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Real Estate Photography: The Complete Guide

18 Oct

The post Real Estate Photography: The Complete Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Borland.

real estate photography a guide

Do you want to capture beautiful, eye-catching real estate photos?

You’ve come to the right place.

Real estate photography might seem difficult and even high pressure, but with a little know-how, you can start creating outstanding images right away.

I’ve spent plenty of time learning the ins and outs of real estate and house photography, and today, I’d like to pass that knowledge on to you. So if you’re ready to learn how to photograph houses like a pro, then let’s dive in, starting with:

Real estate photography: key camera equipment

To get started with real estate photography, you’ll need a few basic items:

A camera
A wide-angle lens
A tripod

Your camera should allow you to add a cable release, a flash, different lenses, and wireless triggers. For cropped sensor cameras, a lens around 10-22mm or 12-24mm is perfect, and for full frame sensor cameras, a lens around 16-35mm will do the job.

Tilt-shift lenses help avoid converging vertical lines such as wall edges and door frames. There are a handful of tilt-shift lenses available, but while these lenses are wonderful to use, they are fixed focal length. So if you need more flexibility, a 16-35mm zoom lens is a great alternative (or companion) to a tilt-shift lens.

This image shows diverging vertical lines, seen best by the edge of the fireplace, from using a 16-35mm lens tilted down to add foreground and minimize ceiling.

Now, real estate shooting techniques can get pretty complex, from exposure blending, HDR, wireless flash, to light painting with multiple exposures. No matter your shooting style, the camera should not be moved (to guarantee image alignment of multiple exposures). The camera’s self-timer, a cable release, or wireless triggers help ensure no camera movement. Certain apps will also triggers the camera and provide a preview of the photo on your smartphone or tablet.

The best lighting for exterior real estate photos

exterior real estate photography

The first image a potential buyer (usually) sees when reviewing properties online is an exterior photo, so you must capture a beautiful outdoor shot. A big part of this is lighting, so you’ll need to carefully choose your time of day and lighting quality.

But what type of lighting is best for real estate photography?

Most exterior house photography benefits from lighting early and late in the day, when the light is soft and golden. The sun direction is also important, so you’ll want to use an app such as PhotoPills to determine the sun’s progression prior to the photo shoot. In general, aim to photograph with light hitting the front of the home, like this:

exterior real estate photography

In winter, some south-facing homes never have the sun hitting the front of the house. In such situations, I highly recommend keeping the sun at your back, even if it means shooting the home from an angle.

sidelit house

If you don’t like the result you get with morning or afternoon light, you might consider shooting on an overcast day. Cloudy skies can eliminate problems with the sun’s position, but discuss it with your client first, because white skies can lessen the impact of an otherwise great exterior image.

Also, if you’re struggling to find a good time to shoot the house during the day, you have one more option:

The dusk/dark technique, which gets you photos like this:

The dusk/dark technique

Simply head to the house around sunset and choose the best angle to showcase the home, ignoring the ambient light. Turn on all the lights or even add lights to the rooms; then wait until after sunset, when the sky’s exposure balances the room lights’ exposure. That’s when you can create a beautiful, pro-level image!

Getting started with interior photography: composition

After you’ve shot some stunning exterior shots, you’ll need to get on with the interior real estate photos. This can be tedious, but it’s essential you approach the task with care.

Homes come in all shapes, sizes, styles, and conditions. You want the house to look as good as possible, so I recommend you send your clients a task list for prepping the home prior to the photo session.

Once you’ve arrived, photograph the main rooms: the living room, kitchen, dining area, master bedroom, and master bath, all of which are “must shoot” rooms. There could also be a library, office, large walk-in closet, and more. The client can often tell you what they deem important; don’t be afraid to ask.

The master bathroom!

Once you’ve entered a room and are preparing to take a photo, seek out the best perspective. I like to use indoor elements – furniture, windows, and room layout – to create visual flow. I generally try to avoid including a large element in the foreground that prevents the eye from flowing through the room.

This is the first test shot I took of this room. The foreground chair blocked the flow!

modified composition of the interior shot above

By rotating the chair and lowering the camera height slightly, the eye flows through the room more easily. (This image also has its vertical lines corrected.)

Key composition tip: get the verticals rights

In interior house photography, there is broad agreement among clients and photographers: Verticals must be correct! Most interiors feature plenty of verticals, including edges and corners of walls, door frames, and windows, and these edges need to truly be vertical. And wide-angle lenses that are not level (e.g., they’re tilted slightly upward toward the ceiling or downward toward the floor) will make vertical edges converge or diverge and no longer appear straight.

If you use a tilt-shift lens, the problem is solved right off the bat, but not everyone likes TS lenses. So what do you do? How do you prevent converging and diverging verticals from ruining your photos?

One common approach is to level the camera – that is, ensure it’s not tilting up or down – because a perfectly level camera will record straight verticals. While this is a simple solution, it doesn’t always make for the best compositions; a level camera at chest height can cut off foreground subjects like furniture at the bottom and leave too much ceiling at the top. Lowering the camera height will improve this problem, but how low can you go and still have an effective photo?

This image by one of my online course students; Simone Brogini, illustrates this point. His camera is chest high and is leveled to avoid diverging verticals. But the foreground furniture is cutoff and there is too much ceiling that lacks interest.

Simone also shot this bedroom image the same way. It looks pretty good, but I advised him again that the camera height might be just a little too high, as the bed and furniture get only about 1/3 of the frame and the wall and windows use 2/3 of the frame.

So what is the perfect camera height? There are many opinions. Some suggest chest height while others suggest door knob height or even lower. I prefer chest height or close, and I also correct vertical lines using other methods, like a tilt-shift lens or the Lens Correction Tool in Photoshop (or Lightroom).

This image shows the use of the Lens Correction Tool. The bed and furniture cover 2/3 of the frame and provide a fuller view of the room, plus the verticals are straight!

Real estate photography settings: how to get the perfect exposure

Exposing for interior elements can be challenging, because you’re balancing bright window light with darker interiors.

You can deal with this contrast many ways; one is to shoot when outdoor light levels are lower, such as during or after sunset, or on a cloudy day. Turning on every light inside increases the interior brightness, and if the outdoor brightness is lower, a RAW file can often capture the scene in one frame. Alternatively, you can shoot a series of bracketed images, then blend them together in post-processing.

On a bright, sunny day, the room has a dark ceiling, a dark floor, window flare, and hot spots with too much contrast for one capture.

On a overcast day, the interior exposure is quite good, as is the window exposure.

Even in low-contrast lighting situations, I’d recommend you take a few extra shots to ensure you have all the necessary exposures for a great image. First, determine your base exposure, the image that has most of the data centered in the histogram. Then bracket in +/- one stop increments of varied exposures. You may not need these extra images, but if the dynamic range of the scene turns out to be too much, they can really save the day (i.e., you can blend them into a great final image!).

bedroom

Real estate photography: interior lighting

While some real estate photographers stick to ambient lighting, just like a finely lit portrait, interiors can benefit greatly from carefully styled external lighting. Bracketing and blending can manage scene contrast, but it cannot create highlights and shadows in areas that have no directional light – for instance, if you have a dark cabinet against a dark wall, adding supplemental light can bring out the much-needed detail.

Most interiors have two light sources: window light and interior lights. You can add continuous lights or use strobes/flashes. Personally, I recommend flashes or strobes, which provide flexibility when lighting interiors.

Before I dive into the basics of interior lighting, I’d like to emphasize its purpose: to bring out detail, balance the overall lighting effect, prevent distracting dark spots, and emphasize the key parts of the scene. Always think in terms of what the ambient lighting conceals and what your studio lighting will reveal.

Now, photographers shooting for architects or magazines often have plenty of time to photograph a property with finely crafted lighting techniques, but a real estate photographer’s time is usually limited, making flash the perfect tool. You can master the balancing act of using direct on-camera flash to fill in a scene, or you can bounce on-camera flash for great results.

Feel free to take a test shot without flash, then review the image on your LCD and determine the areas that require fill light. That’s what I did for the scene below:

Here, the only light is coming from a window on the left and the ceiling fixtures, leaving dark areas in front.

kitchen real estate photography better lighting

Adding bounce flash, handheld just to the right of the camera, filled in those darker areas effectively.

Also popular are multi-flash wireless set ups allowing the flash to be placed around a room for styled lighting. Oh, and you might try the light-painting approach, where areas are selectively lit across several exposures, then all exposures are blended in post-processing.

This image uses the light painting approach for a balanced, detailed result.

By the way, you’ll need to be aware of lighting color temperatures and color balance, which can become a problem when indoor lighting (studio or otherwise) is combined with ambient outdoor lighting.

When you have mixed light, such as daylight-colored window alongside tungsten-colored ceiling lights, plus you then throw in a fluorescent kitchen light, you’ll end up with a palette of different light colors in your image. Walls closest to windows will be blue while the walls closest to the tungsten ceiling lights will be amber and the ceiling in the kitchen will have a green tint.

Here’s an image with mixed lighting:

There is a blue color cast around the window and on the floor on the left.

So what do you do about mixed lighting? Two things:

Do as much as you can to minimize mixed lighting by color-matching your studio lights to the lights in the scene.
Use selective color adjustments in Lightroom, Photoshop, or another post-processing problem to neutralize the unwanted color casts after the fact.

Here’s a corrected version of the previous image:

The final image shows color correction, as well as corrected verticals and the removal of window flare.

Providing the client with the final images

Once you have photographed the house and done the necessary post-processing, you will need to deliver the image files. Clients usually request low resolution files for the web and high resolution files for print publication.

Be sure to save your files in the proper file format and size for the intended use. Most online listing services specify their accepted formats and acceptable sizes. I use low-resolution JPEGs and high-resolution TIFF files, then I make a final delivery of the images via Dropbox or a comparable online service.

Real estate photography: final words

Now that you’ve finished this article, you’re ready to rock some real estate photos! Here are a few items to remember before heading out to your first house:

You are not photographing for yourself; you are photographing for clients who will expect professional quality work.
Don’t get all the best gear; only buy what is required to do the job well.
Master the creative side of photography, such as angles, perspectives, and composition.
Master the technical side of photography, such as exposure, HDR, supplemental lighting, color matching, and exposure blending.
Be careful when processing real estate images; don’t misrepresent the property.

And above all, have fun!

exterior image real estate

The post Real Estate Photography: The Complete Guide appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Borland.

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How to Become a Real Estate Photographer + is it Worth it?

14 Apr

Real estate photography is often the underdog of the photography world, living under the shadow of the more glamorous photography niches like headshots, portraiture, or landscape. Real estate photography can be not only fun, but also profitable. In this article, we’ll discuss how you can become a real estate photographer and also if it is worth it for you. How Continue Reading
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Real Estate Photography: Artificial Light versus Natural Light

05 Apr

The post Real Estate Photography: Artificial Light versus Natural Light appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

Architecture: Michael Vail Design. Photo: © Sallie Moffatt.

This article is written by Nisha Ramroop and Ron Pepper.

Real estate interior photography can seem simple, but that impression can change when trying to capture a space that has big bright window views, and many areas of light and shadow inside. Often, it’s important to achieve balance amongst the bright and dark areas, whilst also capturing the view outside the window.

In this article, we’ll discuss shooting interiors using various lighting methods. These methods include using single and multiple Speedlight flashes, larger strobe lights, and using bracketed exposures for HDR.

Artificial lighting

Speedlight flash

The term ‘Speedlight’ refers to the kind of flash that can be connected to the camera’s hot shoe. These battery-powered flash units are very versatile and relatively inexpensive (often available used) because they can also be used off-camera. Nikon uses this term for this kind of flash, Canon uses the very similar ‘Speedlite’ and others might say ‘on-camera flash’ or other terms.

Architecture: Michael Vail Design. Photo: © Sallie Moffatt.

Using only a single Speedlight flash with your camera to light a room can be a good way to capture interiors quickly with minimal equipment. This does require some practice and a powerful Speedlight.

Usually, you want to retain detail in the brightest part of your room (either the view through the window or in a light fixture) and build your flash lighting around that.

To achieve this, you need to establish a base shot which exposes for the window view. If the window is the brightest area in the room, the rest of the room gets underexposed. Thus you need to light the underexposed areas of your room with your flash. Experiment with your flash at different power levels to equalize the light in the room. You can also use a light meter to measure the light being thrown in a particular area. This helps you adjust the flash output deliberately.

Lighting equipment enables you to fill areas of shadow to capture details in those dark areas. A powerful technique is to “Bounce” your Speedlight flash off a wall or ceiling to fill your areas of shadow more evenly.

Note: While bouncing flash softens the light before it hits your subject and gives you non-directional light, you can use it to supplement any directional light, so that the shadows from your natural light source make sense.

Keep in mind the following technical details, when finding the perfect balance using flash:

Your shutter speed does not affect the flash settings – it only affects the ambient light in your room (ambient light refers to any continuous light sources in the room. For example, sun or lamps). If you slow your shutter speed, it raises all the ambient light levels, which means it also affects the view out of your window.
The aperture affects both the flash and ambient light because a smaller aperture reduces the amount of all light that passes through the lens.
ISO also affects both flash and ambient light. It does this by altering the camera’s sensitivity to light.

Pros

Image almost finished in-camera, very little post-processing
Enables you to have creative control over the final image
Allows you to choose your best angle/composition early in the process and light for that specifically
You don’t need a tripod
Less camera equipment needed

Cons

Depending on the room, you may need more than one flash/light
These smaller flashes produce more “hard” light when fired directly into the scene
Some expertise is required. If done incorrectly, you may end up with inconsistent shadows to your natural light source or appear unnatural/fake
Your exterior needs to be correctly metered to your camera’s flash sync speed
Cost and management of batteries

Note: Using only one speed light can be tricky to achieve balanced light when window sources are large with bright sunlight.

Using multiple Speedlights with a remote trigger

Using multiple Speedlights on stands with a remote trigger can be handy when shooting larger spaces with overbearing natural light sources coming through the window. In some cases, you may need between two and four Speedlights to allow for enough internal light to equalize strong external window light – especially if shooting with direct sun outside the window. Shooting with multiple flashes allows you to get the right shot with a single image, rather than having to use bracketed exposures.

Architecture: Michael Vail Design. Photo: © Sallie Moffatt.

Pros

Allows fine control over the interior lighting
It allows you to light more dark areas
You can set each individual flash unit’s exposure to your needs
No need for a tripod

Cons

Relatively complex set-up normally requiring an experienced photographer
Carrying needed equipment can be challenging
Multiple points of (battery) failure
Need to set flashes so they are not in the shot
While no tripod is needed, multiple light stands are needed

Strobe lights

Here a ‘strobe’ refers to larger, more powerful lights. Modern strobes are powered by batteries. In the past (and lower-end current strobes), strobes needed to be plugged into electrical power or large battery packs.

Architecture: Michael Vail Design. Photo: © Sallie Moffatt.

Strobe Lights can be great to use for interior real estate photography, particularly if there is a large window light source. The greater power brings flexibility. For instance, adding a light modifier makes the light softer, avoiding harsh shadows that happen with smaller flashes.

Set your strobe light/s for the darker areas of the room. Depending on your shooting angle, you could set the strobe behind your camera line and bounce flash off the wall or ceiling above or behind you to fill any shadows in front of you.

Pros

A larger light source means softer, more attractive light
Full control over lighting
Tripod optional
Light is white and clean
Can solve color cast

Cons

Equipment is heavy to carry
Expensive compared to Speedlights
Can be hard to set up in small spaces
May need to be plugged in if not a higher-end battery-powered strobe

Natural or available light

There is an alternative to using artificial lighting to capture a room with bright and dark areas. Perhaps using Speedlights or strobes isn’t possible because the photographer doesn’t have this equipment, doesn’t know how to use it, or simply prefers the technique below.

Architecture: Michael Vail Design. Photo: © Sallie Moffatt.

We face the same challenge that the camera can see either the bright area, or the dark area, but not both. This can be solved, not by adding light, but by adding more exposures from the camera.

High Dynamic Range (HDR)

When using natural light for real estate interiors, there is some level of post-processing involved. One of the most common processing techniques used is High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing. The HDR technique means that you’ll take bracketed exposures using the camera, then they are combined using HDR software.

Architecture: Michael Vail Design. Photo: © Sallie Moffatt.

1. Bracketing exposures

So where do you start to capture the dynamic range of your interior (what your eyes see)? Since you may be working with a scene of high contrast, start with a process called “Exposure Bracketing.”

Exposure Bracketing is where you take (a minimum) of three identically composed images at different exposures. The first image uses the settings recommended by the camera. Then one or more images are intentionally overexposed, and one or more get deliberately underexposed.

One of the challenges with getting that first image (where the camera recommends settings for as properly exposed) is that the camera can choose the shutter speed based on the bright window light. This selection can leave the rest of the image too underexposed. A good solution for this underexposure is to lock your exposure on an area that is neither too bright nor too dark and use that as your baseline shot. When taking bracketed images indoors, use a tripod. Keep your aperture constant, ISO low, and vary your shutter speeds to achieve your different exposures.

Most DSLR cameras now have built-in bracketing called “Automatic Exposure Bracketing” (AEB), making it an easy, one-click process. If you are unfamiliar with this term, your camera manual is an excellent source for learning about this cool feature, and videos showing how to set AEB on many popular cameras are here.

If you are familiar with AEB, go ahead and set the exposure compensation values to plus and minus 2 EV (+/-2EV) or the maximum exposure increment (EV spacing) your camera allows. Your camera display should now show three exposure markers: one underexposed by 2-stops (-2EV), one correctly exposed (0), and one overexposed by 2-stops (+2EV). These represent the three shots that the camera takes.

Important note: The example above is for a three-shot HDR image. If your camera is capable of taking more pictures for HDR merging (some take 5 or 7), you can use the maximum number of shots available to you.

Put your camera into its Continuous Shooting Mode, compose your image and take your shots. Minimizing shake is highly recommended, so use a remote shutter release or timer where possible. Your bracketed images are now ready for the next step.

2. HDR software

As expressed previously, combining these bracketed images ensures you get a properly exposed image. This method is especially useful when you have challenging lighting situations and is a popular processing method for real estate photographers. Photomatix Pro is one of the top software used by professionals for the merging process.

One of the unspoken rules of real estate photography is that the vertical lines must, well, be vertical. Also, the horizon must be level. This is easy to achieve by leveling the camera. However, if you find that the image isn’t quite level, The Finishing Touch Panel in Photomatix Pro allows you to correct perspective issues with ease.

Benefits of using this method:

Easy to learn shooting technique
Fast shooting with a little practice
Minimal equipment needed (camera/lens and tripod,)
Natural shadows
No heavy equipment to lug around/set up
Some flexibility with composition
Great for shooting virtually any space
Compact gear — photographer can pick up tripod/camera and put it down for next shot

Challenges

Shooting angles may be limited, to avoid flare, etc.
Color cast happens more compared to using artificial light
Post-processing required
Memory needed to save the bracketed photos
A tripod is required

Architecture: Michael Vail Design. Photo: © Sallie Moffatt.

Conclusion

As noted, there are pros and cons to each lighting method when photographing real estate interiors. When deciding which method is best for you, consider the needs of the shoot you are undertaking.

If you are a beginner, it is also good practice to experiment first with natural light. Doing so helps you understand how light works before you move on to adding artificial light to your room.

If you are comfortable adding light, remember to keep it soft and be aware of your light direction at all times. If you are shooting with available light, master your processing techniques. Use HDR software such as Photomatix Pro to combine your Exposure Bracketed photos and achieve a nice exposure balance.

No matter what technique you use, some key things to remember are: show details, balance your well-lit areas against those in the shadows and show the space in the most flattering way – just as you see it as you walk in the room.

Disclaimer: HDR Soft is a paid partner of DPS.

The post Real Estate Photography: Artificial Light versus Natural Light appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

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How To Edit Real Estate Photos in Lightroom (RAW)

23 Jan

Understanding the editing process is necessary for every photographer, especially if you’re in the business of real estate photography. You need to know the methods of post-processing so you are familiar with the necessary steps you have to take in order to achieve the output that you need. From the photo shoot down to the post-processing, a professional photographer should Continue Reading

The post How To Edit Real Estate Photos in Lightroom (RAW) appeared first on Photodoto.

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Real Estate Photography: Get Better Results with the Right Equipment

25 Oct

Real estate photography throws many challenges your way, just like any type of photography.

You deal with perspective issues and light and shadow extremes that confound even the best cameras. You also need to be critically aware of your surroundings and probably have very limited time to do the job.

The good news is, creating pleasing photos of interior rooms no longer requires a great deal of investment and experience. Nowadays, it only requires a few specific items, a few pointers, and a little practice.

In this article, you’ll learn how to get better results with the right equipment to take your real estate photography to the next level.

Which camera to choose for Real Estate Photography

Smart Phones

While the main choices for real estate photography are between DSLR or mirrorless cameras, you may hear an argument in favor of modern smartphones too.

While smartphone cameras are useful for some scenarios, they are not well suited to real estate photography.

Some of the main downfalls of smartphones include:

Smartphone Apps process the image for you, resulting in a processed JPG image that you have little or no control over. The ‘lossy’ nature of JPG discards much of the original information, limiting what you can do in post-processing.
The sensors are tiny, with the pixels packed in tight, reducing the dynamic range and causing more noise.
Lenses are tiny and generally made of plastic. They lack the precision of milled glass lenses, and are easily scuffed or scratched. Lens quality plays a big part in achieving good quality images, so it’s unrealistic to expect the same performance that you’d get from a camera lens.

Smartphones perform well under ideal lighting conditions; however, interior real estate photography presents some of the most challenging light you’ll find in photography.

Use your smartphone as a tool to find great compositional angles, but not as your main photographic equipment.

See other ways a smartphone can be used here.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 2

DSLR and Mirrorless Cameras

Whether your preference is a DSLR or mirrorless camera, your primary choice is format: Full Frame, Crop-sensor or Micro 4/3.

Each format changes the field of view (FOV) of a given lens. You can think of the FOV as the ‘zoom’ of the lens.

Full-frame equates to the standard 35mm film view of analog cameras and is the standard measurement still used today.

Crop-sensor cameras have smaller sensors, creating a ‘zoom’ effect of 1.5X or 1.6X. Micro four-thirds (M4/3) cameras increase the ‘zoom’ by 2X.

In practical terms, a 50mm lens on a full frame camera produces almost the same field of view as a 35mm lens on a crop-sensor camera. That same field of view results from a 25mm lens on a Micro 3/4 camera.

It’s vital to understand that different sensor sizes impact the focal length of a lens.

When reading advice on which lens to use, always remind yourself it’s the ‘equivalent’ focal length, then do the calculations as described above for your own camera’s sensor size.

The good news is that if you already own a recent model DSLR or mirrorless camera, you likely don’t need a new one.

It’s true that “recent” is a bit vague here, but in my experience, mirrorless cameras up to five years old, and DSLRs made during the last ten years should be more than capable.

Lens choices

Many photographers say prime lenses (non-zooms) produce a better quality image than zoom lenses. A good zoom lens, however, may be more convenient for real estate photography.

A decent quality zoom that starts from a wide angle (say between 12mm to 24mm) provides more compositional flexibility than a fixed lens.

Small rooms inside houses may be a little cramped, restricting the space available to set up a tripod and camera. Using a wide-angle lens of around 12-24mm may be necessary to give the required field of view to capture a small room.

In larger rooms, and when photographing outside, 35mm may give a better view of the property. There’s no definitive ‘right’ answer to field-of-view as it all depends on the surroundings and how much space you need.

If you find yourself with distorted lines and dark areas around the edge of your image shot with a wide-angle lens, these may be fixed in post-production.

Cheaper lenses, especially zooms, have more optical weaknesses, so if you’re going to invest in new gear, you might get more benefit from upgrading your lens instead of your camera body.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 3

One indication of lens quality is a low aperture number such as f/2.8. A lower number aperture opens the lens wider than lenses with high numbers like f/5.6.

While this allows more light to enter the sensor, the focus plane becomes narrower, causing some of the room to be out of focus, which is not ideal for real estate photography. Use an aperture of f/8 or f/11 to allow more of your room to be in focus.

Chromatic aberration (CA) is caused by light dispersion as it travels through the lens. In plain English, it’s that pink/green color fringe you sometimes see around the edges of objects, most noticeably in areas of high contrast like window frames. Cheaper lenses have more problems with CA.

Using a better quality lens shows less CA, but the laws of optics means fringing can still happen occasionally. Most photo software includes functions to reduce or remove this, although it’s great to avoid it as much as possible in the first place.

Camera features to look for

Camera features to look for buried in just about every modern camera menu are the five features and functions that can seriously help for real estate photography images.

The first four of these features help you overcome the problems posed when photographing scenes with a high dynamic range (HDR). In these situations, all cameras struggle because they can’t match our eye’s adaptive responses.

The fifth, the digital level, helps with the challenge of perspective. Inside and out, houses have vertical and horizontal lines. If they’re just a little off-center, the whole photo looks lopsided and uncomfortable to the viewer.

1. AEB (Automatic Exposure Bracketing)

Automatic Exposure Bracketing is a specific setting that instructs the camera to take multiple shots of the scene while changing the shutter speed of each shot – all with one press of the shutter release button.

You can change the shutter speed for each shot manually, but it is faster (and potentially more precise) to let the camera’s onboard technology do it under your guiding hand.

2. EV Range (Exposure Value Range)

The reason to take this automatic series of shots is to capture all details, from bright windows to darker interior areas, although some cameras have more limited AEB capabilities than others.

Here are the two camera features to consider:

The number of bracketed shots: This is the number of exposures the camera takes when you press the shutter release in AEB mode.
Exposure Compensation: This is the spacing of exposure compensation between each bracketed exposure taken in AEB mode. These two factors combine to determine the total exposure range possible.

You need to look at both features to determine whether the camera’s EV range capability is sufficient for your needs. For real estate photography, look for AEB settings that let you choose five shots in 2-steps or nine shots in 1-step.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 4

3. Continuous shooting

It is important that your camera can shoot continuously to minimize the number of times you release the shutter manually. Doing so avoids accidental camera movement or shake.

4. Luminosity histogram

The histogram offers clear information to ensure we cover the full dynamic range. While it may seem confusing at first, it’s straightforward once you know what it’s showing us.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 5

Having an EVF (electronic viewfinder) somewhat reduces the need for a histogram but not entirely. Even with an EVF, it’s hard to determine highlight or shadow clipping by eye. Capture all the bright and dark areas correctly by using histograms.

5. Digital level

If your camera has a digital level, it’s quite handy. Not all camera models do, so you may need to look in the manual to find it. Once activated, a horizontal line runs across the scene in your viewfinder.

You can instantly see if the camera is at an angle and if so, make the needed adjustments to avoid a sloping room.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 6

While you’re checking the horizontal lines, don’t forget the verticals. Tilting the camera up or down causes vertical lines, like walls, to look slanted.

Pro tips on using the digital level

Take time to inspect the scene in live view, making manual corrections if necessary even if they contradict the digital level.
Use a tripod so you can step away from the camera while seeing the live view screen and the room.
Double-check your composition for framing, height, and perspective.
Shoot from below eye level. An excellent place to start is between your chest and hip height, but there may be times to raise the camera. You might, for instance, want to show a particular view or other details you wish to highlight.

Flash and Lighting Equipment

Speedlights

The built-in flash on your camera is unlikely to be strong enough to balance interior and exterior light levels because of the high dynamic range present in most real estate interiors.

The built-in flash may create unwanted, deep shadows in the room. You’ll get a better effect by mounting a Speedlight flash on the hot shoe, then bouncing the light off the walls or ceilings.

With some practice, it becomes easier to find the right bounce position for each room.

Another technique for using Speedlights is taking them off camera via a wireless connection. This way, you can position the lights just where you need them.

Studio lights

Finally, there are studio lights.

While these are effective and give results that look professional, pro lighting equipment is expensive. The lights are also bulky and heavy and often need a power supply. Moreover, using them correctly requires considerable practice and skill.

The exposure bracketing technique, where you use the camera’s AEB features listed in the previous section, offers a less demanding way of achieving light balance for an interior scene.

Taking bracketed exposures becomes a natural part of your photography workflow, and you don’t have to worry about carrying heavy lighting equipment, or learning how to use it.

The bracketed exposures are then merged to HDR in post-processing to get a correctly exposed image. While Photoshop and Lightroom offer HDR merge, many real estate photographers prefer using Photomatix Pro.

This specialized HDR software offers natural-looking presets optimized for property interiors.

A tripod

If you get good, sharp results from handheld shots, using a tripod may seem unnecessary. However, no one can hold a camera steady for the slower shutter speeds used for interior real estate photography.

The minimum shutter speed for handheld shots is normally1/60 second as a rule-of-thumb, while interior scenes require much longer exposures.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 7

What to look for in a tripod:

Ball heads – These let you quickly change angles and orientations without having to fiddle too much with either camera or tripod.
Rubber feet – When you’re working on slippery, polished floors there’s less chance of the tripod sliding out of position. Rubber feet also protect fragile surfaces.
Lightweight and sturdy – Look for solid construction with tight joints and rigid legs. Top-of-the-range tripods (such as carbon-fiber models) carry a higher price tag, but less expensive aluminum versions do the job equally well with a little care. Any tripod is better than no tripod at all.

A good tripod gives you more compositional freedom, as you can position them just about anywhere. Attempting to keep the camera perfectly still without a tripod limits you to existing stable surfaces.

A remote shutter release

A remote shutter release untethers you from the camera, providing freedom of movement.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 8

While the most obvious function of the remote release is preventing camera shake when you press the shutter button, there are other, less apparent advantages too:

The tripod stays steady, even on a soft surface.
You can step aside to avoid casting shadows, or to remove your reflection from windows or shiny surfaces.
Your hands are free to hold distractions out of the frame, such as cables or plant fronds.
You can move around to assess composition from different angles or spot potential distractions.
You may need to monitor the road so you can shoot during a gap in traffic.

As an alternative to a remote shutter release, you can use a cable release or the camera’s automatic timer.

Some other helpful equipment

Beyond the main equipment needed for real estate photography, there are a few other items to make your job easier and more efficient:

A traditional bubble level – While the digital level is handy, some people may prefer external units that slot into the hot shoe or some tripods that have bubble levels built-in.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 9

Gaffer tape – Use it for quick cleanups such as removing pet hair or holding back a curtain or cable. Use tape to mark the position of your tripod once you find a good composition.

Avoid using duct tape as the adhesive is too strong and it doesn’t peel off cleanly. Gaffer tape leaves no residue on most surfaces.

Cleaning cloths – You need a cloth for your lens, but also one to remove dust specks from surfaces or to polish water marks off bathroom fittings.

A lens hood – Use a short hood on your wide-angle lens to cut down the flare from windows or other bright lights.

Choosing the right Equipment for Real Estate Photography - Image 10

Conclusion

Despite its challenges, anyone can learn to take great real estate photography photos by starting with the right equipment. Using the right equipment also sets you up for success, and with just a little bit of practice, you can discover what works best for you.

If you have any questions to ask me about equipment for real estate photography, please ask me in a comment below.

HDRsoft is a paid partner of dPS.

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Cameras for Real Estate Photography

23 Aug

As a photographer, you need to invest in the right gear for your business. Your cameras are your tools for capturing the photos that your clients will love. These are also going to be your partners in making money throughout your career. The goal is investment in gear that will allow you to capture great quality photos while making sure Continue Reading

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Real Estate Photography Tips For Beginners

25 May

Some amateurs think that photographing real estate is as easy as walking into a room and taking a photo. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. It’s a skill you must practice so you can master it. That is if you want to succeed in this competitive field. In real estate photography, one of the questions asked by amateurs is the Continue Reading

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Tips for Photographing Real Estate Interiors

17 Apr

In this article, we’ll address the challenges you may face when photographing real estate interiors and a few ways to combat the issues. Shooting bracketed images is the most common and effective way to handle high contrast interiors. Read on below for tips on how to shoot and process interiors.

The problem

Most real estate photographers have entered a room at some stage in their career and thought, “Ah… a dark room with a bright window. Just what I do NOT need!”

Using straightforward post-production techniques to fix either over or underexposed parts of a photograph is practically impossible. So walking into this kind of scene can make your heart sink. The good news is that it’s not so hard to get around the problem posed by these scenes once you are equipped with the right techniques.

Achieving a well-exposed photograph of a dark room with a bright window initially seems impossible. Expose for the interior and the windows are blown out. Expose for the windows and the darker parts of the room are plunged into shadow.

Photo exposed for the interior (1/4 second at f/8), notice the windows are overly bright.

The difference between the brightest and darkest areas, known as dynamic range, is just too great. This is a High Dynamic Range scene, or HDR for short.

Photo exposed for the windows (1/125th at f/8), now you can see the inside is almost completely black.

Our eyes cope with HDR scenes by adjusting the size of our pupils, letting in more or less light as we encounter darker or brighter areas. The brain balances it all out and everything seems well lit.

Unfortunately, when it comes to a dark interior with a bright view, even the best DSLR cameras can’t capture the entire brightness range with a single exposure.

Photo at normal exposure (1/30th at f/8), here you can see some areas are too dark, and the windows are too bright. The camera cannot hold detail in the entire scene, the contrast is too great.

There are two ways you can resolve this issue

You can add light to brighten the room and reduce the dynamic range.
You can take multiple exposures and combine them using software to emulate what our eyes and brain do.

Adding light

To brighten the room, you’ll generally need to supply extra lighting. Just turning on all the available lights is unlikely to solve the problem.

One option is to bring along portable lighting. However, this is another skill to master, another thing to carry, and even though the cost of lighting is falling it’s still another expense. You may also need to bring an extension cable, and hope that the property has power.

You could also use professional flash units, mounted off-camera and triggered remotely. The term professional is important here because less powerful flash units rarely deliver enough light to solve this particular problem.

Effective use of flash units also requires skill. You’ll probably need several flashguns, and the knowledge of which units to use and where to put them. Again, it’s more expense and a lot more kit to carry, especially when you include stands for the units too.

Taking multiple exposures

So what about multiple exposure approaches? One method is the Photoshop approach where you take only two photographs, one correctly exposed for the room and one for the windows, and open them in separate layers in Photoshop.

Once you have manually aligned the two layers (using the Difference blending mode to guide you, zooming in may help as well), with the darker image on the bottom, you then select the blown-out windows on the top layer (the image exposed for the inside of the room). Using a layer mask, make the window areas transparent, and the properly exposed windows in the second shot will show through from underneath.

Unfortunately, this approach rarely results in a convincing and realistic looking image, as two exposures are not enough to cover the entire range of brightness that our eyes perceive. Additionally, the photo exposed for the window will underexpose the window frame and any ornaments on the windowsill, making them look darker than they should be.

A more effective approach involves taking multiple exposures to capture different lighting levels (bracketed photographs) and using HDR software to merge them into an image that’s well-exposed throughout. Shadows are corrected without additional lighting, and bright areas are pulled back without appearing artificial.

Bracketing is very popular with real estate photographers because it overcomes the problems associated with the alternative approaches. All without the cost and inconvenience of more equipment on location – except for one good quality tripod!

Bracketing exposures

Correctly capturing the exposures is key to obtaining the best results with this approach. So let’s look more closely at how professionals do this when photographing real estate interiors so that you can master it yourself.

Essentially, you take a series of identical shots at the same aperture – but using different shutter speeds. A constant aperture keeps the depth of field the same while changing the exposure allows you to capture well-exposed images for all the different lighting levels in the scene.

It is called exposure bracketing because the varying exposure settings are “bracketed” between the slowest and fastest shutter speeds needed.

The Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) function, built into most DSLR and mirrorless cameras, greatly simplifies the process, allowing you to take three or more bracketed exposures with just one shutter release.

In many situations, especially outdoors, it will also save you having to use a tripod. Any camera movements during shooting (inevitable in hand-held shots) are small enough that software with robust alignment features can automatically correct them.

Camera settings

You start the AEB setup by selecting Aperture Priority (Av) mode.

The rest varies between camera models, but typically involves three steps: selecting AEB and continuous shooting mode, choosing the number of bracketed frames, and choosing the number of EV steps between each shot.

Your camera’s user manual will cover the steps needed for your model.

Exposure bracketing techniques for interiors

Lighting differences in an interior scene with views through the windows are so great, that taking bracketed exposures may involve more than just setting up AEB and taking the shots, especially when you want the highest quality results.

The main problem comes from the camera’s choice of shutter speed for the baseline or “normal” exposure (0 EV). Bright light through a window can influence a camera’s automatic exposure, resulting in a photo set that is skewed towards underexposure.

Another problem is that capturing the scene could demand more exposures than your camera’s AEB provides. Also, since a low ISO is best to minimize noise in the shadows, you may need quite long exposures. Without a tripod, that will result in blurred images that could ruin the shot.

Quick technique

Even though exposure bracketing is more involved when photographing interiors with window views, you can use a relatively quick technique when the lighting differences aren’t too great and your camera offers a broad AEB exposure range. This is how it works.

After selecting Aperture Priority (Av) mode, point the camera at an area of the room that is neither too dark nor too bright, just ‘average’, and well away from the windows.

Note that the shutter speed when the camera is pointed at the sofa is 1/10th.

Take note of the shutter speed your camera displays for that area. Then switch to Manual mode, make sure the shutter speed is the one you noted, activate the AEB function and take the photos.

While this will certainly be better than a single exposure, you lack control with this technique and you can’t always select the right number of photographs to be taken.

Advanced bracketing technique

When you want to maximize output quality, use this advanced bracketing exposure technique to ensure that you take all the exposures needed to cover the entire lighting range. This gives you far more control, although it takes a little longer and the process is slightly more complex.

This video steps you through the technique, from camera setup to determining what exposures to use, through to taking the photos themselves.

One of the main advantages of this technique is that it establishes precise shutter speeds that match the maximum levels of darkness and brightness in the room. It does this by determining the shutter speeds for both extremes of the lighting range.

This is important because misjudging the correct exposure for the darkest areas can result in an image where the interior isn’t bright enough. While failing to capture the brightest areas results in washed-out looking windows.

How to find the shutter speed for both extremes

You can choose between two methods to find the shutter speeds for the darkest and brightest parts of the scene:

Spot Metering method.
Histogram check method.

Spot metering method

This is the quickest way to find your needed shutter speeds. Start by selecting Aperture priority, or Av mode, then choose the Spot Metering option from the camera menu.

Spot Metering mode.

Find the longest shutter speed by focusing on the darkest part of the room. While watching the exposure meter in the camera’s viewfinder, adjust the shutter speed until the camera shows it to be the best exposure for that part of the room. Make a note of the recommended shutter speed.

Find the shortest shutter speed by focusing on the brightest part of the room, and repeat the process to find the best shutter speed. Again, note the recommended speed.

Histogram method

The second method to determine the two shutter speeds is more precise and works like this:

Set the camera’s LCD screen or image preview to display the brightness histogram.
Take a test shot of the darkest area of the room, then examine the histogram.
If the left side of the histogram shows a vertical line at the start of the graph, then there are dark areas you’ve not yet captured.
Take another shot with a longer shutter speed and repeat the process until the histogram trails off to a flat line on the left. When you see that, you’ve identified the slowest shutter speed needed.

Now take a test shot of the brightest part of the room, and again examine the histogram.
This time look for a vertical line on the right of the histogram. If you see one, then you’ve not yet captured the brightest parts of the scene.
Keep taking shorter exposures, checking the histogram after each one until it shows a flat line to the right of the graph. When you see that, you know the shortest shutter needed.

Many DSLR cameras have a feature that shows overexposed parts of an image. When activated, the highlight warning system makes overexposed areas blink or flash when viewed on the LCD screen. If you see this, increase the shutter speed until the blinking areas stop flashing.

How to bracket your exposures

Once you know these two shutter speeds you can use them in two different ways – one that uses the camera’s built-in Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) option, and one that does not.

The full manual method

Switch the camera to Manual mode
Set the shutter speed to the shortest of your measured shutter speeds and take a photograph.
Decrease the shutter speed by one stop (EV) and take the next photograph.
Keep reducing the shutter speed by one (EV) stop for each photograph until you reach the longest of the two shutter speeds you measured.

The semi-automated method

Open the HDR Exposures Calculator app from HDRsoft.
Enter the shortest and longest shutter speeds into the app.
Select the maximum number of bracketed frame your camera supports.
Select an EV Spacing of 2 if your camera supports it, otherwise go with the highest EV spacing it offers, then click “Get Exposures”.
Follow the instructions given by the HDR Exposures Calculator, making sure you have set the camera to AEB mode and selected Continuous Shooting mode before taking a bracketed set.

Additional tips to take the photos

You now know how to measure the longest and shortest exposures you will need, and how to set up your camera to take all exposures between them. Correct technique is important too, so here are some steps to follow to make sure you get good results.

Securely mount the camera on a tripod, and ensure the camera is level.
If the camera is mounted on a tripod, switch off Auto Image Stabilization.
Set the built-in flash to Off if your camera has one.
Attach a remote shutter release to reduce the risk of blur.
Select Manual mode and set an aperture suitable for the lighting and depth of field required.
Set the ISO value, 100 is ideal. Digital noise (the electronic equivalent of grain) increases as the ISO value increases, so keep it as low as possible. Try not to go beyond ISO 400.
Determine the shutter speed required to best expose the darkest part of the room and the shutter speed to best expose the brightest part. See the section above on finding the shutter speeds for both extremes.
Take the exposure bracketed photos as detailed in the previous section.

Once you’ve returned from the shoot, process the images in HDR software. There are various photo applications that can merge multiple exposures to HDR. Photomatix Pro is the first choice among many real estate photographers because it offers presets optimized for interiors, achieving the natural look they strive for.

Using Photomatix Pro with real estate interiors

Photomatix Pro is designed to be easy to use, so you should get comfortable using it pretty quickly. Here are a few tips to help you get the best out of it for your interior photographs.

Check the Align Source Images option with On Tripod selected (even when you use a tripod, there can be some small camera movement between shots).

Don’t activate the option to remove ghosts. This is important in real estate images as adjusting for ghosting when there isn’t any reduces image quality. If you absolutely must use de-ghosting, for example, because something moved outside a window, be sure to use the selective de-ghosting option, so it can be applied to just the affected window.

When you adjust the merged HDR image, use the drop-down list above the preset thumbnails to show just those related to the Architecture style (or “Real-estate” depending on your Photomatix version).

Lastly, you can use the Finishing Touch panel’s straightening tool to correct sloping floors or walls that aren’t upright. Finally, use the cropping tool to remove edge areas of the photo affected by wide-angle lens distortion or chromatic aberration.

Conclusion

Although getting good photographs of real estate interiors can seem daunting, particularly when bright windows are involved, the right techniques and software make it is achievable without bulky, expensive equipment.

The main points to remember are:

Exposure bracketing is the key technique.
For simple scenarios, you can bracket based on an average exposure.
For other situations, work out the brightest and darkest exposure along with the shots in between.
Spot metering or the histogram can help you determine these exposures.
You can take the exposures manually, or using AEB and the HDR Exposures Calculator app.

Do you have any questions you’d like to ask about the tips in the article and taking bracketed exposures of interiors? If you do, please let us know in the comments below. If you have any tips of your own, you’re welcome to share them too.

Disclaimer: HDRsoft is a paid partner of dPS

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Tips for Getting Sharper Real Estate Interior Photographs

23 Feb

Photography is a key part of advertising a property for real estate sales. But just as stunning images show the property looking its best, the opposite is also true. Poor photography, with blurred, sloping rooms, and out of focus images does little to inspire viewings.

Here are some basic, but important, steps to help you improve the quality of your interior photos. You’ll see what causes photographs to turn out blurry, and get some handy tips on equipment and techniques to avoid falling into these traps.

Preparing for the shoot

The best techniques for getting sharp photographs can be let down by poorly working equipment, or badly chosen or untidy scenes. So it’s important to start your session with good preparation and follow your check-list. Here are a few things that should be on your list.

1. Check your equipment

Make sure your equipment is okay, batteries are charged, extra lights working, tripod joints tight and in good condition, and that the lens is completely clean. Loose tripod joints, broken lights, and dirty lenses make problems for you later, so good preparation is worthwhile.

2. Make sure everything is clean and tidy

Dirty windows still look dirty in photographs, so take a household cleaning cloth and some glass cleaner. Cleaning everything is always easier than removing debris in post-production.

3. Set the scene

Tidy and set the scene, removing unwanted items from window sills, adjusting furniture positions and cleaning the windows. Don’t forget to look through the window too – a washing line of underwear probably isn’t what your client wants to see!

Think about the final image and what you want, then keep that in your mind throughout the photography session.

Using a tripod

Three common issues ruin a real estate photograph: blur, poor focus, and sloping rooms.

Blur and bad focus often come from camera movement during the long exposures you need when photographing interiors. Rooms appear sloping when the camera is not level.

You can resolve all three problems by securely mounting the camera on a sturdy tripod, which is why a tripod is highly recommended when photographing interiors.

Here are some pro tips for using a tripod:

Hang your camera bag from the center of the tripod (if it has a hook, as seen above) to increase stability.
Set the tripod exactly where you’ve decided to take the photographs, and extend the thicker sections of the legs first as they provide most stability. Avoid extending the center column as this is the least stable section and will reduce the stability of the tripod.
Give the tripod a gentle prod to make sure it won’t slip on the floor or wobble.
Mount the camera on the tripod, ensuring that the base plate and mounting are tight and cannot move around.
Adjust the tripod head until the camera is perfectly level and the image doesn’t slope to the left or the right. By getting the camera level, you ensure the room won’t look as if it slopes sideways.

For more on getting sharp images with a tripod, read: 5 Tips to Get Sharp Photos While Using a Tripod.

Eliminating sources of camera shake

There are also other sources of blurriness in photos. One of these is called mirror shake.

DSLR cameras have a mirror which sits in front of the camera sensor and helps you see the view through the lens by reflecting the image up to the eyepiece (through a prism). The mirror snaps up and out of the way when you take the photo, creating vibrations that can cause blurring.

You can eliminate this problem by setting it in the up position before taking any photographs. Look in your camera menu for the Mirror LockUp setting.

Left: The mirror is down in this image. Right: the mirror is up here exposing the camera’s sensor.

Conclusion

With good preparation and technique, and the right equipment, you can consistently get sharp, crisp interior photographs. When you set out to capture that image, remember:

Set the scene by making the room look neat and clean.
Make good use of a tripod.
Choose an appropriate lens.
Keep your camera stable and free from vibration.

The video tutorial expands on some of these tips, as well as showing other helpful hints for getting sharp photographs like choosing an appropriate lens and focusing correctly.

Watch the video to learn more about tripods, lenses, focusing, and keeping the camera steady.

Please share any other tips you have for taking sharper interior photographs of real estate in the comments area below.

Disclaimer: HDRsoft is a paid partner of dPS

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Real Estate Photography Tips For Beginners

25 Jan

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