My first paid gig

vinmunoz wrote in post #18047261
Thanks John.

So how do we get rid of the reflections on the windows?

Separate exposure for outside with lights from inside off and just mask/blend in photoshop?

Ceiling fan, on or off?

Good looking stuff, I wouldn't worry about the reflections, in my experience this kind of work doesn't pay enough to warrant that much post work.

Since you're asking, it's relatively simple you take your frame with lights on, and take another immediately after with same settings, with all interior lights off. Stack the layers in PS, and brush in the layer for the windows. If it gets too dark, you may need to take a different exposure, and replace the windows entirely. In this case, you'll need to use the pen or polygonal lasso tool to outline the window, make sure to feather the selection a tiny bit, and then bring the new exposure in.

Your compositions are all pretty good, but think about shooting less wide when it makes sense. The exterior is nice, but doesn't need to be that wide. Realtors generally want the widest interior images possible, so these should thrill this client. Shooting super wide can distort the space, and often doesn't capture the real character, sometimes you need to go tighter to get that. If you ever intend to do interiors beyond RE listings, this is important to understand and implement appropriately.

Also your yellows are electric, so I would either color balance some of these more on the cool side, and/or desaturate the yellows to some degree.

mltn wrote in post #18047288
Good looking stuff, I wouldn't worry about the reflections, in my experience this kind of work doesn't pay enough to warrant that much post work.

Since you're asking, it's relatively simple you take your frame with lights on, and take another immediately after with same settings, with all interior lights off. Stack the layers in PS, and brush in the layer for the windows. If it gets too dark, you may need to take a different exposure, and replace the windows entirely. In this case, you'll need to use the pen or polygonal lasso tool to outline the window, make sure to feather the selection a tiny bit, and then bring the new exposure in.

Your compositions are all pretty good, but think about shooting less wide when it makes sense. The exterior is nice, but doesn't need to be that wide. Realtors generally want the widest interior images possible, so these should thrill this client. Shooting super wide can distort the space, and often doesn't capture the real character, sometimes you need to go tighter to get that. If you ever intend to do interiors beyond RE listings, this is important to understand and implement appropriately.

Also your yellows are electric, so I would either color balance some of these more on the cool side, and/or desaturate the yellows to some degree.

thank you for your time and inputs. all noted.

jnecr wrote in post #18047278
Fans always off. Reflections on windows are less of a problem when you shoot interior during the day. They'll be hard to get rid of in evening interior shots. Maybe somebody else has experience with that. I do all my interiors during the day...

thank you. I will try that. the thing is... the owner want's the lights on. the same advise by her realtor. they thought it looks good. that's why i have to shoot during almost the blue hour or after sunset.

vinmunoz wrote in post #18047343
thank you. I will try that. the thing is... the owner want's the lights on. the same advise by her realtor. they though it looks good. that's why i have to shoot during almost the blue hour or after sunset.

If the client is happy don't over think it. I'd say a window with no reflections probably wouldn't even look like a window at all, so some reflection isn't a bad thing...

yah but one of the biggest feature on this property is the canyon just outside that is suppose to be seen that's why I will try to minimize the reflections. I will try again this evening. I already talked to the owner.

thanks again.

mltn wrote in post #18047288
Good looking stuff, I wouldn't worry about the reflections, in my experience this kind of work doesn't pay enough to warrant that much post work.

Since you're asking, it's relatively simple you take your frame with lights on, and take another immediately after with same settings, with all interior lights off. Stack the layers in PS, and brush in the layer for the windows. If it gets too dark, you may need to take a different exposure, and replace the windows entirely. In this case, you'll need to use the pen or polygonal lasso tool to outline the window, make sure to feather the selection a tiny bit, and then bring the new exposure in.

Your compositions are all pretty good, but think about shooting less wide when it makes sense. The exterior is nice, but doesn't need to be that wide. Realtors generally want the widest interior images possible, so these should thrill this client. Shooting super wide can distort the space, and often doesn't capture the real character, sometimes you need to go tighter to get that. If you ever intend to do interiors beyond RE listings, this is important to understand and implement appropriately.

Also your yellows are electric, so I would either color balance some of these more on the cool side, and/or desaturate the yellows to some degree.

I've read that too where too wide is an issue. 16mm most of the time is too wide. 20mm on FF is what I remember reading being a really good "cozy" feeling.

check this out... window pulling using darken.... very awesome.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=NzPXZfP6fV4

jnecr wrote in post #18047226
Most MLS are limited to 25 photos. Unless the house is really big I rarely ever deliver more than 25. Typically 5-6 exterior, majority of interior is split between living/kitchen/dining and master bed/bath. Other rooms rarely have anything of interest that warrants more than 1 photo just say: "Yup, there's a room there."

Our MLS (CRMLS-Matrix, Southern California) just went from 35 to 70 photos per listing. We rarely put more than 30.

Your photos are pretty decent but I would note a few things.

On the living room shot I would re-compose to avoid the expanse of sofa back and the acres of floor to the right. Moving up to the corner and shooting over the back makes the room look much more interesting and focuses the attention on the area in front of the sofa and highlights a killer view. You particularly want to hide that huge wooden bench that dominates the view and is unlikely to be sold with the house.

As someone noted you can make two exposures and mask in a window without reflections from a file where all lights in the room were off.

Show less ceiling and floor. That is the mark of a beginner (or actually a lot of poor veteran photographers) you are selling the room. The extra space is distracting on a subliminal level and associates the property with other cheap listings.You can crop in on that ceiling without losing the idea of its lighting.

Crop closer on the exterior and don't shoot so late. I suggest learning to blend images so you can master the technique and get great images without lights.

Mask an image of the exterior of the house into the TV. Experiment so it looks natural and not too bright.

Keep your verticals vertical. LR and PS both have ways to correct this.

Spend extra time learning to make these adjustments in out and shooting and you will not have to compete with low ball photographers.

As for MLS, our local SoCal MLS will take 40 or 50 I believe but it is a waste of time as almost no house can yield more than 30 unless it is exceptional. More pages doesn't tell a better story. A better story tells the story. No buyer will wade through 50 images of the same living room taken from 8 different angles.

Today I delivered 24 images to a homeowner of a $2,000,000 property. They tell a compelling story of the property in a manner that, hopefully, someone will want to look at the property. THAT is all we are trying to do. Create excitement and interest. Not tell a long winded boring story that ends up making the place look trivial.

Think about learning lighting. No one makes real money in this field without lighting skills.

Just keep practicing and you will be able to bust up your prices and get better gigs.

Mark thank you very much. So you prefer blending than HDR? Do you do the Mike Kelly way?

All other points noted. I agree with less images.

ok this is my final for this living room for now. I'll take all your other points in the next gig.

so I waited for the sun to go down so i won't get that unwanted horizontal light along the wall with the main door. the problem is the canyon get's really dark. Maybe a shoot early morning is the best for this as the sun will be at the other side. But I'm not gonna do it since the owner already like it. I also like to have some reflections so it will become obvious it's a glass which I think natural.

I custom white balance this using expodisc. the result really with the expodisc is perfect but i warmed it up a bit. the expodisc result was 2700K M1(too cool), I made it 3200K M1 to warm it up like what the owner wants.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/JjJX​me

A couple of exterior daylight shots

vinmunoz wrote in post #18047683
A couple of exterior daylight shots

Hosted photo: posted by vinmunoz in
./showthread.php?p=180​47683&i=i256428214
forum: Architecture, Real-Estate & Buildings

I agree that this house warrants a wide shot. However, I'd still close those garage doors..

vinmunoz wrote in post #18047389
check this out... window pulling using darken.... very awesome.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=NzPXZfP6fV4

I'm ashamed to say I never thought of pulling the windows in using the darken blend mode like this, great idea. I've used a similar flash trick to manually blend the frame and windows, but damn that's much easier. I might've left the windows blown out in the example photo though, not really much to see.

vinmunoz wrote in post #18047553
Mark thank you very much. So you prefer blending than HDR? Do you do the Mike Kelly way?

All other points noted. I agree with less images.

You can do blending without doing the whole light painting thing a la Mike Kelley. His style can be very time consuming, and it's really not practical for standard real estate shoots. Obviously high-end stuff with a decent budget is a different story.

There are shots that don't need to have every little thing lit, so if you don't fully understand what you're doing, you can spend a ton of time lighting every detail, and then realize that it looks terrible when you put it all together. Or there are times when you get a very similar result with less work. It's more about learning when the extra effort will make the image better.

When I am approaching a property I try to think what emotional triggers are in the view. As they say, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak"

Houses are everywhere. What makes one choose one over another is an emotional pull.
In this case the location and view are key points.

The interior needs to create the fantasy of what the viewer could be experiencing if they owned the house.
In the case of the living room, the wife of the couple viewing the home would see herself getting cozy on the couch with her husband and looking out over the landscape.

She does not want to see how much floor she will need to mop when said husband tracks in mud.

Husband wants to see himself enjoying view also but can see himself grilling on the patio that is well appointed with furniture. He doesn't want to see a garage packed with stuff.

Another thing to remember is that many want to show off a property and want to see the entertainment possibilities.

Neither wants to see furniture that says too much about the current resident. It's too personal.

In the end accentuate the positive and minimize the negative.