Property photography

golfman

Hi guys,

I work in a lettings agency that used to use camera phones to take pictures of properties. I bought a 15MP Canon G10 with a wide angle lens attachment to take pictures of properties and to use for virtual tours.

I'm getting quite good results, and obviously a massive improvement on the camera phones! However, I'd like to get better, especially with the standard interior pictures. I want to go on a course but I don't want to spend a load of money and time learning about other facets of photography that don't really hold much of an interest to me. I would never feel the urge to go out on a weekend and take pictures for example. I'd just like to be better at taking photographs and improve our business.
I'm also doing a bit of "extra curricular" work doing the virtual tours and it would be nice to include standard photos into the package.

So does anyone know of a course specific to property photography? If not, is anyone keen to share their knowledge?

CabanSail

I doubt that there would be such a course available, but have been wrong before.

The G10 is quite a capable camera if used correctly, so not a bad choice there.

My advice would be to learn the fundementals of Photography first (Optics,Exposure & Composition) & then a bit about Post Production of your images. Unfortunately this is not a one day course. There is a book which is highly recommended here called "Understanding Exposure" which seems to be very good at explaining how the various aspects work together. Getting that book would be a good and inexpensive start.

stcstc

for the virtual tours stuff.

might be worth talking to reddoorvr in the uk they might be able to point you at a course

DaveyDave

I would just like to thank you for what you are doing. I have had it with looking at properties on the internet only to see rubbish quality images taken on some dodgy camera phone.

I have the Panasonic Lumix TZ7, it cost me €320 and it's a great point and shoot camera, something like that is a worthy investment for an agency. Obviously a Digital SLR would be ideal but are more expensive.

It's amazing at how many agencies can't be bothered using a proper camera or even taking pictures of rooms. I'm sorry, but I also can't stand looking at a nice house only to find no pictures of the bedrooms and such.

DaireQuinlan

DaveyDave wrote: »

It's amazing at how many agencies can't be bothered using a proper camera or even taking pictures of rooms. I'm sorry, but I also can't stand looking at a nice house only to find no pictures of the bedrooms and such.

I know, it's a mystery. On rare occasions you find properties listed without ANY PICTURES AT ALL ! Those ones are a mystery to me, particularly with the market the way it is.

On the flipside, we went to see a couple of places listed by the same agency to find them really run down and tatty looking. The pictures were great, never photoshopped, but taken from ideal viewpoints and really well lit.

stunt_penguin

Just as a tip - on the Panoramas side I recomend these guys:

http://www.jumpeyecomponents.com/Flash-Components/Various/JC-Panorama-305/

Try the demo of this software- it's a great tool for putting together virtual tours with clickable in-world shortcuts.

golfman

CabanSail wrote: »

There is a book which is highly recommended here called "Understanding Exposure" which seems to be very good at explaining how the various aspects work together. Getting that book would be a good and inexpensive start.

Thanks, I'll do that.

golfman

DaveyDave wrote: »

I would just like to thank you for what you are doing. I have had it with looking at properties on the internet only to see rubbish quality images taken on some dodgy camera phone.

I have the Panasonic Lumix TZ7, it cost me €320 and it's a great point and shoot camera, something like that is a worthy investment for an agency. Obviously a Digital SLR would be ideal but are more expensive.

It's amazing at how many agencies can't be bothered using a proper camera or even taking pictures of rooms. I'm sorry, but I also can't stand looking at a nice house only to find no pictures of the bedrooms and such.

Its a major bug-bearer of mine, especially with top-end houses. Unfortunately there are a lot of agents out there that haven't got the faintest idea of the best way to market a property.

pete4130

Most of my work here in London is property photography. It ranges from small studios to £17m properties. I'm getting paid very well just for shooting photos of properties and shooting lifestyle shots for brochures for marketing.


The hardest thing is to balance the exterior light with the interior light and the different light sources (daylight through windows, spotlights, table lamps, flourescent) all together.

I'm shooting with a Nikon D3 and usual at 14mm to get the whole room in. Normally you point towards the window. There are usually 2 ways I shoot.

The easy way is for me to shoot at high ISO (maybe ISO 3200 but not many cameras are capable at that ISO), f8, and shutter anywhere between 1/80th up to 1/250th second depending on the ambient light/different light sources and to use a flashgun mounted on the hotshoe bounced off the ceiling at 1/63th or 1/32 power (depending on how large the room is). This makes the room look a little more warm and natural although the exterior through the windows is usually blown/white/no detail.

The other way I'll shoot a room is at about ISO 400, f/8 and about 1/250th second which generally gets the exposure for the outisde through the windows spot on and use the flash gun, bounced off the celing at about 1/4 or 1/2 power. This balances the interior and exterior better but makes the room look a little more cold, clinical and sterile.

It depends on what method works best for each room. There is also post processing for adjusting white balance, some dogding & burning on areas that might be too bright or dark.

For the really expensive properties I actually use some cheap light stands and cheap umberellas with my flashguns triggered by radio triggers to evenly light the room. This too can look sterile and cold but sometimes you dont have a choice is massive victorian houses with small windows.

I'll look through my hard drive and see if I can post some examples to show you.

I can't believe you were using camera phone photos too!!!!!!

DaireQuinlan

golfman wrote: »

Its a major bug-bearer of mine, especially with top-end houses. Unfortunately there are a lot of agents out there that haven't got the faintest idea of the best way to market a property.

oh yeah, that's for sure. We went to see a whole rake of houses last year, we were quite enthusiastic about some of them during the viewing. Only one or two agents ever seemed even mildly interested in actually trying to, you know, SELL US THE HOUSE. And out of ALL these agents that we met at all these houses, only one agent EVER followed up with us in the day or so afterward. Reportedly there are agencies going to the wall all over the country. I'm not surprised. They should be sat down and made watch Glengarry Glen Ross until the message sinks in

pete4130

These are the first examples I could find. It's a studio.

1st shot is 3200 ISO, f8, 1/250th sec thereabouts and flahsgun at 1/64th power I guess.

2nd one is 400 ISO, f8, 1/250th sec I think and flash at 1/4 power. You can see the difference it makes inthe feeling/warmth of the room.

MartMax

Sorry OP if this is a bit off topic but IMHO good photos help to sell.

I hate to say this but if you look at DAFT, there are loads of decent properties but the photos being show ughhhhhh. I have seen quite a few with say 7-10 photos but most of these photo had nothing to do at all with the property itself. No photo of inside but all of garden and walkway - what?

It's not only how good the photos are but how you pick and present them.

M

golfman

Well I'm already learning! Thanks Pete.

I just ordered "Understanding Exposure" so will look forward to reading that. Even just putting the camera on a tripod and getting a good angle makes a massive difference compared to what the average agent does. I've attached an image I took recently. I wanted to attach a few more but they all seem to be above the 2MB limit. Typical that I preferred the other ones as well!

EDIT: Just seen all the info on the pic so thought it would be worthwhile sharing as you had:

ISO 80 (probably my 1st mistake!), f8, 1/2 sec

PaulieC

pete4130 wrote: »

These are the first examples I could find. It's a studio.

1st shot is 3200 ISO, f8, 1/250th sec thereabouts and flahsgun at 1/64th power I guess.

2nd one is 400 ISO, f8, 1/250th sec I think and flash at 1/4 power. You can see the difference it makes inthe feeling/warmth of the room.

Pete you said above that the pics taken at high ISO/low flash are warmer, but in these examples the low ISO/high Flash looks warmer

golfman

cambo_gueno wrote: »

Pete you said above that the pics taken at high ISO/low flash are warmer, but in these examples the low ISO/high Flash looks warmer

I'm pleased I wasn't the only one......

pete4130

Another thing to remember is to lower your height a little so the camera is level. You avoid distortion that way as you want to try to get your vertical lines as vertical as possible.

The image you posted looks good. You can probably notice its a little yellow form the mixture of daylight coming through the window and the artificial lighting. This isn't so hard to deal with in winter when you can sometimes rely on all artificial lighting although it lacks contrast.

Getting a small flashgun onto the camera and firing it at the ceiling will make thngs stand out more and give more definition.

Here are two examples where in the 1st two were nothing but artificial lighting and the second one is with 2 flashes on light stands with umberellas.

pete4130

I think with that studio because its so small, the colouring of the floor, walls, furntiure has reflected the light and made it warmer. Generally the low ISO/high flash tend to look colder. It does depend on how bright it is outside, the colouring in the room etc...

jspruit

Nice photos of the interiors pete4130-not too glitzy but very nice. I hope that your clients appreciate your work and can show that they do better business with proper photos. Some of the photos on DAFT are awful!

golfman

pete4130 wrote: »

Another thing to remember is to lower your height a little so the camera is level. You avoid distortion that way as you want to try to get your vertical lines as vertical as possible.

The image you posted looks good. You can probably notice its a little yellow form the mixture of daylight coming through the window and the artificial lighting. This isn't so hard to deal with in winter when you can sometimes rely on all artificial lighting although it lacks contrast.

Getting a small flashgun onto the camera and firing it at the ceiling will make thngs stand out more and give more definition.

Here are two examples where in the 1st two were nothing but artificial lighting and the second one is with 2 flashes on light stands with umberellas.

A flash is my next purchase, I've been looking at them on Ebay and Pixmania this morning! Will probably go for the Canon speedlite 270 EX.

Very impressive pictures. I love the first 2!

pete4130

When you get the speedlight you'll need to start shooting on manual mode.

The important things to remember are the shutter speed will control the amount of ambient light (from the windows, lamps etc....) and you can manually set the output on the flash to balance the lighting. Keep your aperture about f/8 or f/11 to make sure everything is in focus and focus about 1/3 into the frame to ensure the greatest depth of field (maximum amount of distance in front and behind the focal point is in focus).

It all seems complicated with new terms, f numbers, shutter speeds and flash outputs.

Its really simple once you get used to it. I pretty much use the same settings and vary them slightly depending on how big and how bright a room is. The best thing is you can experiment at home in different rooms and learn quickly that way. Bathrooms/toilets are always dire to shoot because of their size!

The hardest thing to deal with is direct sunlight shining through windows and trying to balance that.

If you ever have any Q's drop me a PM.

PaulieC

golfman wrote: »

A flash is my next purchase, I've been looking at them on Ebay and Pixmania this morning! Will probably go for the Canon speedlite 270 EX.

Very impressive pictures. I love the first 2!

Make sure your flash has a tilt function - you want to point it to the ceiling and basically use the ceiling as a big diffuser/reflector

golfman

cambo_gueno wrote: »

Make sure your flash has a tilt function - you want to point it to the ceiling and basically use the ceiling as a big diffuser/reflector

It most certainly will do!

golfman

Still haven't got the flash yet but I've been practicing hard and have learnt a bit about different ISOs, shutter speeds, white balance and enfusing over the weekend. I've also learnt how to get rid of lens distortion using the free GIMP software.

For some reason all my pics sizes have now gone through the roof (8 or 9 MB) but here are a couple of decent ones I took today that I'm pretty pleased with.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37217005@N04/4474096252/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37217005@N04/4474099910/in/photostream/

I'd appreciate any feedback on how or what I can improve on these snaps.

DK32

golfman wrote: »

A flash is my next purchase, I've been looking at them on Ebay and Pixmania this morning! Will probably go for the Canon speedlite 270 EX.

Latest issue of 'Digital Camera' has a review on all the current flash guns for the main stream brands out of all the flash guns tested this one came out as a clear winner;

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-nissin-di866-professional-flashgun-canon-fit/p1031356

Better rating than both Canon & Nikon top of the range models.
Very feature rich and a decent price too.

It's now on my 'to get' list

stcstc

i have one of the 662 versions

its great although one thing you have to be careful of it it doesnt trigger by the centre pin. so there is a small mod needed to be done to use like the cactus triggers etc