Real Estate Job Opportunity - Need Advice

[mrbplus]

I mainly do event photography, but a friend of mine who is in Real Estate has asked me if I would be interested in supporting his photographer because he is swamped with work at the moment.

I am not sure what they pay exactly, but it is pretty nice... $150 AUD+ per house.

I do not want to chase the dollars without getting some advice first. I can imagine that there would be a few traps in real estate photography... the first one being lots of driving (which is nasty with the price of petrol these days).

I am also keen to get some advice about a basic gear list. I will have to get a wide angle prime and a polarizing filter for the exterior shots.

So these are my questions:

What would be an ideal wide angle lens for Real Estate?
Will it be wide enough on my 40D, or will I have to get a 5D?
Apart from the obvious gear (tripod, etc), what else would I need?
Will a 580 EX II do... or would I need some more light?
Any technical tips appreciated.

[i_am_hydrogen]

1. The EF-S 10-22mm.
2. Yes it will be wide enough.

[yogestee]

I mainly do event photography, but a friend of mine who is in Real Estate has asked me if I would be interested in supporting his photographer because he is swamped with work at the moment.

I am not sure what they pay exactly, but it is pretty nice... $150 AUD+ per house.

I do not want to chase the dollars without getting some advice first. I can imagine that there would be a few traps in real estate photography... the first one being lots of driving (which is nasty with the price of petrol these days).

I am also keen to get some advice about a basic gear list. I will have to get a wide angle prime and a polarizing filter for the exterior shots.

So these are my questions:

What would be an ideal wide angle lens for Real Estate?
Will it be wide enough on my 40D, or will I have to get a 5D?
Apart from the obvious gear (tripod, etc), what else would I need?
Will a 580 EX II do... or would I need some more light?
Any technical tips appreciated.

Shoot as wide as possible it makes the room look larger and everyone loves large rooms..

A 40D will do the job well along with a tripod..I use to use a Tamron SP 14mm F2.8 for RE jobs with a 580 EX bounced off the ceilings with a bounce card mounted on a 20D..
Where it gets a tad tricky is when you need to balance the outside natural lighting with the flash exposure..Use Manual Mode here on your camera, take an exposure reading of the outside lighting by going up to the window..Have your Speedlite on ETTL and bounce your flash off the ceiling..You may have to bracket using your shutterspeeds..

Jurgen

[kevin_c]

Shoot as wide as possible it makes the room look larger and everyone loves large rooms..

A 40D will do the job well along with a tripod..I use to use a Tamron SP 14mm F2.8 for RE jobs with a 580 EX bounced off the ceilings with a bounce card mounted on a 20D..
Where it gets a tad tricky is when you need to balance the outside natural lighting with the flash exposure..Use Manual Mode here on your camera, take an exposure reading of the outside lighting by going up to the window..Have your Speedlite on ETTL and bounce your flash off the ceiling..You may have to bracket using your shutterspeeds..

Jurgen

... or you could just make it look the size it really is :rolleyes:

My brother is selling his house, and to be honest I hardly recognise the rooms at all - even the small bedroom No.4 which isn't even big enough for an adult bed looks huge, and IMO all this does is p*ss-off the viewer who has just wasted at least an hour looking at a property they wouldn't even have considered.

Sorry for the rant but its not all about taking UWA shots to 'make things look bigger' :shock: - Some of the best shots I've seen actually represent the rooms in a true and realistic manner.

Yes the 10-22 probably would be a good choice on a crop body, but you can use the zoom ring to change it off of the 10mm setting :-)

Lighting is very important and some people use multiple flash/strobes etc. to get a good balanced light throughout the whole room.

[yogestee]

... or you could just make it look the size it really is :rolleyes:

My brother is selling his house, and to be honest I hardly recognise the rooms at all - even the small bedroom No.4 which isn't even big enough for an adult bed looks huge, and IMO all this does is p*ss-off the viewer who has just wasted at least an hour looking at a property they wouldn't even have considered.

Sorry for the rant but its not all about taking UWA shots to 'make things look bigger' :shock: - Some of the best shots I've seen actually represent the rooms in a true and realistic manner.

Yes the 10-22 probably would be a good choice on a crop body, but you can use the zoom ring to change it off of the 10mm setting :-)

Lighting is very important and some people use multiple flash/strobes etc. to get a good balanced light throughout the whole room.

kevin,,my point is the RE agent is your client and pays the bills..One piece of advice,,meet or exceed your client's needs..

[kevin_c]

kevin,,my point is the RE agent is your client and pays the bills..One piece of advice,,meet or exceed your client's needs..

yogestee,

I appreciate you point, and yes, if you are working for a client that wants/needs/requires this, then fine, they are paying you to do just that, but I simply put my point of view across that RE photography does not mean you must use a UWA to (IMO) falsely represent a room size.

There are lots of people taking some superb RE shots that show the property off very well without having to resort to trying to 'fool' the punter, although it has to be said that most of this work is for the more expensive end of the market and its the smaller/cheaper end of the market that tends to get this treatment :-)

[PhotosGuy]

General links:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=135107

[blueM]

but I simply put my point of view across that RE photography does not mean you must use a UWA to (IMO) falsely represent a room size.

Respectfully disagree. You will need UWA on crop camera just to "Fit" some rooms into the frame. I'm an in-house architect for a home builder. I shoot our houses all the time. 17mm on my 20D is just not wide enough to properly photograph the interior of a house.

I would say that the 580 II will be just adequate for interiors. OK for real estate shots, but not for something like magazine or brochure shots. For that you will need additional lighting. I have helped on several professional shots of our houses over the years, but I am no expert. The pros have used off camera, multiple flash with bounce umbrellas

[mrbplus]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think I will have to do some more research on wide angle primes.

[Roy Webber]

I always use the 10-22, and the interiors with my EX 430. Flash bouced off the ceiling and +1-3 on the flashgun. Camera set to maual Shutter 180 at f8-f13 depending on the reading outside.

The results prevent blown out windows and even exposure. Some experimentation might be advised first.

If the room is large and the flash not powerful enough, pump up the iso for a higher guide number reading...it works!

In the future, I intend to purchase an EX 580 and use the EX 430 as the slave.

[mrbplus]

Thanks Roy. That is very helpful. It sounds like the 10-22 is a real winner for the 1.6X sensors.

[NZDoug]

Heres how its done in Aoteaoroa
http://www.nz.open2view.com/

[PhotosGuy]

I think I will have to do some more research on wide angle primes. They will make the room look ultra deep, which may be a good thing. The few times I've shot interiors, I've tried a not-so-wide prime shooting verticals & made a pano out of them & I liked the perspective better.

[mrbplus]

I was wondering if pano shots are an option for the client. Although, their website seems to be set up for standard 15X10 images.

I have used stitching a lot in the past for interior shots (example below).

I find that Autostitch (http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html) works better that Canon's software.

[Roy Webber]

Gmrbplus ...good work, although I would not have the time to experiment with the stitching method.

[perryge]

I shot a job like this recently. The one thing you must do is KEEP YOUR CAMERA LEVEL. The tilted camera look ain't great for interiors. It's really worth investing in a hotshoe mounted spirit level unless you have a tilt-shift lens.

[Bubble]

What would be an ideal wide angle lens for Real Estate? -- Canon 10-22
Will it be wide enough on my 40D, or will I have to get a 5D? 40D would be fine. If you change to 5D then you will need 16-35 since 10-22 will not work with 5D
Apart from the obvious gear (tripod, etc), what else would I need? creative mind, good composition..etc
Will a 580 EX II do... or would I need some more light? 580EX II just fine
Any technical tips appreciated. --> ask the client to clean their house/room. Less cluster --> better picture.

[Roy Webber]

Unless you are blowing up the photos to poster size, a 40D with a 10-22 lens is more than capable of producing excellent results.

I don't need a tripod, but a a good flash bouched off the ceiling with a diffuser is best for interiors...with the exposure set to manual for the outside reading.

[mrbplus]

I notice that most real estate photos have nice straight lines. I guess that they are taken with primes, or something like the 10-22 with some lens correction in Photoshop during post production.

Is it industry standard to have straight lines in Real Estate photography and for barrel distortion to be removed?

[perryge]

Is it industry standard to have straight lines in Real Estate photography and for barrel distortion to be removed?
Yeah pretty much. Not just straight lines, but parallel straights, i.e. keep your camera level or use a tilt-shift lens.

[ChasP505]

kevin,,my point is the RE agent is your client and pays the bills..One piece of advice,,meet or exceed your client's needs..

As a veteran real estate agent, I have to insert my 2 cents... Ultimately the Seller of the property is your client and pays the bills. That's why an agent is called an "agent".

I am long retired from selling and I work in the marketing department of a huge real estate company. Part of my job is coordinating the photos which are included in our high quality glossy catalog. I agree with the use of a 10-22 or similar with a 1.6 crop factor but I also agree that distorting the perceived size of a room does no one any good. And it's not always necessary to capture the entire room in one shot. A good real estate photographer will "flatter" a home and highlight the important details. He/she won't distort it. That is giving your "client" what they are paying for.

Here's a good real estate photography site:
http://photographyforrealestate.net/

[Roy Webber]

A 10-22 has very little distortion, just keep an eye in the viewfinder when you shoot to make sure verticals are exactly that...simple!

[Gatorboy]

You'll probably need 4+ off-camera flashes to lighten up the room while maintaining a nicely exposed window.

A great place for inspiration and tips is on Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/groups/photographyforrealestate/

[re_guderian]

As a veteran real estate agent, I have to insert my 2 cents... Ultimately the Seller of the property is your client and pays the bills. That's why an agent is called an "agent".

I am long retired from selling and I work in the marketing department of a huge real estate company. Part of my job is coordinating the photos which are included in our high quality glossy catalog. I agree with the use of a 10-22 or similar with a 1.6 crop factor but I also agree that distorting the perceived size of a room does no one any good. And it's not always necessary to capture the entire room in one shot. A good real estate photographer will "flatter" a home and highlight the important details. He/she won't distort it. That is giving your "client" what they are paying for.

Here's a good real estate photography site:
http://photographyforrealestate.net/

Not to over-slight your profession, but I have found very little in the verbal part of RE advertising that is "representative" of the condition, location, appeal, and or size of a house. "Cozy"=cramped, Uni-bomber-sized shack, "Rustic"=no plumbing, "No Neighbors"=freeway over back fence, "Charming"= 80's blue ducks in the kitchen, "Needs TLC"=Needs bulldozer, etc. etc. :shock: A WA lens is typically the least of the worries wrt accuracy. It'd sure be nice though not to waste time on houses because of photographic or verbal misrepresentation...

[ChasP505]

Not to over-slight your profession, but I have found very little in the verbal part of RE advertising that is "representative" of the condition, location, appeal, and or size of a house.

Over-slight away, my friend. As my previous reply said, I don't sell homes. I deal with coordinating real estate photos and compiling local market statistics. Many years ago, when I WAS still selling, I worked under contract with the Dept. of Veterans Affairs of the U.S and A. (the V.A.) and rehabbed and marketed their foreclosure properties. When dealing with hardcore real estate investors, there's no "puffy" language. It's all about investment analysis and the bottom line.

[ChasP505]

A 10-22 has very little distortion, just keep an eye in the viewfinder when you shoot to make sure verticals are exactly that...simple!

I couldn't have said it more succinctly! Nice website, BTW.

[Roy Webber]

Thanks Chas