My new technique for real estate photography
OK, I wouldn’t exactly call this technique “new” because I suspect a large number of real estate photographers already use it, but for me it is new. Before I get into explanations about the workflow, here is one of the shots.
First the basics. This is not an HDR shot and was taken in a single frame. I used a single flash with this shot, although very soon I will move to using multiple flashes triggered by Pocketwizards. The agents that have seen this so far really like it, though I suspect some photographers may not like the effect. Continue reading for the workflow I used.
First, I am not an expert by any means for Photoshop. In fact, I currently almost never use layers – mainly because I still need to learn how to use them effectively. I also never use advanced techniques for real estate photography because I don’t have the time – I need to edit a good number of pictures within a short time so that I can send the pictures to the agent either that night or early the next morning. Therefore I use the following technique.
- Generally for these types of shots I do not use a tripod. I do use a tripod for the panorama photos, but for individual shots like this one I shoot handheld. I try to align the picture using the grid lines on my camera’s focusing screen.
- I never aim the flash directly into the shot or at the ceiling. As you can see, the ceiling is in the shot. I try to bounce the flash off a wall, preferably one that is behind me. Sometimes this becomes quite tricky and I am looking forward to using off camera flashes.
- All shots are taken in RAW. I set the white balance to cloudy just to be consistent. All shots are also taken in manual mode and I select all focus points because this is less important when using wide angle lenses. In terms of equipment, this was taken on a Canon 5D with the Canon 16-35 2.8L II lens.
- I import the pictures and make an initial pass where I correct the white balance and adjust exposure and contrast using Photoshop’s RAW tools.
- I then open up each shot to make the final changes. Until very recently, I would open the file in 8 bit mode but most recently I have switched to 16 bit mode.
- If there are any dust spots, I remove them here. I also try to remove anything unsightly on the walls or carpets.
- I dislike real estate shots that show a plant or something else ‘creeping up’ on the side. When I take the shot I try hard to avoid this, but sometimes there is a piece of a door or something else in the shot. If this occurs I crop the shot.
- Wide angle lenses have a tendency to distort the shot quite a bit. A number of agents don’t mind the distortion if the result is more is visible in the shot. However, sometimes it is a bit too extreme and if I don’t have other shots to replace it, I’ll fix the distortion using Photoshop’s transform and/or skew features.
- Finally, I use the shadows and highlights feature in Photoshop to give the final effect. If over applied, this can make the picture look a bit flat and fake. You can argue there is a bit of that in the above shot, but everyone I have showed it to doesn’t mind. The important thing to remember is the audience – most of whom are not photographers but just want to see the best representation of the house possible.
Here are a few other shots from the house. I took a number of panoramas as well. Interestingly I have found that I prefer to shoot these type of panoramas with the camera vertically than horizontally.
I still have a ways to go with real estate photography, but compared to pictures I took just a month or two ago I believe I am improving. Further steps I need to take are.
1) Take shots in a way to have less distortion and use PTLens to fix more of it.
2) Do a better job at removing shadow areas.
3) I have gotten better at not blowing out interior lights, but other pictures (not shown here) still had some problems. I know what I need to do to improve here, I just need to practice it. 
4) Do a better job with color reflections. In general I try not to bounce of of non-white walls, but interior lights sometimes do this for me.
Related posts:
- My first stolen photos Well, it was bound to happen at some point or another. Someone has stolen several of my photos. In this case they were real estate photos and ironically are not some of my better photos. Some time ago my wife, who is a real estate agent, had a listing that...
- Playing with some new toys Although we do not celebrate Christmas, that doesn’t mean I did not get any toys… With my birthday earlier in the month and with some spare photography money I received a few things this season and yesterday I finally had the chance to get out and play with them –...
Tags: photography, real estate, workflow