# Real Estate Photography



## Chris Parrott (Jan 1, 2016)

I am looking for somebody that can help with getting bright white / focused images inside homes.
I have a Canon 5d Mark iii with 16-35mm lens and 600 ex-rt flash.  I am beyond a "newbie" however very limited time spent with post production and raw images.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Ysarex (Jan 1, 2016)

Tripod.

Joe


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## dennybeall (Jan 1, 2016)

Light, light , and more light so you can get max DOF and color. If you have light problems you can't solve on site, such as bright outside light through window or not, you can go to post process and stack or merge shots. So, if you set up on a tripod and take multiple shots you will have the material to do your pp tricks. I mostly bracket at least 5 shots changing only shutter speed. If there are vastly different amounts of light then take 6 or 8 shots.
There are some guys that do RE for a living and they can tell you about using multiple strobes and such.


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## tirediron (Jan 1, 2016)

Hire a professional who has the gear and knows what he/she is doing.  One lens and one light are not going to cut it for high end real estate photography.


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## Chris Parrott (Jan 1, 2016)

tirediron said:


> Hire a professional who has the gear and knows what he/she is doing.  One lens and one light are not going to cut it for high end real estate photography.



The thing is the photographer I hire has the exact same camera and lenses.  The pictures turn out perfect.   I'll keep using the photographer, I just wanted to learn for my own knowledge.


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## dennybeall (Jan 1, 2016)

Keep in mind that you could get all the photos for a high end real estate shoot with a single lens and flash BUT the amount of time, effort and processing you'd need to do to overcome the lack of the proper equipment would not make it a profitable effort in my opinion.


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## cherylynne1 (Jan 1, 2016)

Chris Parrott said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > Hire a professional who has the gear and knows what he/she is doing.  One lens and one light are not going to cut it for high end real estate photography.
> ...




This is exactly why photographers get so offended when someone says, "Your camera takes great pictures!" When all is said and done, the most important aspect is the person behind the camera. 

If you'd like to post a picture you took that you are dissatisfied with, I'm sure there are some people that could help you see where you have trouble and how to fix it.


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## tirediron (Jan 3, 2016)

Chris Parrott said:


> ...The thing is the photographer I hire has the exact same camera and lenses.  The pictures turn out perfect.   I'll keep using the photographer, I just wanted to learn for my own knowledge.


Can you share a link to this person's work?  I would be interested in seeing if we agree on the definition of "perfect".


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## Chris Parrott (Jan 3, 2016)

tirediron said:


> Chris Parrott said:
> 
> 
> > ...The thing is the photographer I hire has the exact same camera and lenses.  The pictures turn out perfect.   I'll keep using the photographer, I just wanted to learn for my own knowledge.
> ...


If you want to check out my site www.chrisparrott.ca and look at listing "8235 fairways west drive". These pictures are reduced for the website however I really do like the look and feel of them.  The photographer uses 5d mark iii with 16-35 lense and I usually have a 24 hour turn around with him as well.


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## tirediron (Jan 3, 2016)

Okay... that's pretty much exactly what I expected.  IMO, those are 'okay' at best.  The lack of lighting equipment is causing serious problems with reflections, almost all of the windows are blown out, and quite frankly, the staging is horrible ('though that's nothing to do with equipment).  As mentioned, you could indeed return much better results with this gear, but it would take more time.


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## 407370 (Jan 3, 2016)

Chris Parrott said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > Chris Parrott said:
> ...


Those pics look like they have been HDR / Tone Mapped through Photomatix or similar. Some of the pics are of unfinished rooms with wiring hanging out the ceiling, not very complimentary for a $700,000 house.
The exact same set of pics is on the REMAX site.


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## tirediron (Jan 3, 2016)

407370 said:


> Chris Parrott said:
> 
> 
> > tirediron said:
> ...


Personally, my favorite is the tipped over tricycle near the end of the set.  Really?  You couldn't actually pick that up and move it?  It's on WHEELS for crying out loud!


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## 407370 (Jan 3, 2016)

If the photographer is on a strict time limit then speed replaces quality.


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## dennybeall (Jan 3, 2016)

Windows almost all bad, reflections everywhere, too much ceiling in many shots, Big Blue Trash Can, tricycle and the list goes on.
In defense of the photographer it could be the realtor only pays for this level of work. If the job pays only for an hour in the field and no post processing time then it's OK.


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## deeky (Jan 3, 2016)

This is a bit of a tough home to shoot the exterior.  Ditch photos 2-5 as they make it look like they are buying a garage.  Unless it's a rare commodity in your area, they make it look like that's all you're getting.  I'd also ditch 6&7 as they make it look really small.  It may just be perspective, but perception is everything and that is the first look you are giving people of the home.  Think of your photos and flow of photos as an actual showing of the home.  I would agree to get rid of the utility room pic and also reshoot or crop the photo of the back of the house that highlights the fact that it's missing a deck on the middle level.  That's a pretty big expense that a buyer is going to have to consider.

You have a lot of pictures in there and a lot of agents want to put pics in just to have as many as possible.  Going back to the philosophy that this is your first showing, only put in the pics that will make them want to actually get into the house.  Only use the best ones that tell a positive story.  In my opinion, you would visually 'sell' this house better if you cut out 6-7 of the photos.  When it comes to being a tease, less is more.

And then clean out the closets.  They are really good size, but look like shoe boxes with all of that stuff.


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## sandollars (Jan 21, 2016)

tirediron said:


> Hire a professional who has the gear and knows what he/she is doing.  One lens and one light are not going to cut it for high end real estate photography.



That's a bit rough, don't you think?


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## tirediron (Jan 21, 2016)

sandollars said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > Hire a professional who has the gear and knows what he/she is doing.  One lens and one light are not going to cut it for high end real estate photography.
> ...


No.


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## snowbear (Jan 21, 2016)

sandollars said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > Hire a professional who has the gear and knows what he/she is doing.  One lens and one light are not going to cut it for high end real estate photography.
> ...


Truth hurts, sometimes.


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## Parker219 (Jan 21, 2016)

^Most of the way agree....I use 1 lens ( Nikon 10-24 ) and 1 speed light and I have to turn down fellow Realtors who want to pay me to take their listing photos. So in the residential real estate world where cell phone pics are the norm, my photos look professional.

I do agree with hiring a professional, as most times a Realtor can make far more money and use their time far more wisely by doing income producing things to help their business, rather than sit in lightroom editing photos.

Why would I need any other lens? 99% of my real estate photos are at 10mm. I can crop if I need to.


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## elementgs (Jan 23, 2016)

This is a very subjective field. As Parker stated, in a world where cell phone photos are "good enough" to most people, doing better than that is almost always what's good enough to impress brokers.

Most brokers simply want expediency and 25 photos. They honestly don't really care about the quality despite the fact that they know they should. They just don't want to pay for it. It's amusing because most photographers will do an average listing for $50-150 depending on the area. It's moronic to think brokers won't fork over the cash... I mean, it's really the quality in your marketing (and photos by extension) that differentiates you from your competition. Why wouldn't you want to always look amazing and professional? 

Your marketing is always out there, always working, always spreading your name. Good, and bad.

Why would anyone hire you as a broker if you're going to not do your best for them?

To more specifically address your question, there are a lot of things that can be done to improve your photos. A lot of things.

First is to learn to think like a broker. What do brokers want to see? What are they trying to sell? What is important for them to highlight? What sells a home?

Don't think like a photographer, or an interior designer. *You're selling the home, not the furniture. *

Think like a broker.

Once you understand what you're shooting, and why you're shooting it, learn how to position yourself properly. You need to know where to stand, and why.

When you get down to it, the technical aspects of it are honestly less than 30% of the battle when it comes to real estate photography. Monkey's can take pictures. It's been proven possible. The difference between average photographers and amazing photographers is in the composition and lighting of the scene. You want to create a mood. You want to capture that mood and you want to deliver that mood.

So. As mentioned, yes, tripods are nice, as are good flashes. Post processing will come in handy eventually, though it's honestly not as important early on as you can accomplish a lot with a simple speedlight and knowledge of how to use it and where to stand.

You have a long way to go but don't be discouraged. Just do as I said and start learning what to shoot. Right now very few of the photos on your page show any experience with real estate in any way shape or form. That is tremendously detrimental to your future as a real estate agent so I would start there. That's going to be your focus.

Good luck.


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## dennybeall (Jan 24, 2016)

When I see interior shots with a 10mm lens often you can tell whether they were taken by a real estate agent or a pro RE Photographer. The RE Agents shots often have all the walls leaning out and the pro has straitened them.


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## Ihatemymoney (Jan 27, 2016)

dennybeall said:


> When I see interior shots with a 10mm lens often you can tell whether they were taken by a real estate agent or a pro RE Photographer. The RE Agents shots often have all the walls leaning out and the pro has straitened them.



Ok I will bit,  How do you straighten your walls, or is it because of the lens they are using that makes the walls look like they are leaning ?
Or are you directly referring to the Canon EF-S 10-22mm  UWA lens that distorts the edges of the frame ?


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## dennybeall (Jan 27, 2016)

To straighten walls, columns, buildings, etc. you can use Photoshop or a similar software. It's the same software used to reduce bulges or increase chest or muscle measurements.
Built in routines handle some specific lenses.


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## PropilotBW (Jan 27, 2016)

407370 said:


> If the photographer is on a strict time limit then speed replaces quality.



Agree.  It's the owners responsibility for staging and removing unwanted items from the photos. A photographer isn't going to touch your items.  Just takes the photos and sends them to MLS.


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## Ihatemymoney (Jan 27, 2016)

dennybeall said:


> To straighten walls, columns, buildings, etc. you can use Photoshop or a similar software. It's the same software used to reduce bulges or increase chest or muscle measurements.
> Built in routines handle some specific lenses.



Specific lenses.
Specialty Lenses.
I haven't done allot of real estate photography, and I have allot to learn about photoshop.
But what you said about straightening walls made me wonder how you straightened walls.
I use  a TS-E 24mm mkI  L and a TSE 17mm f4 L lenses
Only issue is that I need to be on a tripod.

The tilt shift features and being able to rotate the lens without moving the camera body, stitching  producing a panoramic photo is fairly simple.
Done right I believe the TSE lenses produce some professional looking real estate photos without the walls looking like they were leaning.

I have never tried to straiten a wall in photoshop.


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## TCampbell (Feb 3, 2016)

Vertical lines (walls, door & window frames, columns, etc.) will "lean" in or out when using a wide-angle lens if the lens barrel was not level to the ground (nose-to-tail -- not side-to-side).  

You can fix perspective distortion using the "shift" feature of a tilt-shift lens... but if the lens was level you wouldn't have the vertical perspective distortion problem.  That also means that getting the angle of view you want may involve placing the camera higher (or lower) than the height you would normally have used to shoot.  

In Photoshop you can use the "Filter" -> "Lens Correction..." and in that panel you'll find adjustments for various lens distortions... but it's the vertical distortion that applies a "keystone" correction that will solve the leaning problem... at the expensive of cropping.  This is because once you fix the verticals, the image will no longer be a rectangle... it will be a trapezoid.   You will need to "crop" the image back to a rectangular shape again but that means you'll crop out part of your image.  If you know you're going to have to apply a lens distortion correction at the time of shooting, leave additional room around your composition for that crop.

Windows appear over-exposed and blown out because the exposure of the shot out the window is much brighter than the exposure in the room.  But if the exposure in the room was closer to the outdoor exposure, then they wouldn't appear over-exposed.  This means owning good lighting gear.  A single flash (no matter how good that single flash is) is not likely going to be adequate in the majority of situations.    In any case, you would add supplemental lighting inside to bring the indoor exposure up to something much closer to the outside exposure.  It doesn't have to be equal to the outside exposure, but it needs to be close enough that it's all within the dynamic range of the camera and bright enough that the room can look normal without the outside looking overly bright.  

An alternative is to use HDR (but be careful here... the image should not "look" like an HDR.  You want a natural appearance in the image, not a surrealistic look.)

Another alternative (depending on the window) is that it may be possible to just photoshop a properly exposed window and composite it into the final image.


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## Ihatemymoney (Feb 3, 2016)

TCampbell said:


> Vertical lines (walls, door & window frames, columns, etc.) will "lean" in or out when using a wide-angle lens if the lens barrel was not level to the ground (nose-to-tail -- not side-to-side).
> 
> You can fix perspective distortion using the "shift" feature of a tilt-shift lens... but if the lens was level you wouldn't have the vertical perspective distortion problem.  That also means that getting the angle of view you want may involve placing the camera higher (or lower) than the height you would normally have used to shoot.
> .


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## theshortwhiteguy (Feb 5, 2016)

Chris Parrott said:


> I am looking for somebody that can help with getting bright white / focused images inside homes.
> I have a Canon 5d Mark iii with 16-35mm lens and 600 ex-rt flash.  I am beyond a "newbie" however very limited time spent with post production and raw images.
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.



Shoot manual. Shoot RAW. Use Lightroom's lens corrections to correct angles.

The majority of the work I shoot during the week is real estate and 90% of those homes that I do shoot, I don't use a tripod, I don't use a second or third fill light, and I don't utilize HDR.  I work within a business model that is "run-n-gun", which means if the client wants Architectural Digest quality, they can feel free to pay me for it (it is an option that I offer).  My clients pay me to photograph, which means I don't move $hit and I don't stage! I show up, turn on lights, open blinds, put a toilet seat down, shoot my 25 images (MLS target number), turn off lights, shut blinds and leave, all within 20 minutes average.  When I get back to my office I run all RAW images through Lightroom, paying attention to angle correction and color balance.

My camera of choice is a Canon 5D MKII, Tamron 17-35 and 550EX. I either shoot at 1/60 f9 or 1/125 f9, and adjust ISO (shock...I actually shoot higher ISO's) along with flash power. I don't use a flash modifier, which means the flash is pointed straight up or slightly behind if in a corner.


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## beagle100 (Feb 16, 2016)

theshortwhiteguy said:


> Chris Parrott said:
> 
> 
> > I am looking for somebody that can help with getting bright white / focused images inside homes.
> ...



20 minutes simple and quick - sounds like a profitable formula


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