I’m interested in knowing more about photography’real estate’ im heading for africa soon and there’s this great posiblity for a side line job/i’d like you to show me yhe rope ,would you be kind to call me 561 7233365 or email me @ ricardoshaun@gmail.com… im willing to pay you a cool $150 ,for the 20 most important things i should learn/
im in west palm beach.

cheers

Ricardo

RICARDO.

But from desire to really good results the path is not short. My point is that no matter what camera system you have, more important than the equipment are other things, like composition and understanding light and what is shown in the image. The image has to talk and describe what the original picturetake saw or wanted to transmit. A picture is thousand words, yes, but those words have to tell the right story.

Congratulations for your article, it’s been a great read! More to come?

Michael Asgian

I do have Photoshop CS2 so I will just have to play with it and see what I can do. Thank you again and have a great day!

Tyler there are several methods you can use to get great results. Each have some trade-offs.

The first method is HDR or (High Dynamic Range) imaging. This consists of taking multiple pictures, usually 7 -9, at increasingly darker to lighter exposures. You then purchase HDR software that allows you to combine these pictures producing some decent quality pictures that will highlight both the interior and exterior well. The trade-off is that you generally have some “fuzziness” to the pictures and often high-end magazines and photo editors will not accept them. They almost appear slightly “fake” and results can vary wildly. The technology is getting better though.

For Ardell, I used a stacking method in which I took two pictures. One to properly expose the interior and the other to expose the exterior. I then combined the images in Photoshop.

Here are some links to an example of the pictures I took for Ardell: http://www.harleyseye.com/real_estate_photo_9.html
http://www.harleyseye.com/luxury-home-photography-slide-show.html

The trade-off with the stacking method is that it takes time, but results are great and will pass muster with the photo editors of magazines.

The last option is to purchase and use professional studio lighting and soft boxes. It is possible to use multiple strobes and soft boxes to properly illuminate a room and capture both the interior and exterior. The trade-off is that you need to purchase upwards of $10,000 in lighting equipment, pocket wizards, light meters, and be well trained in the use of them all. The setup and tear down requirements are overwhelming especially when you need to bring them to each room.

Regardless, you will likely have to do some editing in Photoshop and the time required to set-up, tear-down, and process the images will require you to charge a lot more than many real estate agents are willing to pay. If it is a $1,000,000 plus listing it may not be as cost prohibitive.

I hope this helps answer your question. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

I wish you the best!

The author of this post isn’t a regular participant. Before your comment drops off the sidebar, I wanted to acknowledge it.

I asked this question in a post once before and th best answer was that they used digital editing methods that cut out the window and replace it with the view portion. So it ends up being an overlay of the view shot into the room shot.

After receiving that answer…I hired a professional photographer. I will send a link to this and your question over to Harley (the photographer I hired) and see if he can stop by and give you some pointers.

Thanks!