When seeing places like that I always wonder what structural designs of the house end up creating things like that little study nook and the weird bay window skylight thing in the bathroom. Were those things there originally or did someone decide to add some extra space but didn't want to mess with a load bearing wall so they end up with those awkward bits.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Thanks 'ruka. Haha yeah, I've also almost killed myself on some clawfoots - look amazing and are amazing I think only to lay in.
It's a study/whatever you want it to be spot in the master bedroom. I'm on my Desktop right now, but I can post a photo or two of where it's positioned so you can get an idea.
I do find homes with nerdy things in them smattered here and there, maybe once or twice a week? See a ton of starwars paraphernalia, and some video game stuff in kids rooms and some rec rooms. It would be REALLY fun to come across some tastefully nerdy stuff - my guess is that Realtors tell the homeowners to take most of that stuff down. Lots of homes get staged and the stagers often seem to tell them to take down anything of character or that has a lot of the homeowner's personality. I'll keep an eye out though, maybe now that I've discussed it I'll start to see more. It's rare I come across nerdy homeowners though, when I do I love to nerd out a bit with them though. Waiting until I come across a home with an HTC Vive setup in it...
@CommunistCow just saw your post as I finished - there were a surprising amount of skylights (all original) in the home, the master itself was remodeled - but the skylights were all there. The bay window was original as well as far as I could tell. I'm right there with you on how structurally it worked. The kitchen had a GIANT skylight in it, which first warranted me asking the Realtor if they added that when they remodeled the kitchen and he said all the skylights were there originally.
@Prospicience in possibly the most convenient timing ever, I just discovered this thread after doing my first impromptu real estate shoot yesterday. Absolutely fantastic work in here. Do you use any kind of artificial lighting for the interiors or just HDR?
@Prospicience in possibly the most convenient timing ever, I just discovered this thread after doing my first impromptu real estate shoot yesterday. Absolutely fantastic work in here. Do you use any kind of artificial lighting for the interiors or just HDR?
Congrats on getting the job! Where do you live at/where are you shooting?!
We only use HDR - used to do three exposure but now almost exclusively shoot six. Only do HDR as our appointments are only "supposed to be" 45 minutes to an hour. So no time for extra lighting. When we first started we used on camera flashes with a diffuser, but it's been about five or six years since we've done that.
@Prospicience in possibly the most convenient timing ever, I just discovered this thread after doing my first impromptu real estate shoot yesterday. Absolutely fantastic work in here. Do you use any kind of artificial lighting for the interiors or just HDR?
Congrats on getting the job! Where do you live at/where are you shooting?!
We only use HDR - used to do three exposure but now almost exclusively shoot six. Only do HDR as our appointments are only "supposed to be" 45 minutes to an hour. So no time for extra lighting. When we first started we used on camera flashes with a diffuser, but it's been about five or six years since we've done that.
Thanks! I'm in the thriving metropolis of West Virginia, shooting locally. Whether we've got the job remains to be seen; a fairly prominent commercial realtor in the area contacted us about shooting some of his properties but wanted to see examples of real estate work since it's a new area for us. We shot by partner's parents' house as a trial run and, uh, I learned a lot about what not to do, at least. I was trying to use a single flash bounced off various surfaces but I wasn't very happy with any of the lighting that resulted. I also need a wider lens - the widest I've got is a 24-105, which wasn't cutting it, so if we end up doing this consistently I'm gonna pick up the Rokinon 14mm 2.8.
I'll definitely try HDR as opposed to a flash next time.
Cool! I have a ton of relatives in West Virginia (most of them I guess). Yeah, I basically always shoot with the 17-40 4.0. Haven't been in too many situations where 17 isn't wide enough. If you want any more tips feel free to PM me as I'm more than happy to share, hate to have others deal with the metric shit-ton of little things you have to deal with and/or learn when doing Real Estate photography.
Yeah, I would highly recommend HDR. I would also say to use Lightroom for your HDR processing if you aren't on a time crunch. Especially building your portfolio, as lightroom is just the best at HDR in my opinion. Lightroom keeps the colors really in check and doesn't make them too wonky. I think that's partly due to the HDR file seemingly still keeping all the RAW info from the original photos. If you're doing 3 exposure - just watch the white balance in rooms with split tungsten/window light. If you're doing 6 exposure you really don't need to worry about it, the trade off is time spent shooting as an extra 30 seconds here and there for 3 extra exposures really adds up time wise. Ramble ramble don't need to go on, but again pm me if you want any more info.
@Iruka here's a another angle from the room with the Study nook so you can get an idea of what the rest of the room looks like. Pretty amazing Master Bedroom, when it was redone they added a small corner of the room (unfortunately you can barely see it on the left side of this photo above the door), where the two walls would normally meet, the walls are replaced with glass. Again goes back to what @CommunistCow mentioned, oftentimes I have no idea how these things are structurally sound. Guess that's why I'm not an engineer.
Got to shoot my favorite home again, at one point this home was completely self sustainable - biothermal heating/cooling, has a sun roof to let out hot air or let in cool air. Solar panels used to power the whole home, but they aren't as efficient anymore (the panels are12 years old at this point) and the home draws from its own well. Out of the thousands of homes I've photographed I've always said there's never been a home over 2500 square feet that would be appealing to live in, until I was in this home - it's 10,000 square feet. So peaceful and intentionally planned, and really beautiful. I may have talked to @bombardier about it when he visited as I basically always bring it up when someone asks what my favorite home is. You basically have to be an engineer to keep it up and running and or have expendable money to sink into it.
Really wish I had more time to just hang out there, I could have taken photos for hours inside just of the details. Here's one I took some time with my first time there four years ago. And even though I was there last week, it's still my favorite photo of the home as I only had about 40 minutes to shoot the last time I was there.
It is nice to look back on that photo though, makes me realize I may be clutching too hard to HDR at the moment. Need to embrace the shadows and darkness a little more in my architectural photos.
I have such weird reactions to some of these places. The only thing I can think of when looking at that house is that it must echo like crazy.
A little critique of that shadow photo: I feel like everything to left of that sheer curtain seems very minimalist, but the curtain/pillar/painting on the far right looks pretty cluttered. I think that would like nicer if that curtain was completely removed and and the frame was cropped just to the left of that pillar, but without cropping the corner of the table.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
I have such weird reactions to some of these places. The only thing I can think of when looking at that house is that it must echo like crazy.
A little critique of that shadow photo: I feel like everything to left of that sheer curtain seems very minimalist, but the curtain/pillar/painting on the far right looks pretty cluttered. I think that would like nicer if that curtain was completely removed and and the frame was cropped just to the left of that pillar, but without cropping the corner of the table.
It echoes a bit in some of the main large rooms. Not quite as bad as you'd think but definitely does.
Thanks for the advice on the curtain photo. I tried a couple with the curtain not in it, but I was trying to include the curtain as it showed the separation of the room (plus I thought they were purty). I'll post a couple retakes I took this go around. I think I got one from the right corner going to the left side w/out the curtain and may very well have one along the lines you mentioned from my first go around.
Posts
It's a study/whatever you want it to be spot in the master bedroom. I'm on my Desktop right now, but I can post a photo or two of where it's positioned so you can get an idea.
I do find homes with nerdy things in them smattered here and there, maybe once or twice a week? See a ton of starwars paraphernalia, and some video game stuff in kids rooms and some rec rooms. It would be REALLY fun to come across some tastefully nerdy stuff - my guess is that Realtors tell the homeowners to take most of that stuff down. Lots of homes get staged and the stagers often seem to tell them to take down anything of character or that has a lot of the homeowner's personality. I'll keep an eye out though, maybe now that I've discussed it I'll start to see more. It's rare I come across nerdy homeowners though, when I do I love to nerd out a bit with them though. Waiting until I come across a home with an HTC Vive setup in it...
@CommunistCow just saw your post as I finished - there were a surprising amount of skylights (all original) in the home, the master itself was remodeled - but the skylights were all there. The bay window was original as well as far as I could tell. I'm right there with you on how structurally it worked. The kitchen had a GIANT skylight in it, which first warranted me asking the Realtor if they added that when they remodeled the kitchen and he said all the skylights were there originally.
My Portfolio Site
Congrats on getting the job! Where do you live at/where are you shooting?!
We only use HDR - used to do three exposure but now almost exclusively shoot six. Only do HDR as our appointments are only "supposed to be" 45 minutes to an hour. So no time for extra lighting. When we first started we used on camera flashes with a diffuser, but it's been about five or six years since we've done that.
My Portfolio Site
Thanks! I'm in the thriving metropolis of West Virginia, shooting locally. Whether we've got the job remains to be seen; a fairly prominent commercial realtor in the area contacted us about shooting some of his properties but wanted to see examples of real estate work since it's a new area for us. We shot by partner's parents' house as a trial run and, uh, I learned a lot about what not to do, at least. I was trying to use a single flash bounced off various surfaces but I wasn't very happy with any of the lighting that resulted. I also need a wider lens - the widest I've got is a 24-105, which wasn't cutting it, so if we end up doing this consistently I'm gonna pick up the Rokinon 14mm 2.8.
I'll definitely try HDR as opposed to a flash next time.
Yeah, I would highly recommend HDR. I would also say to use Lightroom for your HDR processing if you aren't on a time crunch. Especially building your portfolio, as lightroom is just the best at HDR in my opinion. Lightroom keeps the colors really in check and doesn't make them too wonky. I think that's partly due to the HDR file seemingly still keeping all the RAW info from the original photos. If you're doing 3 exposure - just watch the white balance in rooms with split tungsten/window light. If you're doing 6 exposure you really don't need to worry about it, the trade off is time spent shooting as an extra 30 seconds here and there for 3 extra exposures really adds up time wise. Ramble ramble don't need to go on, but again pm me if you want any more info.
My Portfolio Site
@Iruka here's a another angle from the room with the Study nook so you can get an idea of what the rest of the room looks like. Pretty amazing Master Bedroom, when it was redone they added a small corner of the room (unfortunately you can barely see it on the left side of this photo above the door), where the two walls would normally meet, the walls are replaced with glass. Again goes back to what @CommunistCow mentioned, oftentimes I have no idea how these things are structurally sound. Guess that's why I'm not an engineer.
Got to shoot my favorite home again, at one point this home was completely self sustainable - biothermal heating/cooling, has a sun roof to let out hot air or let in cool air. Solar panels used to power the whole home, but they aren't as efficient anymore (the panels are12 years old at this point) and the home draws from its own well. Out of the thousands of homes I've photographed I've always said there's never been a home over 2500 square feet that would be appealing to live in, until I was in this home - it's 10,000 square feet. So peaceful and intentionally planned, and really beautiful. I may have talked to @bombardier about it when he visited as I basically always bring it up when someone asks what my favorite home is. You basically have to be an engineer to keep it up and running and or have expendable money to sink into it.
Really wish I had more time to just hang out there, I could have taken photos for hours inside just of the details. Here's one I took some time with my first time there four years ago. And even though I was there last week, it's still my favorite photo of the home as I only had about 40 minutes to shoot the last time I was there.
It is nice to look back on that photo though, makes me realize I may be clutching too hard to HDR at the moment. Need to embrace the shadows and darkness a little more in my architectural photos.
My Portfolio Site
A little critique of that shadow photo: I feel like everything to left of that sheer curtain seems very minimalist, but the curtain/pillar/painting on the far right looks pretty cluttered. I think that would like nicer if that curtain was completely removed and and the frame was cropped just to the left of that pillar, but without cropping the corner of the table.
It echoes a bit in some of the main large rooms. Not quite as bad as you'd think but definitely does.
Thanks for the advice on the curtain photo. I tried a couple with the curtain not in it, but I was trying to include the curtain as it showed the separation of the room (plus I thought they were purty). I'll post a couple retakes I took this go around. I think I got one from the right corner going to the left side w/out the curtain and may very well have one along the lines you mentioned from my first go around.
My Portfolio Site