted by Skip:
you could probably do ok as you are, you could do well taking the advice given here, but, if you really want to make any money you'll have to move to Connecticut ;-) |
ROFL!
On a serious note, yo've gotten some stunningly good advice. In particular, Robert's advice is 100.00% spot on. Others have also provided some outstanding ideas. Shannon's suggestion for exterior viewpoints is a really good suggestion.
|
|
|
|
08/18/2011 11:12:38 AM · #14 |
Great advice from everyone, thanks again.
Scalvert, I've been thinking lately about bringing my 6ft step ladder along in my SUV just so I can get a different angle. Your suggestion is great and I have just the monopod to do the trick. I'm also looking into some sort of portable scaffolding (12ft) that I can fit into my truck. Do you have any samples of your work Shannon? Would love to see some if you don't mind.
I'm on my lunch break so I can't write what I want for now. I'll post more thoughts later on if I find the time. Going to shoot hot air baloons tonight and tomorrow morning.
|
|
|
|
08/18/2011 12:28:26 PM · #15 |
This is turning out to be an great thread with tons of useful information.
I've been watching and waiting for a related topic so I'll just bring it up now..........
Virtual tours
I've been, it seems, put on the back burner by a real estate agent that deals with multi-million dollar homes because I answered no when asked if I produce virtual tours. After talking with him I'm almost certain that he would have replaced the photographer that he has been using for 15 years because he is tired of her complacent attitude towards her work and for other reasons.
I think that I would have a huge advantage over competing photographers if I could do well what they do now AND offer virtual tours. Besides, I think that there is a lot of potential in offering this service to restaurants and retail stores. I'm interested in not only a 360 degree viewing ability but "hotspots"(?) where someone can click on to move to the next 360 degree view and so on.
So, somebody please point me in the right direction for what I need to obtain to make this happen.
1) What specialized equipment do I need other than a wide angle lens (fisheye is not necessary, right?) and a leveling tripod?
2) What is the best software to use, especially to achieve the hotspot to hotspot tour that I am interested in doing?
3) How the heck are virtual tours produced that allows a 360 degree view, both horizontal AND vertical, in which the tripod is not visible on the ground?
4) What else is important that you can think of that I haven't asked about?
Thanks |
|
|
|
08/19/2011 01:22:12 AM · #16 |
|
|
|
08/19/2011 01:40:13 AM · #17 |
The things that most stand out for me about your images are the distortion and the yellow tone. Both these things are quite visible and detracting to otherwise decent images. The latter is easily fixed with a white balance adjustment, but the distortion is visible in every single shot.
My sweetie is actually in commercial real estate and on occasion has me shoot properties he is representing. Since it's not my specialty, I always go overboard in trying to find interesting/unusual perspectives, and always get too "artistic" (some of those Cathedral shots fall into that category, LOL!). But he is always telling me they just need a shot. Half the time, brokers take their P&S and shoot the property themselves, and you can be sure those are not nearly as good as yours. Depending on the price bracket of the homes, and/or the market you are shooting for, yours might be "good enough". But I think you'll have to do something about the distortion.
ETA
You can see the distortion in some of my images, to give you an idea of how distracting that can be :-)
Message edited by author 2011-08-19 01:41:11. |
|
|
|
08/19/2011 02:21:48 AM · #18 |
Nice Scalvert, very professional looking. Ho do you get your lighting so white from the fixtures?
Also, what do you use to correct distortion in your images? I'm using LR but I think it's lacking in quality although I haven't used anything else so far except the PS transform tool.
Johanna, I guess you kind of get used to the distortion and don't see it as damaging as it really is after looking at the images for so long. I'll ask you too, what software are you using to fix distortion? |
|
|
|
08/19/2011 03:53:56 AM · #19 |
PS transform works fine for fixing distortion - or at least perspective. Also, Filter/Distort/Lens Correction/Remove distortion slider works for ultrawide or fisheye shots. As stated, make sure you shoot wide enough to be able to fix distortion without losing too much of the image.
eta: Ruler guides help to align horizontal and vertical lines as well.
Message edited by author 2011-08-19 03:54:43. |
|
|
|
08/19/2011 10:02:59 AM · #20 |
Originally posted by one2one:
Nice Scalvert, very professional looking. Ho do you get your lighting so white from the fixtures?
Also, what do you use to correct distortion in your images? |
For white balance I sometimes use an Expodisc, but usually just set a custom WB off something in the room and tweak the RAW images afterwards. In split lighting situations, I process separate images to correct each light source, then paste one over the other and erase the parts of the top layer that don't match. I try to avoid distortion problems in the first place by carefully eyeballing horizontal and vertical lines in the viewfinder and then checking a test shot on the LCD. The Canon 10-22 is very good, and any remaining distortion is a cinch to correct in PS. Most of the time the shots just need a slight rotation. |
|
|
|
08/19/2011 11:20:11 AM · #21 |
one2one, good info from all above and your pictures are better than most first-timers... pay attention to your verts, lower composition, level your camera, change up your POV from the room corners, watch your white balance, etc. To fix distortion, LR should be good if they have your lens profile or someone has created a profile for your lens. Also check out PTlens. I'm also partial to ShiftN, which corrects vertical lines and can fix simple barrel distortion, and has a batch mode. It's a lazy way to fix things as opposed to getting it right in camera, but hey, it works.
If you want to explore exposure blending, HDR can be difficult to get realistic looking results, especially consistently. Check out Photomatix' Exposure Fusion mode, or enfuseGUI.
Also resist the temptation to shoot really wide... it will lead you into shooting for other clients beyond real estate. Agents like wide but interior design likes tighter shots.
Go here for great info and more tough love:
www flickr.com/groups/photographyforrealestate/discuss/
photographyforrealestate.net
Scott
www scottDphotos.com
Message edited by author 2011-08-19 11:48:59.
|
|
|
|
08/19/2011 11:59:10 AM · #22 |
Thanks Scott. Actually, all the interior images were done with the Enfuse plugin for LR. I find it blends the exposures well and gives natural looking results. It's not a HDR app, they call it exposure blending. Exterior shots were run through Photomatix but again, I try to keep it to a minimum. I haven't had anyone comment on the use of HDR in the images so I'm figure I'm not overdoing it.
What do you think? |
|
|
|
08/19/2011 11:59:40 AM · #23 |
That  sdubose99 guy is the real thing. Check out his interiors gallery, study the pictures, and absorb what they tell you about changing POV and not always going wide especially:
//www.scottdphotos.com/interiors.php
Also, his staging is impeccable. This is the sort of work we used to do, back in the day, before I sold the business.
R. |
|
|
|
08/19/2011 12:00:45 PM · #24 |
Yakatme, not a single real estate agent has mentioned video so far. I think this is more for high end homes, in my area at least.
|
|
|
|
08/19/2011 12:04:44 PM · #25 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
That sdubose99 guy is the real thing. Check out his interiors gallery, study the pictures, and absorb what they tell you about changing POV and not always going wide especially:
//www.scottdphotos.com/interiors.php
Also, his staging is impeccable. This is the sort of work we used to do, back in the day, before I sold the business.
R. |
as I pick my jaw up from my desk... those images are wonderful, wow!
I'm beginning to see that you don't need to be in a corner to photograph a room properly. Lowering perspective also helps in certain situations.
Will comment more later after viewing more. |
|
