Getting into Real Estate/Interior Photography?

03/13/2008 10:05:06 AM · #1

As I was testing out my new wide angle lens, a thought occured... why not take this hobby a step further and try real estate photography? I've actually been encouraged by friends/coworkers to try weddings - but I cringe at the thought of the stress involved. Any members here have dabbled in, or make a living photographing houses? How are you liking it? What are your biggest challenges?

FocusPoint

XIAOMI Redmi Note 8 Pro

03/13/2008 10:10:27 AM · #2

Originally posted by Eisbaer:

What's your lens?

03/13/2008 10:11:18 AM · #3

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens for Canon

FocusPoint

XIAOMI Redmi Note 8 Pro

03/13/2008 10:15:13 AM · #4

Originally posted by Eisbaer:

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens for Canon

Nice lens. I probably will get one of that myself soon. That also could be very useful for weddings ;)

Sorry for being off topic here, I just wondered what kind of lens you had.

FP

Spork99

Canon EOS M6 Mk II

Canon EF-M 22mm STM Lens

03/13/2008 10:21:00 AM · #5

Do you mean photographing houses for real estate agents?

I've looked into it and, locally anyway, the market just isn't there. The agents are not simply willing to pay for something they think they can do themselves with their PnS camera that they carry about in their briefcase. You can highlight all of the ways you might be able to do it better, but it's a difficult sell unless you're targeting only the very high end market, in which case, the volume of sales isn't there.

03/13/2008 10:22:53 AM · #6

Hey, no worries! I love the lens, in fact, I wish I could skip work and go home to it already.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

03/13/2008 10:39:18 AM · #7

Good point re: demand. My hubby is in the electrical biz, and we know a few custom home developers, but that gives something to think about...

jbpk11

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

03/13/2008 10:48:12 AM · #8

I do real estate photography on the side. The key is to find agents that sell a lot of real estate. So that means doing your research. You need to search in the area for agents that sell over 5 mil a year. They normally have an assistant or 2.

I'm using a Canon 10-22. Works great inside houses....just dont try it for panaramics (virtual tours).

jpochard

Canon EOS-40D

03/13/2008 10:50:22 AM · #9

Speaking as a Realtor who also does photography....in our market it wouldn't work. As commented before, MOST Realtors would not pay anything worth considering for photos. Some of the property photos I see really make me cringe. I want to contact the owner and see if they know what kind of garbage their agents are putting out there. Of course, I can't do that...but I want to!

You might have better luck with upper end places. You might also contact "staging" companies. That is the hot trend right now and they might be interested in "before" and "after" photos and be more willing to pay so they can use it in their advertising.

Sunniee

Canon EOS-40D

03/13/2008 10:55:30 AM · #10

I took some of my cousin's condo in Maui...
Link to the photos

She put them on her web site... It is challenging to get good photos of interiors.... but I do love a challenge :)

Unfortunately not much of a market for it here.... especially with the way the market has turned... no one wants to spend the extra cash on what they can do themselves.

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

03/13/2008 02:39:49 PM · #11

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

trnqlty

Nikon D90

03/13/2008 02:58:53 PM · #12

So far, all the points here have been completely valid. At the business I run, we have just recently put together a marketing piece for realtors including both architecture photography and executive portraits. I believe the key is to provide a product that is WAY above and beyond what an agent can do.

This however is not easy and still we can't charge much. We have a basic package for $150 dollars where we will shoot the interior with additional lighting and the exterior as is. For $225 we will give them more images and we will also do a twilight shot where we light the exterior right after sunset. I live in Hilton Head Island, SC so we are aimed at a high-end market. The few houses we've done so far have all been around 2-2.5 million.

I believe the key for interiors is balancing the interior and exterior lighting. This of course requires fairly powerful strobes.

This shot is a good example. It was too bright to even bounce the lights so I had two quantum lights firing straight down into the living room from the balcony over my head.

This is an example of the twilight shot I mentioned.

It is a nice challenge to get in and photography something besides the family portraits but certainly not an easy market. If we get more good response, we'll probably have to raise our prices. It really is worth it for a realtor, I went and looked at the MLS listings for the neighborhood I shot these houses in and the three I've done so far really stand out because of the beautiful image and not some piece of junk shot.

hankk

Canon EOS-5D

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

03/14/2008 03:05:24 PM · #13

Originally posted by jbpk11:

Why not? I use a Sigma 12-24 at 12 on an EOS 5D for interior panos (one row circular), the only trick is to use a spherical projection rather than a circular projection.

hankk

Canon EOS-5D

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

03/14/2008 03:06:42 PM · #14

Originally posted by trnqlty:

I believe the key for interiors is balancing the interior and exterior lighting. This of course requires fairly powerful strobes.
This shot is a good example. It was too bright to even bounce the lights so I had two quantum lights firing straight down into the living room from the balcony over my head.

You hava a beautiful picture. Bur rather than using strobes, could you use HDR?

Photologist

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

03/19/2008 08:38:20 PM · #15

What good time this particular thread is!

I just landed a gig with a local real estate agent to photograph the interior of one of his listings. It will be my first real estate shoot (at least professionally). It is being staged tomorrow, so I'll get there just afterwards.

Here are some tips from the "Photography for Real Estate" site.

And from the "Real Estate Photography & Virtual Tour Tips" site.

What I find strange is that neither of the above two links mention wet driveways. That's a basic rule for exterior photography--to wet down the driveway.

Any other tips, tricks, recommendations?

Message edited by author 2009-10-04 02:13:49.

robs

Canon EOS R6 Mk II

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/19/2008 09:10:46 PM · #16

I have been talked into doing a little of this for an interior decorator friend for her web-site.... I can deal with the strobes for balancing light inside with outside (been into the strobist thing for a while) I think :-) but....

- How do you guys deal with the angles of the walls? Correct in PS after & shoot wider? What other tips??
- I assume real stuff is done with tilt-shirt lenses right?

amandak

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

03/19/2008 11:30:24 PM · #17

I shoot real estate for a living as a freelancer for a national company which contracts with realtors. I would think that you could do well in the Boston area. I'm in the Baltimore Metro region and am booked solid almost every day. The largest realtor here has me on retainer 2-3 days a week. I use a Tamron 12-24mm f/4.0 lens and shoot both stills and panos for each property without a problem. The realtors I deal with know they can't get high quality shots with their P&S cameras and don't want to play around with processing everything - they'd rather find buyers or get new listings - so they go with professionals. Send me a PM and I'll give you the contact info for the company if you're interested.

Photologist

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

03/20/2008 03:01:24 AM · #18

Originally posted by hankk:

But rather than using strobes, could you use HDR?

YES! There are certain rooms that do not lend themselves too well to stobes (high gloss kitchens, glass cabinets and tabletops, etc)

HDR is very useful when you want to include outside scenes (swimming pool, trees, vistas) through windows and glass sliders in an interior photograph.

Here's what I do to get the outside foliage as well as the interior details:

- Go to full manual mode, set format to RAW, aperture of at least f/11, if not smaller (f/16+), ISO 200 or less (I use 100). I usually get by with f/11 unless the room is very large (great rooms, etc.)
- Use a tripod and either a remote release (wired or wireless), or use the two-second timer
- If your lens has IS, turn it off
- Turn on spot metering
- Aim toward the window or glass door to spot meter on something outside
- Adjust your shutter speed so that your meter reads the correct exposure
- Now swivel your camera around on the tripod to compose the interior shot of the room
- Take the first capture
- Keep the camera in the same position as the shot and adjust the shutter speed to where the meter reads -2 stops, capture the photo
- Keep the camera in the same position as the shot and adjust the shutter speed to where the meter reads -1 stop, capture the photo
- Repeat for 0 stop, +1 stops, +2 stops

When back at your digital darkroom, simply load those sequence of exposures into your favorite HDR tool (PS CS3, PhotoMatix, Wukong, etc), merge them, adjust the tonal ranges, convert to 16 bit or 8 bit, export to JPG.

Message edited by author 2009-10-04 02:14:09.

jdannels

Nikon D300s

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM for Nikon

03/20/2008 03:20:45 PM · #19

I am shooting a restaurant/bar on monday, glad this thread came up! I think the restaurant will be too big for strobes and has lots of lighting built into the bar. SO I am thinking the HDR route. From what I remember th ceilings are really high and dark. I'll let you guys know how it goes. :)

Canon EF-S 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 III

03/20/2008 04:17:00 PM · #20

Well I just sold my first photograph, it wasn't an interior photography assignment, but feels awesome nonetheless!

Medoomi

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM

03/20/2008 04:33:52 PM · #21

Originally posted by jbpk11:

I'm using a Canon 10-22. Works great inside houses....just dont try it for panaramics (virtual tours).

Any tips on what trouble you've had--This was the lens I thought would be great for 360's
Thanks.

digifotojo

Canon EOS-550D Rebel T2i

03/20/2008 06:19:33 PM · #22

Originally posted by Eisbaer:

I've been shooting listings for Trend for going on 3 yrs and it's a good parttime gig. Most of the contract photographers who work for VIC (Virtual Imaging Corp) have been doing this for years. It generally doesn't pay enough to be a full time job but the listings can be shot on weekends. It does involve a lot of driving and Mapquesting your listings ahead of time. If you decide to get into this, you'll need an ftp client to upload your images to the main office and you'll also have to keep track of your own images and subsequent payment, payrolls are submitted bi-weekly by all photographers. Check out the VIC website (v-i-c.com) for available territories. You can also look into zaio.com for contract photo work. Good luck!

Photologist

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

03/21/2008 05:41:35 PM · #23

Here are the results from my interior real estate session the other day.

I used HDR (PS CS3) to get properly exposed windows (showing what's outside) along with properly exposed interiors. I used roughly the steps outlined in my previous message above.

By the way, this was a $2.5 million (USD) house that was professionally staged.

Let me know what you think.

Message edited by author 2009-10-04 02:14:18.