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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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. If there are any dust spots, I remove them here.  I also try to remove anything unsightly on the walls or carpets.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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:

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Tags: photography, real estate, workflow