Real Estate Photography

[Greg Van Deusen]

The latest Lightroom upgrade also has an easy-to-use perspective correction tool which you might find helpful.

 

http://www.lightroomqueen.com/whats-new-in-lightroom-cc-2015-6-and-lightroom-6-6/ 

[Aswald]

With software based perspective correction, just remember to shoot slightly wider. Depending on the distortion angle, the corrected perspective may end up hugely cropped.

[jonathan7007]

I still do 99% of my interior work when at a vacation rental property on full frame with Canon tilt and shift (17 or 24, usually tethered) but I always look to see if there is a new way to do this on the Fuji body. I want my images to be different so try to make images that show the room from normal adult 6 foot eye height. This approach creates a visual language (or dialect) of traditional architectural photography. I *have* done some TS captures hand held... I wish they still produced a 35mm instead of 45mm. (I had the 35mm FD version years ago but those go for $1000 now!)

 

Real estate agents are so price conscious and in a rush so I want to come up with a faster method that doesn't give up all the TS benefit. Everyone here expects all windows to look "natural" which means bracketing, no matter which software solution you choose for post-processing the final blended result. So a tripod is a must where window are present-well, almost always. Adam, do you approach this differently? With enough flash power and the right ceiling and room configuration you could do this in one shot, but that is impossible to know without a scout. I sometimes take inside one Einstein and a Vagabond battery on a stand, brightest 8" reflector. Paul Buff transmitter/transceiver connection.

 

So a simpler shift adapter for an older full frame lens (big enough circle) that allows aperture control. Is that only true of the Nikon mount engineering? How about Voightlander 15 for Nikon? Reading the above responses it appears that there was a change in Nikon engineering a while ago, and that I must stay with an older Nikon mount. Which configurations stop down manually? Adapter will have to allow rotation to shoot vertically.

 

There are several folding stools to look at. I have a little $11 one foot version-terrific small folded size, and I just keep it in the truck. I noticed someone came up with a two-step example for $45!

http://www.amazon.com/Range-Kleen-SS2-Double-Stool/dp/B007EEG7M0?ie=UTF8&keywords=folding%20stepstool&qid=1465492768&ref_=sr_1_6&sr=8-6

 

I found a used aluminum Gitzo 509 tele-studex that is very tall, very heavy. I love it. No weight savings there! But for real estate maybe the Manfrotto I have will work, equivalent to the current 055X. Hand hold where possible.

 

Could be that all this work to move the capture to a Fuji body isn't worth the hassle if one already has the full-frame tools. Just simplify the process with a different configuration of the "kit" and go with that, because the biggest hurdle really is the few wide-enough optics for the APS-C sensors. 

 

Hmm, might try that shifting Laowa if I can adapt it and the adapter doesn't constrict the image/vignette as soon as there is any shift.

[edaubie]

For interior / RE I use an X-T1 and the 10-24.

Lighting with yongnuo flashes (I have 4 of them but you don't need as many for most RE shoots) and an RF-605 yongnuo trigger to trigger them. You can also use the the YN560-TX as a trigger which allows you to remotely control the power of your flashes.

 

Both triggers can be wired to the small jack on the side of your x-t1 for remote  triggering of your camera (I use another yongnuo trigger for that).

 

The ability to recover the shadow details from the RAF files still amaze me.

 

You can correct the verticals in LR or Photoshop but I would recommend DXO Viewpoint which makes it so easy.

 

And if you need advices, look for Scott Hargis ebook and the PFRE web site.

 

Oh, and iso 200 for clean files, f8 for a good depth of field and a sturdy tripod.

 

You can see my work at grand-angle-interieur.fr

 

Cheers

[Adam Woodhouse]

Jon, you are correct that real estate agents just want fast and cheap images.  And in my experiences over the years, most are very cheap.  Most agents treat the images as disposable product just for the life of the listing.  And when they secure the client listing, they want the pic's done right away and given to them very quickly so they can get an ad in the next paper and on the websites.

 

In my experiences it is rare for an agent to think out-of-the-box and realize that if they spent just a little more $ on hiring an experienced architectural photographer (not a full time person ... just experienced) and then took their great images and put together a low cost photo album of the property/house to give to their clients as a thank you ... they would probably get more referrals from impressed sellers.  Make better use of the images and not treat them as a use one time and throw out approach.

 

Sometimes I want the windows to be blown out because there is nothing good to see outside the window.  But if a home has a nice view, then I use my flash (which is mounted on a small portable light stand) and point it at the wall/ceiling behind me and blast the room to try to balance the inside and outside.   I don't spend a lot of time on it because agents simply pay peanuts on the photography.  I have an hourly rate that I personally work from.  If an agent will spend more $ on me, I will spend more time on the difficult lighting conditions (such as tripod and a realistic HDR of a room due to the inside/outside exposure difference).  But since most do not spend the $ ... I do it in one shot and in most cases the results are OK.  But there are extreme cases and I would have no choice but to spend a bit more time on a few rooms.

 

If I shoot a typical home (3 bedroom family home) and spend more than 30 minutes in Lightroom after the shoot, I consider myself having done something wrong with the shoot.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Adam Woodhouse

[Woodworth]

I've done plenty of real estate work with an X-T1 and a 10-24. There are no issues from my perspective, except that it would be nice to have a decent wireless flash system for this kind of work.

[Scalatron]

Yes, the Samyang 12mm is next on my list. I used to have a Tokina 12-24 f4 with my Nikon and used it at 12mm most of the time and two stops extra is a big bonus with the sammy plus it's lighter weight. A tilt shift adapter sounds great but I would need a full frame 12mm to take advantage of it.

 

Edit. I'm not really interested in working for high street real estate agents, I'm aiming for more a specialist market, as most bread and butter ones won't pay for photography.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Scalatron