My 1st RE Shoot - Feedback Welcomed

I completed my first RE shoot earlier this week, and delivered 25 photos to the client initially, then he ordered one more. He and his business partner were very pleased with the work and plan to hire me for their future properties. So things are off to a good start.

I would however, appreciate any feedback you guys have in ways I can improve. Below are a few examples of my photos. Constructive criticism is welcomed. While the client is very happy, and friends & family are all impressed, I know that I am just getting started and have much room to improve.

Thanks for any feedback. In addition to things that I didn't do so well, and ways to improve. If there are things I did do well, let me know that also. Just trying to learn as much as I can as I grow this new side of my photography.

Click Here to see the full gallery at the listing site.

Looks pretty good, any realtor should be happy to have these. I would bring the exposure down on the exterior, and not show so much dead grass, maybe warm it up too.

Interiors look solid, nice composition and staging, although obviously that overcast weather made the interior a challenge to white balance. For basic real estate stuff I usually just desaturate the blue slider in LR, don't normally mess with loading two separate files and getting into layer masks. If the balance is really challenging, I might set the WB to somewhere around 3500 then dial back the saturation on both the blue and yellow sliders. Nothing wrong with that of course, but for average RE work you'll want to spend as little time in post as possible. Realtors want images back ASAP (usually), and can mostly not tell the difference if you spend an extra 10 minutes on a single images.

That said, if you are ever really determined to match the WB in these kinds of conditions, you could take a frame with no interior lights on, then blend with another photo with interior lights, and maybe a CTO gelled flash. You'll be able to match the color temps almost perfectly, and the blend should look pretty good, although take much more time. If you have a second speedlight, look out for images where you can hide it, and turn off the interior light, such as the shot of the master looking into the bathroom.

If you keep shooting this stuff, get acquainted with the better business practices and norms, as realtors have shallow pockets (mostly). You should make sure that you're charging something reasonable for extra services (retouching, blue sky, added fireplace, rush processing), but also work out a system so that you don't need to spend too much time on any one of these.

The lights may have peeked in some of the shots but overall very well composed.

Overall they look really well. Keep it up.

I like them, but the one you describe the Photoshop work on needs a little help with masking. If you look at the trim near the ceiling on the bedroom side, there’s an area that is poorly masked leaving a lot of blue. There are also some areas on the bathroom side that need some help.

For what it’s worth, it seems like this would have been a good case for using the polygon lasso tool since it’s all straight edges.

s1a1om wrote in post #18672596
I like them, but the one you describe the Photoshop work on needs a little help with masking. If you look at the trim near the ceiling on the bedroom side, there’s an area that is poorly masked leaving a lot of blue. There are also some areas on the bathroom side that need some help.

For what it’s worth, it seems like this would have been a good case for using the polygon lasso tool since it’s all straight edges.

Thanks, I see what you're saying, and yeah, the polygon lasso tool would have been faster too.
Sometimes you just get stuck working in one mode and don't think to put down the hammer and pick up the screwdriver.

Looks like you're off to a good start and it's always a plus when your clients are happy. My criticism, for what it's worth, is that the light sources are too bright (many are blown) and the interiors are in general too dark and too cold. The last one is easy to fix - warm up the color a touch. The other two will take a different lighting approach. I suspect you are using some type of automated blending technique (HDR, EF). DON'T - except for in an emergency. Learn the flash /ambient approach (usually called "flambient" but I think that's a silly name). Plenty of free tutorials on you tube. Use a flashed exposure to get detail in windows and light sources as well as add some brightness and sharpness and blend that with a good ambient exposure for a natural look. Just point the flash straight up and go from there.

These are examples of flash/ambient from my work. One flash straight up and blend with a good ambient exposure. Hope that helps. I've been pretty critical. Please accept that as intended - to help you grow rather than to insult. I think you are off to a very good start.

BTW the blue highlights from windows are easy to fix in LR. Just lower the blue saturation in the color panel until they are gone.

rgs wrote in post #18691157
Looks like you're off to a good start and it's always a plus when your clients are happy. My criticism, for what it's worth, is that the light sources are too bright (many are blown) and the interiors are in general too dark and too cold. The last one is easy to fix - warm up the color a touch. The other two will take a different lighting approach. I suspect you are using some type of automated blending technique (HDR, EF). DON'T - except for in an emergency. Learn the flash /ambient approach (usually called "flambient" but I think that's a silly name). Plenty of free tutorials on you tube. Use a flashed exposure to get detail in windows and light sources as well as add some brightness and sharpness and blend that with a good ambient exposure for a natural look. Just point the flash straight up and go from there.

These are examples of flash/ambient from my work. One flash straight up and blend with a good ambient exposure. Hope that helps. I've been pretty critical. Please accept that as intended - to help you grow rather than to insult. I think you are off to a very good start.

BTW the blue highlights from windows are easy to fix in LR. Just lower the blue saturation in the color panel until they are gone.

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Thanks for sharing your images as examples. I totally see what you mean about the cool temp of the interiors from this shoot. Unfortunately, I don't have a flash for this camera setup just yet, but it is something I am hoping to get for the holidays this year.

Your reply did not come off as an insult, quite the opposite your reply is valuable feedback: *constructive* criticism which I (try to) always welcome.

Question though, you say "The other *two* will take a different lighting approach." But I think you only mentioned 2 things you were trying to address, rather than 3. Is there a third thing you meant to include? I welcome the input if so.

What I see are:
1. light sources too bright
2. interiors too cold

heldGaze wrote in post #18714399
Thanks for sharing your images as examples. I totally see what you mean about the cool temp of the interiors from this shoot. Unfortunately, I don't have a flash for this camera setup just yet, but it is something I am hoping to get for the holidays this year.

Your reply did not come off as an insult, quite the opposite your reply is valuable feedback: *constructive* criticism which I (try to) always welcome.

Question though, you say "The other *two* will take a different lighting approach." But I think you only mentioned 2 things you were trying to address, rather than 3. Is there a third thing you meant to include? I welcome the input if so.

What I see are:
1. light sources too bright
2. interiors too cold

Don't know why I said the "other two". Looks like an error on my part. Sorry for any confusion.