Everyone once in a while, my real estate adventures lead me out of SW Orlando and this past week it’s led me to downtown looking at condos. The skyline’s changed quite a bit over the years with the addition of lots of new buildings this past decade.

The one building that I’ve noticed over the past few years is the Winnie Palmer Hospital. I had no idea what the building was until today. I just knew it was my favorite building to look at while driving down the East West Expressway or I-4.

A little research reveals that the building was completed in 2006 for a whopping $111 million and it’s also the third largest birthing center in the country not to mention it brings the Orlando skyline alive.

Who knew? The coolest looking building in downtown Orlando is a hospital.

Here’s some with a Halloween theme:

and here’s some other curious and creative works of edible architecture

A Guest Post by Spencer J. Fisher Photography. They specialize in architectural and commercial photography here in Orlando.

Good real estate photography does not come along serendipitously. There are many factors which will cause a photograph to be poor or mediocre. Let’s briefly go over some of the elements that make an interior shot either fail or succeed.

Lines: Crooked lines fail; straight lines succeed. Slanted walls and crooked lines suggest the photographer did not care enough about the room and the client to take the time to make sure everything is level. A tripod is mandatory. Occasionally, even using a tripod will produce an image with a slight slant. If this is the case, it can be corrected post processing. The rule of thumb is use a tripod; keep it straight, keep it level and you will be heading in the direction of a good image.

Distortion: This is caused by using a wide angle lens and a 35mm camera. When using a wide angle it is very important to keep your lines as straight as possible. By squaring up the room and keeping your camera level you can limit some of the distortion caused by a wide angle lens and a 35mm camera. Again, use a tripod; keep it straight; keep it level. It is tempting to shoot as wide as possible with the idea to make a room appear overly large. But this urge needs to be tempered if overt distortion is occurring. If shooting 35mm consider using a perspective control lens such as a Nikor PC-E 24mm or a Canon TS/E 24mm.

Angles: When photographing a room try to not to immediately get in a mindset of which angle you want to shoot the room from. Walk around the room. Look at it from all sides. Shoot it from all sides! Do a straight on shot, a diagonal shot, a side shot. Determine what you think a focal point is in the room and play with different angles leading to this focal point. Even if you believe you have the perfect angle on the first shot take other angles. Do not be lazy. The better angle might be on the other side. Work the room.

Camera Height: If you want to keep your photographs from looking bland or like a point and shoot MLS listing then try not to shoot at eye level. Most interiors are better served by shooting at around the chest height. This is easily accomplished by shooting on a tripod. Play with different heights. The height of the ceiling often comes into play. Do you want to show the chandelier or ceiling fan in the shot? Adjust your height of the camera accordingly.

Less is more: This old adage works very well for interiors. If the room appears cluttered and you have authority to do so by all means remove the clutter. Clutter could be the extra chair in the family room. It could be a planter. It could be any element which prevents the room from opening up and breathing.

Creative is nice: It is easy to focus just on the wide view when shooting an interior. A good practice is after all overalls have been photographed then to walk around the interiors looking for interesting angles and elements. You do not need to use a tripod. The idea is to create interesting free flowing angles that tell a story. For example, you can get close and eye level with a plate or a glass on a dining table. You will focus closely on the dining ware but with an angle that allows you to see other elements across the room. If you shoot fairly wide open (aperture set to a smaller number) you can create a nice blur of the elements in the background. This type of creative photography is not always needed but it is easy and fast to accomplish and provides your client with additional photos they may not have anticipated.

Lighting: Lighting is the bane of all interior photographers. Here is a little secret. Most photographic assignments do not occur over the course of the whole day. Most assignments are time sensitive and limited to a set of hours. Interior photographers need to be skilled enough to handle any time of day and any lighting situation. For example, let’s say you are at client’s home in the afternoon when the sun is very bright. They are proud of their custom pool, deck and landscaping and would like to have a photograph from the perspective of looking outside to their gorgeous property. This is where you need to be prepared to balance the light of the outside with the light on the inside. If the light is not balanced the interior portion of the photograph will be grossly underexposed.

One method to balance the lighting is to use studio lighting or strobe lights. To read some more thoughts on lighting please visit: http://spencerjfisher.com/lighting.html. Another method is to expose for the exterior and then expose for the interior and merge the two exposures in post processing using software such as Photoshop. This is quite an effective method but it is not one hundred percent. Caution should be used if you are relying on post processing to correct exposure issues.

Every photographer has their own style and technique. It’s important to nurture that style but remain true to the assignment. When shooting interiors for real estate it is most important to think of what the end product is. Keep your lines straight, limit distortion, adjust your camera height, find the focus point, remove clutter, get the lighting correct and you will be well on your way to being a better interior photographer.

]]> http://sworlandoblog.com/2008/06/05/real-estate-photography-101/feed/ 0 http://sworlandoblog.com/2008/05/30/the-rialto-dellagio-nearing-completion/ http://sworlandoblog.com/2008/05/30/the-rialto-dellagio-nearing-completion/#comments Fri, 30 May 2008 17:22:32 +0000 Hojin Chang http://sworlandoblog.com/?p=1139

The Dellagio and Rialto are two of the most anticipated projects under construction on Sand Lake Road in the Dr. Phillips area of Orlando.

Dellagio, projected to for completion in October 2008, will feature a man made lake that will be surrounded by themed restaurants and boutiques. Some residential townhouses are also included in the plans with pricing not yet determined and as far as I know no floor plans are available. Perhaps construction on the townhouses will commence once the retail area is completed.

The Rialto being developed by the Wilder Company is well underway and there’s question marks about the residential side of the development as well. The website for Intermezzo at Rialto has been taken down and the sales office closed. I’ve heard rumors that the developer has decided to turn the condos into luxury apartments. If anyone can confirm the apartment rumors, please leave a comment.

Both of these projects are nearing completion and becoming a great new addition to the entertainment scene for Restaurant Row in SW Orlando.

The photos shown here providing a bird’s eye view of the two projects were recently taken by Dorian Aerial and Architectural Photographics. They specialize in aerial and architectural photography and their site features some stunning work. As you already know, I’m a big proponent of great photographs in real estate marketing especially with the internet playing such an integral role these days. Internet photos are the only exposure many buyers get of your property so it’s crucial to make a poignant impression in this area.

They’re available for hire in the Orlando area and can be contacted at 866-725-8400.

related posts: Unicorp Begins Construction of Dellagio

The Rialto on Sand Lake Road Finally Begins Construction

Intermezzo at Rialto to be Built as Apartments Instead of Condos

Restaurant Row in Dr. Phillips

The newly released Nikon D300 just won Camera of the Year honors at popphoto.com. It replaces the ever popular D200 and makes some key improvements for real estate photography. The mega pixel has been raised to 12.3, the AF system has been increased from 11 points to 51 points, the 3″ VGA LCD screen provides much more clarity and color, a Live View mode has been added to make composing easier, and probably the best improvement for real estate photography is the new Active D Lighting.The Active D Lighting boosts mid tones and increases the dynamic range to help avoid those washed out looking windows on interior photos shot during the day.

According to Ken Rockwell, the best feature of the D300 is it’s ability to create super saturated color and it’s ability to handle highlights. It certainly sounds like a fantastic camera but I sure wish they included a full frame sensor. At $1,800, the D300 is definitely not cheap and the full frame Canon 5D costs just a few hundred more. I love Nikons but there’s just so many situations in real estate photography where I wish I could go just a little wider. The 1.5x crop factor on the D300 just doesn’t go wide enough to justify the stiff price tag. In actuality, the D300 with the widest DX Lens, Nikon 12-24mm, only goes as wide as a 35mm equivalent of 20mm. Dang it. Full frame would have made it a no brainer. I would even settle for a 9mm DX lens which would be the 35mm equivalent of 14mm, but one can only hope that Nikon will someday produce such an instrument. Oh well, I might have to switch to Canon just so I can go full frame.

watch video: Pop Photo Camera of the Year

The Photography for Real Estate blog just put up a post featuring a photography site called Attic Fire out of Savannah, GA that create some incredible photos of properties. They all have a unique style and flare that is unique to this company. Attic Fire says the styling, lighting, and extensive digital post-production makes the difference in their photography. The amount of photo editing that has gone into these photographs is amazing and the results are just stunning to say the least. They all have a bit of a unrealistic quality to them which I like. The styling is so unique that any home being marketed would definitely stand out with these types of photographs. Their fresh new approach to architectural photography is sure to grab attention.

I came across the Jeff Herron Photography site and just said whoa. It has some stunning examples of fine real estate photography that is definitely worth checking out. I could only obtain these two photos for this post but his site really showcases some inspirational real estate photography.

The Nikon D40 is the best bargain camera for taking real estate photos all at a mere $500. The D40x costs $250 more and you don’t get a lot more for it. I’ve read numerous technology recommendations from Realtor magazines that suggest a nice compact camera but the truth is none of these so called compact cameras go wide enough for real estate purposes and the flashes are useless on the compact cameras. Use a compact camera and all you get is a picture of a bed instead of the whole room. Use a compact camera and all you get is a picture of a couch. Wider is better in real estate photography. This why I recommend the Nikon D40 with the 18-55mm lens and the good news is that your pictures won’t be just a bed or a couch. The 18-55mm lens that comes with this camera gives really sharp photos but if you want to go even wider than get the Nikon 12-24mm DX lens for another $900. I think its worth the money because wider is better. The Nikon D40 gives you a lot of bang for the buck. You can set a manual white balance for those weird lighting situations you find when shooting interior photos with a gray card or Expodisc and you can shoot in RAW format so you can adjust the white balance afterwards. You get a really bright and accurate 2.5″ LCD screen, auto ISO, an on camera remote trigger for your external flash, and its really light and portable. I keep my Nikon on auto ISO (camera chooses the optimal ISO) and P mode (camera chooses the optimal aperture & shutter speed) 90% of the time. The only flash that works with the external trigger on this camera is the SU-800. As with most digital cameras the D40 tends to overexpose, so your pictures will tend to give priority to shadows vs highlights. All you have to do is to keep the exposure compensation at -.7 and problem solved. This camera is pretty much the easiest DSLR camera to use and built for beginners like many real estate practitioners. If you want to take great real estate photos without breaking the bank, then get the Nikon D40. I bought the Nikon D80 6 months before the D40 came out and I would have just bought this one if it was available at the time and saved a lot of money. Its easy to use, offers a wide angle, and give you a lot of useful features. To read more about the D40, you can check out the Ken Rockwell D40 Review or the dpreview. You can also get D40 user guide for dummies at the Ken Rockwell D40 User Guide.

• The exterior photo is the most important. Since the exterior photo is the first and many times the only photo that buyers see on most websites and print publications, it is the most important. You need to keep the sun behind or beside you when you take day time photos of a home, so photos of an eastern facing home will be best at sunrise and western

facing homes at sunset when you get a warm golden glow from the sun. A polarizer is a must if you can’t wait until those hours. Northern facing homes are the most difficult to photograph and will require some advanced techniques. A polarizer used when the sun is perpendicular to the subject  facing north looks great. Homes with a southern front exposure just have the best lighting and will yield the best photographs. Probably the best lighting you’ll find is pointing the camera north or with the sun positioned behind you and off the left shoulder near sunset. Facing north this time of the day produces the most beautiful lighting for taking photographs. After all, photography is all about capturing light. Also a day with soft puffy white clouds in the sky provide the nicest background. Try to avoid harsh shadows across the facade when taking day shots. Polarizing filters are a help to photos taken in the middle of the day only when the sun is directly above you. The most striking exterior photos are taken during the “magic hour” which is the 10-15 minutes prior to sunset when the sky turn a deep violet like these photos on this post.

• Avoid overly bright windows in your interior photographs. The only way to avoid this is take interior photos only during the “magic hour” or at the beginning hour of sunrise when the level of light on the inside resembles the light on the outside of the windows. You can also just compose the photo to exclude the windows during other times of the day. Sometimes you can get away with shooting interiors with windows in the middle of the afternoon if it a dark cloudy day outside. A set of powerful strobes will allow you to avoid bright windows during the day but they are hard to set up and move around. You can also take two or multiple exposures and combine them in Photoshop. AECbyetes has a really simple tutorial on this technique. You can also take multiple photos with different exposure to create a HDR image. The post processing time for this technique is long and tedious but the results can be absolutely stunning. At the same time, HDR images all have an unrealistic quality to them, but I personally enjoy the unrealistic quality whereas others just hate it. Popphoto.com has a wonderful tutorial on creating HDR images HERE.
  
• You need to keep in mind the purpose of the photograph. You need to ask yourself what features of the home are you trying to highlight? Photographs for purposes of marketing a home for sale will want to provide a wide perspective of the subject. Keep in mind you’re not selling the furniture, you’re selling the space. To keep everything in focus, you’ll probably want to stay at f8 or f11 in aperture priority mode.
• Interior photos should be light and bright but keep in mind that most digital cameras tend to overexpose so you may want to take the exposure down a stop or 2. Pay careful attention to the light fixtures and make sure they are not blown out. The highlight blinkies on your camera will help you avoid overexposed lights in your photos. On camera flashes are just not good at all and you really need an external flash bounced off a wall or ceiling to get decent lighting. External flashes work best when hand held away from the camera so Nikon’s remote trigger feature comes in handy with this situation. The ideal set up is a set of 3 Novatron strobes with umbrellas but can be tough to move around and set up but they are reasonably priced. A constant light set up with umbrellas is the best set up but you’ll need lots of experience and expensive equipment to pull it off so I dare say leave this type of set up for the pros at Architectural Digest.
• The composition should be simple. Remove all the clutter off your refrigerator door, coffee table, etc. because they will distract the attention away from the room. Having an object in the foreground will help provide some perspective in a 2 dimensional medium.
• Use a wide angle lens. Unfortunately wide angle lenses require an SLR camera and is really an expensive but necessary requirement for getting descent real estate photos. You’ll also need a tripod and external flash. Using the flash properly is a whole other issue altogether but you can get the basics from the Strobist Blog. The “slow sync” feature on your camera is an invaluable setting to get natural looking lighting for interiors especially with just one external flash. Here are some suggestions for equipment: (on a budget $500-wide) Nikon D40 w/18-55mm kit lens, ($1,500-$2,500 mid priced-wider) Nikon D200 w/12-24mm lens or Canon 30d w/10-20mm lens, (no budget $5,000-$7,000-full frame/widest) Nikon D3 w/14-24mm lens or Canon 5D w/14mm lens. Man I wish I didn’t have a budget.
• Keep vertical walls vertical. Always hold the camera parallel to the ground to accomplish this. This sounds like an easy task but I rarely pull this off without using a level on the camera. This simple little tool will significantly shorten post processing time.
• Keep straight lines straight. Since lenses are curved, the edges of photographs tend to curve. An easy way to avoid this is to just take a photo of a wider perspective than you want and then crop the edges off until you have only straight lines or you can edit the photo using software such as Adobe Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS3. The 14mm lenses from Canon and Nikon are renowned for virtually no lens distortion but costs around $2,000. Pay special attention to the door frames as they are often difficult to get straight. I’ve found that shooting things straight on and not at an angle helps with getting the door frames straight. At the very least, use the straightening tool please. I’m so tired of looking at crooked photos on the MLS.
• Experiment with white balance. Since there are so many different light sources in homes, the camera has a hard time figuring out which white balance to use. The Nikons are better for adjusting white balance because each setting can be adjusted up or down while Canons lack this ability. Incandescent light will appear yellowish, florescent lights will appear greenish, and tungsten/halogen lights will appear blueish. Digital cameras measure light based on variations of gray, so a great way to get the proper white balance is to use a gray card and use the exposure taken off the card. An Expodisc does even a better job at white balance but it’s something else you have to buy. I’ve found that my white socks or a white piece of paper works almost as good. For exterior shots in full afternoon sun, the daylight setting turned all the way down on the Nikons and the shade setting on the Canons are a easy way to fake the warm golden colors you get near sunset.
• You also need to size, crop, and sharpen all digital photos. Depending on which website or publication your home will appear in, you need to resize your photo to the size your photo will appear on that particular site and then sharpened for that size. Digital photos are made up of a bunch of pixels or dots to create the image and always have a much softer look than a film photo so all digital photos need to be sharpened but only after you’ve resized the photo and finished making any and all adjustments. Sharpening should always be done last. The Unsharp Mask technique in Photoshop is the best way to sharpen photos. Scott Kelby suggests (Amount: 85%, Radius: 1, and Threshold: 4 for general all purpose sharpening) and (Amount: 225%, Radius: 0.5, and Threshold: 0 for sharpening photos of homes and landscapes). If you have Photoshop CS3, the Smart Sharpen feature does a really nice job of sharpening. You always want to view photos at 100% when editing photos on your computer.
• Remove Lens Vignetting. The corners of most interior photos will have some light fall off and easily corrected with photo editing software.

Some beautiful examples of real estate and architectural photos can be found at:

georgegutenberg.com

amfjphotography.com

Some great books about photography for beginners are: Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson & The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby.

Some great sites to check out to learn more about real estate photography are:

allthingsphotography.com

kenrockwell.com

photography for real estate blog