Listing Interior (Final Shot) - Two-flash setup

It’s not a perfect interior photo, but I think it’s pretty decent based on the difficulty of the area and the limited number of flashes.  The image is well exposed except for a couple of dark areas and a few blown-out highlights.  If I could, I’d add in one or two more strobes to better illuminate the cupboards, minimize shadows, and try to prevent light falloff.  Most importantly though, I managed to balance the interior and exterior light.  If you remember from Part 1 of this series, a common problem is when the interior and exterior light cannot be balanced, which was the case with this room.  Here’s a shot taken without a flash, using full-frame metering:

Listing Interior - Without Flash

According to the camera’s metering system, the photo above is perfectly exposed.  However, we can clearly see that the shot suffers from both over and under exposure that has rendered most of the visible areas useless.  In order to compensate for this problem, we need to add light to the interior – which is exactly what I did.

So, here’s how I did it:

1) Select a Metering Mode
As usual, I started by observing the scene and determining the areas that were both brightest and darkest.  There was nothing I could do about the sunlight/window, so I decided to use it as my principle level of exposure.  I set my camera to Spot Metering, which we discussed a while back, so that I could target the bright window area.

I spot metered my camera to the window and manually configured the settings to f8 for my aperture and 1/200 second for my shutter speed to allow for a decent depth of field.  I metered the shot at 200 ISO.  Here’s what I ended up with:

Listing Interior - Spot metered to windows.

Now, this photo may look absolutely terrible, but it’s exactly what I wanted/expected.  The exterior light is no longer overexposed, and it gives me a point of reference for my interior light requirements.

2) Add Strobe/Flash #1
Now that we have a reference point, it’s time to add the first light.  I set up the first flash to the left of the camera, and I bounced the light in an umbrella.  Bouncing the light softens it, and makes for less distinct shadows.  The light stand was erected as high as I could get it, and angled down on the dining area.  I initially set the flash to 1/2 power, but increased the strength after a couple of test shots.  A light meter would eliminate the need for trial and error, but we’ll get into that another day.  Here’s one of the test shots:

Listing Interior - One-flash test shot.

On the positive side, the interior and exterior light are closer to being balanced, but there are a few reflections, and dark areas that require attention. Sometimes you just have to tweak the placement of lights and continue doing test shots to get it just right.

3) Add Strobe/Flash #2
Once you get the first light in a good location, it’s time to add the second into the mix.  I didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver, but I found a good spot at the end of the room to the right of the camera.  Here’s the basic floor plan with camera and flash placement:

With a bit of tweaking, I was able to get a shot I was happy with.  Flash #2 was erected to about 5-6 feet, also bounced off an umbrella, and set at 1/2 power.

I had to perform some minor color correction to the final image in Adobe Photoshop, as I chose not to use color correcting gels.  The image was shot in RAW which allowed for some added flexibility in both exposure and color temperature.  You can use this method with any number of lights, just keep adding them in until you have enough.  It’s a bit more time consuming, but it is a great way to stand out from the crowd – and we all know that in real estate, standing out from the crowd is a very good thing.

If you choose to shoot in the direction of an uncovered window, which is often unavoidable, you’ll have to concede to the brightness of the sun.  You can minimize the intensity of light by shooting at a different time of day (dusk/dawn), during overcast, or by blocking the window with curtains, but it’s not always easy to reschedule shoots, and some windows are best left wide open.  If you find yourself shooting in this kind of scenario, there are a few gear options to choose from (and each will vary from person to person):

Option #1 – Full Control
A full setup involves three or four strobes (flashes), a DSLR camera body, wide angle lens, some Pocket Wizards, light stands, reflectors/umbrellas, a metering device, gels, and a tripod.  The advantage here is that you can really control where you add light, the amount of light, and the softness of the light.  Furthermore, Pocket Wizards will allow you to set up wireless so you can position lighting where you want with minimal clutter.  Proper light metering and color correction will allow for all-around consistency in exposure which provides maximum detail with minimal noise.

The downside to having full control is that the gear is pricey – I’d estimate about $4,500 minimum for everything, unless you were able to find some used items or opt for lower quality gear.  The other thing is that all of the gear can be a bit cumbersome to lug around.  A decent-size lighting bag and another camera/lens bag should be expected.  Batteries, memory cards, clamps, filters, adapters, editing software and other random gadgets/gizmos can add up too.

Option #2 – Basic Control
A basic setup involves two or three strobes, a DSLR camera body, wide angle lens, light stands, and a tripod.  Gels are optional, but you might have to do a slight color correction afterwards if you choose not to use them.  Instead of reflectors, light can be bounced off of ceilings, walls, or even sheets of paper.  Pocket Wizards are best, but new flashes have built-in, infrared communication, so for simple setups that works fine.  You may choose to pick up a commander unit if you want to avoid using on-camera flash.  Also, a little trial and error will allow you to eliminate the light meter if you have to.  It’s important to note that the quality of the photo will suffer after cutting out equipment, but sometimes it’s better to learn using the essentials, then add equipment as required.

The basic setup still allows us to get a nice wide view of the room, and target our light at dim areas in an attempt to balance the intensity of interior and exterior light.  You might have a hard time getting perfectly balanced light in all areas of the room, but it will still be far better than using no lighting at all.

Option #3 – HDR (High Dynamic Range) Processing
HDR for interior listing photos requires a camera with a wide-angle lens (not necessarily a DSLR), editing software, and a sturdy tripod.  It is by far the least expensive of the options, but not always the easiest.  HDR images require practice, and may suffer from noise, color inaccuracy, and/or tone issues.

There are some HDR real estate photos out there that are stunning, and others that look like quaint little homes from M83.  I highly suggest tackling HDR photography only if you have a good eye for realistic color and tone.

Next, we’ll discuss setup and some issues to watch for while shooting.

If you read my previous post on shooting listing exteriors, then you will be aware of how I initially analyze a scene before the shoot begins.  What I see is a room consisting of bright, mid, and dark tones.  In this case, the windows and reflections are very bright, the walls and area rug are mid tone, and the floor and shadows are very dark.  You may find it easier to analyze the scene in gray scale:

Unlike the listing exterior photo, the dynamic range of light in this living room cannot be captured in a single shot.  In other words, if I set my camera to expose in accordance with the average amount of light from the entire frame (i.e. full frame metering), I will overexpose my highlights and underexpose my shadows.  That’s what has happened in the photo above.  It’s true, there are some areas of the photo that are exposed correctly, but not all areas, and that’s really what we want to achieve here.

So, there are two ways that we can tackle this photo:
1) High Dynamic Range (HDR) Processing - What I would call the software approach – just bracket your exposures and combine them using specialized computer software.  I wrote more about this in a previous post.
2) Use Off-Camera Flashes – What I would call the hardware approach – increase the amount of light inside the room so that it matches the intensity and color of light coming in through the windows.  Additional photographic equipment is required for this option.  If you’d like to learn about off-camera flash basics, read this post first.

I want to focus on option #2, and add additional light so that a well exposed photo can be obtained in a single shot.  So we’ll need a couple of off-camera flashes, and a few other things, but I’ll get into the exact requirements and processes in my next post.

Also, bonus points go to those who were displeased aesthetically with the photo above: uneven curtains, cushion on floor, throw blanket on couch, messy tablecloth, awkward lamp, etc.  As always, it’s important to run through a checklist to make sure your photos will look their best.

I took this photo last October without the use of any special lighting, polarizing filters, or advanced editing.  You may or may not agree that it is a suitable listing photo, but despite personal opinions, I think anyone would agree that it is properly exposed as the highlights are not too bright, and dark tones are not too dark.  Although it is an easier photo to achieve from a technical standpoint, there are numerous choices I made to ensure that it turned out the way I wanted, so let’s discuss them:

1) Choosing a Metering Mode
Before I meter my camera, I always survey the scene.  I generally look for heavy contrasts between my lightest and darkest tones, and decide what part of the photo I want to expose to.  Most cameras have three metering options: spot, center-weighted, and full-frame, although they may be titled differently depending on your camera.  Each option is usually accompanied by a symbol:

Each selection will affect how your camera meters light.  Spot metering will only consider light at the very center of the frame, center-weighted will consider light in the central area, and full-frame will consider all of the light and generate an average.  For this photo, I noticed that the sky was a neutral mid-tone, the garage was bright, and the house was dark:

Because there was a generous mix between a variety of brightnesses, I chose to use full-frame metering as it would provide me with an average of the entire scene.  Some photographers choose to meter off of a gray card to ensure that the exposure will be accurate.  If the entire house would have been dark, I would likely have chosen center-weighted metering which would have resulted in a brighter sky (midtone).

2) Setting the ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed (More information here)
My camera was set to Manual (M) for this shot, although Aperture Priority (Av) would also work well.  I had great light, so I set my ISO as low as it could possibly go (ISO 200, in this case).  The lower the ISO, the less noisy the picture will be, so set your ISO low whenever possible.  More information on noise can be found here.

Next I set my aperture.  I set my aperture before my shutter speed because for this particular photo, depth of field was more a concern than potential motion blur (if I have moving subjects, I’ll set my shutter speed first).  I wanted to avoid a shallow depth of field to ensure that everything remained sharp.  For listing exteriors, anywhere from f11 to f16 is a safe bet, but you may have to accommodate for different scenarios.  I chose f14.

I set my shutter speed in accordance to my light meter.  At 200 ISO and f14, I found that I had to shoot at 1/320 to obtain a perfect exposure.  Just adjust your shutter speed until your light meter is at a perfect “0.0″ exposure.  Try to stay above 1/60 if you’re shooting hand held to avoid camera shake.

In summary, here’s the camera settings:
Metering Mode: Full frame
ISO: 200
Aperture: f14
Shutter Speed: 1/320
Flash: None

Lastly, I just wanted to touch upon a few choices that I made that arguably improved the quality of the photograph.  First, I took the photo at a time where the sun was lower in the sky, and angling down on the front  of the house.  In other words, time of day is very important.  Second, I framed the shot so that not only the horizon line was level, but my vertical angles were square as well:

When grid lines are overlaid, you can see that the house suffers no distortion from perspective, or lens distortion.  For angled shots I would try to create aesthetically pleasing angles, but for the frontal shot I feel that a level and square framing works best.

Next time, I’ll discuss how to expose for some of the more complex interior shots. Until then…

The whole concept of exposure is based on one thing: light.  Essentially, when you use a camera you are capturing light – capture too much light and you overexpose your image, capture too little and you underexpose.  Sound pretty logical so far?  Great.  Most cameras, except for basic point-and-shoots, will allow you to manually control your exposure, and therefore control the light being captured.

Exposing a photograph depends on three, in-camera variables: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO.  That’s it.  If you fully understand each of these variables, and how they interplay, you will be able to approach almost every shooting situation confidently. So let’s have a closer look:

1) Aperture.  A camera’s aperture is located in the lens.  Think of it as a flexible gateway that can be opened or closed by the photographer to control the amount of light entering the camera.  Aperture size is generally expressed as an f-number (i.e. f2.8).  Historically, the f-number was calculated by dividing the focal length of a lens by the diameter of the aperture.  For instance, if you had a 50mm lens and your aperture measured 25mm in diameter, your f-number would be f2.0 (50 ÷ 25 = 2).  As cameras and lenses evolved, this equation became slightly more complex, but the same general rules apply.  In short, the lower the f-number, the more light you are letting through the lens.  Here’s a basic overview of how aperture works:

2) Shutter Speed: Once the light has passed through the aperture it enters the main camera body.  Before the light is exposed, the mirror must flip up (in DSLR cameras only), and a shutter curtain must open for a precise amount of time.  The shutter may remain open anywhere from a fraction of a second to several minutes (or even hours) depending on the type of shot the photographer intends to capture.  Shutter speeds are usually displayed as fractions (i.e. 1/250 second, 1/1000 second, 1/15 second etc.) or as whole numbers (i.e. 3 seconds, 30 seconds etc.).  Here’s a brief diagram for how shutter speed works:

3) ISO: Finally, the light is able to hit the sensor so the prescribed exposure can take place.  Even here though, the photographer can control exposure by controlling the ISO.  ISO is an abbreviated term used in photography to describe how sensitive a roll of film or digital sensor is to light.  ISO increments commonly range between 100 and 3200 but can go higher and lower in some cameras.  The lower the ISO is set, the less sensitive your camera will be to light, and vise versa.  Here’s a basic overview:

A properly exposed photograph relies entirely on a perfect balance between these three variables.  Different shooting scenarios each require a different combination of Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO.  You can tell when you are set up properly when your light meter states that you are at 0.0 (the perfect exposure).  That being said, certain settings can have great advantages, or debilitating disadvantages to the final look of your photo.  Next time, I’ll run through some sample real estate scenarios and discuss the best ways to expose them, as well as some things to avoid whenever possible.

Darn.  That post ended up being just as nerdy as the last few.  Maybe next time…