Because there’s so much information to share, I though it would be beneficial for those interested in photography to have a place to display listing photos and discuss topics pertaining to real estate.  Truly, there’s no better place to talk and share photography than on Flickr.  So I’ve created a group for our members to join, or anyone else who has an interest in this photographic niche.

If you’re a Flickr member already than you can easily join the group for free.  If not, you can create a Flickr account for free from their homepage.  Even if you have no immediate photos that you’d like to share, why not become a member anyways and start a discussion?  Perhaps you want to purchase a new camera and you need advice, or you found a Photoshop plugin that works like a charm on interior shots!

Hope to see some new members soon!  The more people there are, the more fun!

>> Go to Point2 Agent Flickr group now! <<

I recently stepped out and shot a house that met the description above.  The house is located in a beautiful, new area of town.  So new, in fact, that the landscaping is yet to be completed.  In other words: no trees, no lawn, no flowers. Yikes!  Barren, desolate yards are common sights though, especially for agents who deal with listings in newly developed areas.  In these types of locations, the house needs to stand out to attract attention, simply because there’s really nothing else.

Step 1 – Focusing on the House

When I see a dirt yard, my first intention is to try and shoot the listing photo in a manner that shows as little of the yard as possible.  So I got as close to the house as I could, and took a picture:

Listing Photo #1: Close-Up Front

Boom!  There it is, the classic garage shot, with the house tucked in behind.  There’s little focus on the yard, it’s true, but there’s really nothing to see here that a home buyer really wants to see.

Step 2 – Get More “Home” in the Picture

Seemingly dissatisfied by the results of my first attempt, I decided to give it another shot.  In a moment of genius, I found that stepping away from the house helped to decrease the visual dominance of the garage. Snap:

Listing Photo #2: Front from a Distance

So I’m standing on the neighbor’s driveway and elated that I can see the front door. And there’s windows too!  Definitely some progress…

Step 3 – Use Perspective to My Advantage

Now that I know I’m getting somewhere, I’m energized to go all out.  It’s time to get that aerial angle that I have relied on for years.  Getting the aerial angle shot does require some ingenuity, but it can be done in almost any environment.  OK, so here it is:

Listing Photo #3: The Aerial Angle

I’m loving the look and feel of the house in this shot, but there’s a problem: the house is literally swimming in a sea of houses that all look too similar.  To make matters worse, there’s no trees bursting out of the background, no shrubs, no parks, no flowers, no fences – not even a blade of grass.  It looks like a construction zone, because IT IS a construction zone.

Step 4 – Utilize Perspective, but Focus on the House

Last try.  It’s time to move in for the kill.  I know I like the angle, but the lack of green space bothers me.  So, it’s time for the low angle – the classic “go to” shot when the neighborhood looks like Mars.

Listing Photo #4: The Low Angle

That’s it!  The yard shows, but the focus is on the house – not the houses in the neighborhood, not the house next door, but THE house.  There’s a good balance between living space and parking space, and best of all, the potential buyer knows exactly what he/she is in for.

If the neighborhood would have been more developed, I’d likely have stuck with the aerial angle as my primary shot to market this listing.  Every house requires it’s own analysis in order to get the best shot possible based on it’s structure and surrounding environment.

My advice: take your time, explore possibilities, and have fun!

tucked away in the back.  It’s not really such a bad idea, as lots of people (especially in suburbia) depend on their cars to get around, but it does make it more difficult for that style of house to stand out when buyers are browsing listings online.

Even a quality listing photo can get overlooked if it’s covered by 70% garage door, and as handy as a front-facing, attached garage can be, it’s arguably not the prettiest part of the house.  So how can you adapt your photographic strategy to compensate for these types of houses?

First off, let’s talk about the photo in terms of perspective.  In most cases, the garage appears much larger than it is simply because it’s closer to the camera.  It also doesn’t help when an “all garage” house is photographed from short range as it will increase the appearance of foreshortening, sometimes eclipsing the actual house all together.  Thus, the house has to be approached differently, so that we use perspective to our advantage.

Have a look at this 3D model that was exported in three different views:

The front view appears as though the car actually owns the house, and you are expected to rent the upper level.  By changing the perspective, however, the garage becomes a mere portion of the overall dwelling.  The low, side angle is the easiest alternative to enhance the “living” portion of the home, while the high angle looks even better.  Keep in mind that the high angle requires a pole aerial solution, which I talked about in a previous post.

In my next post, I’ll share a few different “real life” examples of how to shoot your primary photo of a house that’s “all garage” and you can decide what you like best.  Of course, if you have any ingenious tips or tricks that have worked for you, feel free to comment below.

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.