Real Estate Photography- The Money Shot...Window Exposure, Lighting...

We've all done it.
   Walked around a house looking for that perfect shot with a view of the sailboat floating in a canal outside of the sliding glass doors, then take the photo. Instead of getting the sailboat all you have is a wall with a whited out, overexposed sliding door in the photo. Not at all what you had in mind. What went wrong? Why didn't the automatic setting on the camera compensate for this? Let's take a look at this common issue with Real Estate photography.

 Buyers Always Remember Clear Crisp Photos!  

   As I mentioned in the former blog post, most Florida homes are kept dark and shaded to help keep the heat out. When you open the curtain of the window you want to photograph a bright spot is created in the scene. The amount of light that's coming through the window creates an intense difference in contrast between the walls around the interior of the room and the window. With the automatic setting on your camera being used, your camera will attempt to focus, to white balance & to contrast balance... plus many other things. After all of this is done, the software that most cameras use will assume that the extremely bright area is a lamp, the sun, or some other unimportant interference. The cameras software will allow it to white out while preserving the rest of the scene in the photo. The result is a clear room photo with whited out windows. If you move closer to the window to get more light exposure the result will be a clear view through the window and a totally dark room.

 Always Shoot From The Buyers Viewpoint 

 How do we fix this?
   You can try different angles or move closer to the window, but thats not the scene you really want. We want a majestic full room view with the sailboat in the canal showing through the back sliding glass doors with all of it showing up in the photo crisp and clear. We have to create enough light in the room to be equal to the amount of light coming through the window. We are going to need a flash discharge and a momentary delay in the shutter to prevent overexposure due to the brightness of both the flash discharge and the sunlight coming through the window. This is how we are going to do just that.

Secret Tip Dude

Super Secret Tip:
This will work for both DSLR's and One-Shot Point & Click Cameras. Change the camera's settings from Automatic to Macro. Go to your camera's menu and find the flash settings. Some cameras have this setting built into the camera body. Set the flash to discharge with every photo taken. With a macro setting most cameras will discharge the flash without making this change in the environment that we are dealing with today. If the flash does not discharge, set it to discharge manually with every shot. Return to the spot you tried to photograph earlier and take the same shot with these settings. You can see a clear difference in the photos. We now have a clear view of the room and can see clearly through the sliding glass doors. There is a beautiful sailboat in the canal behind the house that you can clearly see through the sliding glass doors... The Money Shot!

 This photo clearly shows the canals turning radius 

The flash created the light we need and the macro setting caused a slight delay in the shutter to prevent flash glare in items closer to the camera. Basically we are tricking the cameras software into thinking that we are taking a close up photo of a distant boat. The camera focused to infinity it then discharged the flash and about 1 thousandth of a second later the shutter opened and took the shot. By this time the flash discharged light is bouncing off the wall where the window is located creating the perfect balance of light we need... Awesome!

Most Agents say "WOW" when i show them this little trick........well, maybe thats after the closing check has been deposited  :)

Just a note. Time of day is very important. You should always photograph a house when the sun is as high in the sky as possible. Overhead light is easy to deal with. Sunlight shining through a window is not.

I hope this helps you in your photography ventures.
Frank Colontonio
©2013 All Rights Reserved

 Panorama Virtual Tours Say "Style - Quality - Prestige... This Agent Is A Pro!" 

Great Marketing Starts With Great Media

Mom always said that you can't bake a Great Cake with margarine and old flour. It sure isn't any easier to sell a Great Home using low quality media. The photos and video that you take are going to be the first impression that many buyers get of your listing. Don't you want that first impression to be a good, long lasting one? One that they will think back on after a long day of house hunting with another agent? 

Cameras are a dime a dozen. 
When you choose a Camera be sure you can get down to business and start taking photos right out of the box. If you have to take lessons or spend allot of time learning to use it, it may not be the right choice for you. As a real estate professional your time is valuable. Find a "One-Shot" camera that takes clear photos indoors. Outside photos are easy. Stores are lit up bright so photos taken in the store are very clear and bright. Once you get to the home, its another story. Florida homes are well shaded and are kept dark and cool especially throughout the summer. The same camera that took that wonderful photo in the store is now creating photos with a dim and tarnished look. The windows on the wall completely whited out. There is no view of the Sailboat Access Canal or Golf Course on the other side of the window, just an all white glowing window box. Its not the photo you had in mind when you shelled out $250 for that new fancy camera. 

As soon as you buy a camera take it home and start taking some test shots of your home and see what they look like. Be sure to photograph a window to see if the exterior view of the landscape outside shown... Is there a whited out box where the window is? We are going to talk more about whited out windows in our next blog post... But first the camera...

DSLR or One-Shot?

Easy enough.. One-Shot wins without going into detail. A Real Estate professional has to be ready to run on the fly, work fast, and close quickly... not much time in there to learn Photography 101. You need a fast, high quality tool in your arsenal. For marketing thats an easy to use camera. A DSLR requires extensive training in Photography and most of you have an skill set for sell Real Estate and do not want to become professional photographers. So lets stick to the One-Shot and go from there.

There are many to choose from and all of them are pretty good cameras in their own right. However we are going to concentrate on one Camera that most Real Estate professionals should use and thats the Coolpix L820 (most of the coolpix model are pretty good). Its a 16 MegaPixels camera and it has a focal length of 4mm-120mm. This will give you a fairly wide angle and is great for closed areas like bathrooms and closets. Its has movie mode and records in High Definition Video thats ready to upload right to facebook or youtube. A very nice tool to have in your desk. The price is about $275. For that price you get the photos, video and allot of camera to grow into. Its a simple One-Shot and the term Point and Click applies.

Do you have to buy an expensive camera to sell real estate.. not really. Do you need to take video to close a deal... not really. Will you get top dollar for the home your listing and will you have a fast contract offer and closing... NOT REALLY! 

You can always hire us. We have packages that start at $35 that include Photos, Video Streams, And Panoramas. But if you really want to do it yourself, our next blog entry will go over some great tips for taking quality real estate photos.

Next time... Window Exposure, Lighting and Time of Day to shoot...

Thanks again and have a great day!
Frank