Tips for indoor photos of homes and offices.

I had a management company for a aptartment complex I use to work for and kept on friendly terms ask if Iwould take some shots of their model and office. They have seen some of my photography and thought I could do some for them. Have done very little indoor photos of the kind they are looking for to advertise their place. I told them I would give it a try if they dont like them at least it was a learning experience for me.Any tips from the pros here would be helpful. Here are a few shots I have done of my homes guest bedroom and kitchen after we painted and decorated.


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http://ssvs04.zenfolio.com/img/s8/v12/p372741611-3.jpg

Best to use a full frame camera and at least a 16mm lens like the 16-35mm or 17-40mm but that may not be what you have access to. Use perspective correcting software even though their not bad. Photos still look pretty good though. Pretty even lighting, window not blown out around the edges, not a lot of hot spots in the wood or appliances. Maybe try shooting at night where you can avoid mixing the interior vs outside lighting.

I agree with freelanceshots. A wide angle lens makes rooms look much larger than they actually are and the lens correction will tidy up any associated distortion.


Another option (if you don

ssvs04....good lighting on both pix and some good points by freelance and BTaylor.


I use a 7D and 17-55 IS 2.8 for my RE shots.


In the first pic I would have tried a vertical pano to avoid the numerous cut off points and opened the blinds, if there was a decent view. I prefer to use natural light and w/a little effort you can balance the exposure of the room w/the window view. Also for shooting w/the shades, blinds, etc. open I prefer to shoot earlier or later in the day and I paricularly like gray days for open windows.


The kitchen photo is nice, but looks cramped....I would have removed (ask permission first) the cutting board table to open up the floor and de-cluttered the stove counter top area.


Obviously my RE shooting is dictated by the house lighting and my suggestions are only food for thought.


Here are a couple of links you may find helpful;


http://photographyforrealestate.net/


http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2887


Regards


Bill

Thanks for the tips everyone. Never had any use for a really wide angle lens until now. These two lens had covered my needs just fine. The 2.8 leica 14-50 and my favorite lens the leica 14-150.

Also now that I'm checking back on this post I'm thinking more of the counter tops in the kitchen should be shown, kind of similar to the angle of the bedroom table in front of the bed shot where that will also make the nice refrigerator seem more accessible. I've attended seminars/meetings on shooting smaller/tight interior images as this is what the majority of my work has been for the last year and an emphasis was put on keeping the overall presence of the image simple and clean, balancing out the ceiling and the floor, obtaining a balance between the different light sources which you've done a good job of. I think also that the mat in front of the sink should be removed. My eye is drawn to it where I'm bouncing back and forth between different parts of your image back to the mat. I feel like a decorative type square or circular rug can stay but it just depends on the room and the mood. When you elevate the camera to capture more of the counter tops your vertical lines are going to get more skewed to catch abalance of the floor and ceiling thus the need for perspective correction software is a must. I use photoshop CS4's tools where there are many ways of correcting the perspective depending on what you like or feel comfortable with. I use PT Gui Pro for my 360 equirectangular panoramas and you can use it to combine images that are flat but it would be helpful to invest in some added equipment. A sturdy tripod and a pano head would be good for this but PT Gui can try to combine/stitch them without these accessories. Here is a link to a small apartment that I did the 360 Panorama in just so you can see what can be done with PT Gui. Link Here (you will need Quick Time player which most people should have already) For anyone who's not seen this before just right mouse click and drag in the direction you want to move. You can also look up and down to a degree but for the purpose of this image it did not need the full 180 degree rotation.

-The 2.8 leica 14-50 and my favorite lens the leica 14-150.-


Those are pretty wide lenses but I would guess that you are using those lenses on a camera with a smaller digital sensor. Maybe your not but thats what I would assume because a 4X5 or lager format camera would give you an even greater field of view using 14mm. Using the crop type/size of camera sensor turns your lenses into a 21mm /22mm lens which is not as wide as a 16mm on a full frame camera body. The case could be these rooms are extra small but I would assume first it was the camera being used.

I already did my shoot for the apartments. But those great tips I will for sure use for the future. It turned out they didn't want any of inside apartments done but instead the office, fitness room, computer room, pool and a building. It was tough because nobody opened the office early for me before the sun was to strong through the windows. So the fitness room had windows on two sides blowing out my shots and mirrors on another side. Their computer room was the size of a bathroom. And every building outside either had trash everywhere or the balconies were full stuff and satellite dishes. So I wasn't to happy with my results. My wifeis brutally honest holding nothing back when I sow her my photos. Don't know how many times I thought I had a great shot and she has brought me back to reality with her critique. Anyways she liked them with little criticism except for some white balance issues that I did over again that she suggested.


You are correct im using a 4/3 sensor on my camera. Ive always cared more about zoom then wide. But my next lens will be a wide angle.

How much wider can you go then the 14mm? 14mm is pretty wide and then you start to get into fisheye type stuff.


You can't believe the crap I've gone through doing this for a living. I travel all over to different hotels and resorts where some of the places are happy to see me and some of them could care less. I've seen nightmare situations where I'm expected to make it look like the most inviting place to visit. Its tough and very time consuming where the final image turn around time is very short. I have filled up a 500 gig hard drive worth of images with my 5D2 which includes still and virtual panorama images. I'm sitting on approx 1000 finished, magazine/advertising quality images that have approx 30 minutes to an hour of editing per image. Here is a brief montage that I put together for my advertising purposes on the web. It can be seen Here

Well with a 4/3 sensor camera its actually 28mm not 14mm. So really the leica lens is a 28-300mm

so in effect it has the 1.5 crop factor like the Nikon non FX cameras.

Im not familiar with the FX cameras but that is correct. Like I said before thats why I like the 4/3 sensor since zoom has been more of what I use in my photography. Olympus has a 9-14mm I looked at today. And has a really good price. Probably will put that one on my wish list for next year since we just bought 2 new I phones. So theirs no way the wife is going to let me get this lens this year.

I think everyone's pretty much said it all... very important to get a wide angle lens for interior shots. 16-35 is an idea lens, or for crop cameras, 10-22.


As for composition... I have a few thoughts:


I think it's important that your verticals are completely vertical and plumb! Unless you're trying to accentuate a tall space, verticals should be kept vertical in interior photos. It shows that care and thought has been put into the photo.


Also, try and find perspectives of the space that aren't traditional. How often do you see photos taken from one corner of the room and aiming towards the opposite corner? While those are great for showing the overall space, I find that one point perspectives add a distinct classiness to photos, especially if the single point perspective is converging at one of the rules of the thirds points.


Lastly, try and find perspectives from how a person would experience the space. For example, if you're taking a photo of a dining room space, rather than taking an overall view of it, place the camera behind the chair that sits at the head of the table looking directly at the opposite end of the table, and preferably at the direction where you get a glimpse of an adjacent room.


Just some thoughts...

Thanks for the extra tips. I completed the shoot and they were very happy with them. I gave them two different choices of white balances colors. One more accurate and another more colorful I guess you can say. Surprisingly the clients went for the less acurrate white balance colors. So the wife has been wanting the new Apple I phone so were going to buy a one for her and me today with the profits made and have to switich from verizon to at@t. Anyways I also found when I shoot interior on my knees which is about waist level I much prefer the feel of the photos.