Real Estate Before and After

Builder challenged me to make a new home "pop". The way the house is positioned, the front never sees direct sun, and in the winter its always backlit. So a cloudy day (or some REALLY BIG strobes were my only options). Here is the before and after -- I had to massage it quite a bit -- is it overcooked?

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I think it looks great, however I think it's dishonest to make the grass green when it's nearly dead especially when there is clearly snow on the ground - is that really okay to do in this industry?

FELINEDEBOURGES wrote in post #9715864
I think it looks great, however I think it's dishonest to make the grass green when it's nearly dead especially when there is clearly snow on the ground - is that really okay to do in this industry?

Thats a really good question, and there are two sides to that discussion, obviously. Generally, I wouldn't do that, but in this case I made an exception for two reasons. 1) This is actually for an ad for the builder, not the home listing. 2) I photographed this house in the summer, and that is the actual color of the summer grass. So, barring any sort of fungus, thats what it should look like this summer (the house is sprinkled, so water isn't a problem.)

Ahhhh. Interesting. Okay, I totally get that.

The only thing I see that stands out is the sky, it is not blue enough, or, smooth enough, the windows are reflecting a really blue sky, and I think it would fit better.
Definitely don't go overboard with the sky though, only enough to match the windows more.

The blue is the kind of blue that is supposed to be kind of a chalky slate blue, I believe, that is way too blue and dark for that, I think. (I can't remember the name of it, its probably "slate blue" though)
I'd cut it back about 50% or so.

The roof's tile/shingles is too much, I think they should be more gray, and not so dark.

The snow looks funny there with all of the green, I'd go ahead and make that green too, and do something with the flowerbeds too.

Usually that would be a good indication that it was all overdone, but in this case, I don't feel it is.
The red in the bricks do look better, more life, and I know there is bricks that reddish, and the same goes for the stone work and the door too.

I like it, but it could be a lot more realistic in my opinion on this stuff.
Of course, I see stuff like this all of the time that people like, so... heh

Randy

Great points, Recrisp.

What bothers me about this image is that the color temps of the sky and the house are different -- shot at different times of the day and year. They don't match up to my eye.

The customer loved it, though. Its for the newspaper, which tends to desaturate everything. If they use it for something different, like a magazine, I will retune those blues.

As for the snow -- lets pretend it snowed in September!

You really did a nice job trying to salvage an otherwise bleh photo. IMHO, it doesn't look realistic enough. The house exterior does look just a touch over-cooked and the lawn just doesn't fit. Have you thought about doing a twilight shot? By doing so, you overcome the daylight northern exposure issue on the front, as well as the winter lawn issue as well. Here's a twilight shot taken for real estate purposes that is along the lines of what I'm thinking: LINK. Of course, a twilight shot involves a surcharge over regular rates

Tiger_993 wrote in post #9716807
You really did a nice job trying to salvage an otherwise bleh photo. IMHO, it doesn't look realistic enough. The house exterior does look just a touch over-cooked and the lawn just doesn't fit. Have you thought about doing a twilight shot? By doing so, you overcome the daylight northern exposure issue on the front, as well as the winter lawn issue as well. Here's a twilight shot taken for real estate purposes that is along the lines of what I'm thinking: LINK. Of course, a twilight shot involves a surcharge over regular rates

I would love to do a twilight shot of this property...... but they won't pay for it!

Okay -- I added a little yellow to the sky and tweaked the grass..... better?

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I think the latest shot looks alot more 'real' then the first one and looks pretty good. The first one just looked rendered to me.

Great work though

What a transformation. It'll definitely get some attention.

mattograph wrote in post #9716960
Okay -- I added a little yellow to the sky and tweaked the grass..... better?

That works!

good job with the 2nd pict.

The comparison is over the top. If I were to see the pic and then show up for a tour to buy I would be gone before I entered. Good process though, if you take out the before pic.

I agree. If they want a photo of what the grass looks like in the summer, you need to take photos in the summer and also the winter to show them.

This is one of the reasons I'm against too much photoshopping when presenting a photo to someone else.