Toronto Photography Meetup Group

So a Friend of mines brother is a real estate agent and he asked If I would shoot some houses for him.. I told him sure (for no money of course) Lunch instead, anyways Is there any tricks to makeing stuff look better? Obviously a wider angle lens Ill be using my 10-20 and 18-70 I assume a tripod would come in handy .. Now when you shoot this stuff do they use strickly ambient? or off camera to balance the ambient? any thoughts tips or comments would be a great help! Thanks!

I would think a TS lens would be ideal if you can get your hands on one for this.

Unfortunatley not in the budget lol and since I'm not getting paid I won't rent one.

i never tried this before but my mentor tells me that when he shoots interiors, and it's a sunny day outside and you have a spill inside, you can use that light but to make a composite out of three exposures: 1. To expose for the light inside, making the outside totally without detail; 2. To expose for outside, giving detail outside and underexposed inside, 3. To expose for midtones of both inside and outside equally flat. The composite would then be a blend of the three to give you detail inside and outside, making it easier for the buyer to envision themselves in the space.

Although now that I think more of your situation, this might be too much for someone who is doing it for free...hehe...

HDR?

exposure blending instead of tonemapped Hdr

BTW Tyler, I am no pro, but I read somewhere that you could use your strobes (with gels) to light up the interior the way you want

Rent a T/S lens and give him an invoice.

Given the quality of the vast majority of real estate photography the bar is set low. Compound that with the likelihood that the photos will be Web or low quality print you can't really go wrong as long as you compose properly - which you will. You could probably hand hold most shots and do a minor noise adjustment afterwards and be much ahead of the norm.

There are a few ways to approach this but this would my approach.

A few things in terms of prep because the whole point is to make the home attractive for prospective buyers. To do this the home should look:

1. warm and inviting - the white balance should be slightly warm and there should be items in the shots that welcome .. such as flowers, baked goods, candles (unlit), etc.
2. clean - remove any clutter from the shot
3. bigger than it really is - choose and angle and perspective that will make the space look larger - typical shot is from a high position going from longest corner to corner, avoid dead ends, etc

Since you have the lighting gear I would position a bare bulb on light stands in a diagonal position in the room being shot, aimed up at the ceiling, out of frame of course. This will give you an even spread of light in the entire room. I would set the aperture at F8 or higher to have enough depth of field.

That's about it. I've used this set up for family pics, holiday celebrations and it works very well.

if I were you I would ask a lot more than free lunch, because your shots are going to help sell the houses and if the house sells will garner thousands in commission.

you know most real estate home interior shots are done with craptastic p&s that the real estate agents tote around. they don't have a photographer. go look on mls.ca and see for yourself. the real pro shots are done for publications.

The two people that I know that do it only make $250 a house and they use P&S cameras, but also provide 360 virtual tours of 2 rooms (for that basic price package).

The bar is set low as it only has to look good on web. Take a look at the MLS.ca pics.

Lots of info here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/photographyforrealestate/

something of the sort but not entirely too contrasty

Awesome thanks for the link!, Seems like a big deal of it is hdr and blended exposures and strobes .. Thanks everyone

A general technique that I have used in the past has been to expose for outside windows and use llighting to bring the interior exposure up so that it looks natural. Requires careful placement of multiple off-camera strobes.

These are some I did last year. Not the most careful placement of reflections and shadows however.

this is what I've heard as well.. some even lower prices

for the amount of work it takes, doesn't seem worth it