Real Estate Interiors- Feedback Please

Hi,

I recently photographed interiors and some exteriors for a real estate agent. Although shooting interiors is not the main part of my business I do shoot a number of them a year and have not had any complaints in the past 15 years.

The real estate agent for this job has come back to me saying that the photos are un-usable. Then curiously told me that she is now going to photographer the interiors herself.

While I know there is always room for improvement I personally think that the images are use-able. Her only feedback thus far is that they look washed out. I explained that I can make adjustments to exposure if she likes.

I plan to sit down with the agent next week to discuss the images.

I would appreciate your feedback on the images I have taken and have included a link below.

I want all helpful feedback. I'm sure more seasoned interior photographer will find lots to give me advice on.

However, I would appreciate if you could also give me your opinion as to whether the images I shot are good enough for usage on the web which was the end goal. I had thought they were, but given the real estate agents feedback I want your feedback to know if I have ground to stand on.

Here is the link: https://picasaweb.google.com/bgmedia.print/Interiors#

Thank you...

These look good to me. The only photos that show any clipping are those that have the windows in them. By looking at them, I am not certain you could have used flash fill to compensate as it appears that you were using a wide angle lens. In my opinion, these would work wonderfully for the web and make the property look very good.

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Mike Noirot

I didn't study every one but the ones I looked at are better than 99% of the interiors I see on realtors' web pages. They're a llittle overexposed for my tastes but that's easily fixed if that's the agent's problem.

I believe that many/most of these would benefit from a drop in exposure of from 1/2 stop to a full stop of exposure. You would then see a richer and more saturated image and a lessening of the "washed out" description that the realtor gave you.
BTW, nice job of steraightening the verticals in these too!
Regards, Jim
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Thank you for the feedback and helpful advice thus far.

Sorry, I can't see why she said it was usable. They are pretty nice to me. I would of bought the house if I was looking for one!

The only thing I would recommend to do more:
1- exposure need to be checked. But this is not a big thing.
2- you could use HDR in some shots.
3- You could also make things straight a bit using PP.

I agree, slightly over exposed but far from unusable, quite nice really. A few looked slightly yellowish on the WB but I just glanced over the gallery. Why she didn't just ask if you could adjust the exposure and be willing to work with you before jumping the gun? People who operate like this drive me insane! Good communication can resolve almost any issue.

If she's a reasonable person, you two can agree on a fix you'll both be happy with.
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Check out the new site:
http://www.gipperich-photography.com

I have been a Realtor for 22 years in Atlanta. I would assume this is a fairly expensive property, depending upon the city, so agent quality expectations may be high.

That being said, I would agree with previous posts that many of these shots might be look better by reducing the exposure a bit.

I would say you did a great job in general and I would strongly doubt that the agent could take better photos. They never would have called you in the first place if they could take photos that good.

It would be poor on their part if they did not compensate you.

All the best, Jeff

ossme said:

Sorry, I can't see why she said it was usable. They are pretty nice to me. I would of bought the house if I was looking for one!

The only thing I would recommend to do more:
1- exposure need to be checked. But this is not a big thing.

Click to expand...

Tell that to the realtor who has to tell it to her client!

ossme said:

2- you could use HDR in some shots.

Click to expand...

yes - or do some other PP to bring the exteriors (views) up a bit

ossme said:

3- You could also make things straight a bit using PP.

Click to expand...

A lot!

More than straightening things up (like the bathrooms) you've shot down on things like sinks. It's NOT a kohler ad.

Keep the camera level - find a consistent height.

Don't let the sun into the lens (balcony shots)! There are shots you HAVE to take unfortunately, but I'll do anything from ducking behind something to using (gasp) my hand to keep light out of the lens. Carry an umbrella.

Unfortunately, you aren't dealing with 1 client - you basically have 2 or more. You have a Realtor who is having to act as an art director (ha!) and her client (owner or manager) who in turn may be reporting to somebody else.

No, she won't be able to take better shots in all likelihood. But she may be in a panic mode. Hopefully on reflection you can work something out with her! I'd say (if you shot RAW) that a lot of those shots can be fixed - hopefully they're high enough resolution you can do some heavy PP on some!

They certainly look acceptable to me and i agree that many are slightly over-exposed, but certainly not enought to warrant her comment. It would be interesting to see her monitor calibration. Maybe both could use a calibration.
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Blake in Vancouver
Panasonic Stuff, Canon Stuff. Mac Stuff & annoying PC & Windows stuff.

...are at least part of the selling point of high rise apartments, I might also deem the images unusable. If you really can recover a full range of tones and colors outside the windows, I would work up one of the most "washed out" images and show the client.

I have never done this kind of thing professionally, but unless my portfolio was full of similar images and that was my known style, I wouldn't deviate too far from the norm for this genre with an explicit conversation about my creative intent with the client.

Good luck with resolving it to both your and the client's satisfaction.

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Kabe Luna

http://www.garlandcary.com

Several things might be going on. The real estate market is tight and they may be setting up a bid for a lower price . It is an somewhat upper end property and they may want more color, contrast, a "richer" look. Unusable seems a snarky term, constructive criticism would be better to help determine what they expect or need. .

My humble view is many are washed out a bit and PP would have helped before showing them. The comment about doing them herself may be to get the exact subject matter they want but it looks well covered.
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NA

I do this kind of photography for a living, and IMHO, your client may have a point. I reviewed your gallery and there are some significant issues that I would have with the photos. I mean my comments as constructive criticism. I'm sure you're an excellent photographer, but property interiors are a unique challenge. Photographing interiors is not easy and there is rarely one right exposure for each image. You have to deal with mixed lighting - bright sunlight beaming through the windows that washes out everything and dark corners, or openings into other rooms plus mixed interior lighting. It is virtually impossible to produce a proper image with one shot.

As someone else mentioned, the view through the windows, unless unsightly, is extremely important, yet in your images it is completely washed out. In many places, the view can make a huge difference in the selling price of a property, so it must be featured in the images you deliver.

The interiors should also be exposed so that the lighting looks even, warm and inviting. One exposure won't suffice because you'll have dark corners, bright areas lit by light coming through the windows and, often, openings into other rooms and you don't want them to look like dark caves. The proper way is to shoot a series of exposures and then blend them to produce an image with overall pleasing light throughout the space.

In order to include the view through the window, you usually will have to take separate exposures just for the exterior, and then, using layers and masks, blend them into your interior image. The final images that I deliver to clients are usually constructed from 8-12 exposures. I use HDR and exposure fusion, as well as manually blending using layers - depending on the desired effect. Use caution with HDR to not produce bizarre colors.

The images, below, all were produced using the above techniques.

Great work!

A couple look slightly over processed/HDR to me, but that is really nit picking. So many realtor images look like cartoons and yours are refreshingly natural.

Everything Binone said. He's better at it than me, but I only do it as a side business. I think your client was obviously put off by the views out the windows. To get the best results you are either going to have to balance with flash or go to multiple exposure composites or mild HDR. Here's a couple of mine...

flash:



composite:



On the bright side your control over perspective and distortion is mostly good. A few pictures looked like the camera wasn't perfectly level. Make sure to align the sides of the frame with vertical elements in the picture. Or use a spirit level.

why do all of them look VERY soft? Did you sharpen any of the photos?

Canon Person

OK a few things are happening here, Real Estate companies have caught on to the proper use of HDR imaging. The days of blow out windows are over, clients want to be able to see the view as well as the inside of the home. they want to feel like they are sitting in the room. All your images look blown-out or over exposed and I didn't really get into the details just looked at the thumbnails.

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AustinLuker.com
7D-5DMKII-1DMKIV

Nice job on your 2 shoots. However, keep in mind that when you're constructing an image from several shots, you can also combine flash and no flash. For example, a flash exposure would have probably not had so much glare on the table top - so you could have blended in just the table top. I've also found that, on a sunny day, even using HDR, the outside view will be over exposed. So, the only effective way to properly present it is to mask it in from another shot that was exposed only for the outside.

I like your composition and geometric corrections. Nice job.

In my opinion the photos are Ok, not great, but certainly acceptable by real estate standards.

I believe the agent was just looking for an excuse to stop using you to save a few bucks.

Many of the these agents have a lot of of free time on their hands now and are looking for any way possible to save a few bucks and to do more in-house work themselves.

If you start blending images like discussed, and straightening the perspective, you will give them one less reason to replace you.

But I have learned the hard way:

The longer you are in business, the more likely every client, will be an ex-client.

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Jim Bianchi
http://www.thephotoop.com
Digital guru in the making.

For the most part, your images are very nice. Decent composition, decent exposures. I think that what the agent was expecting is the main issue here. I agree with some of the previous posters comments about blown-out windows and some overly high-key exposures of non window areas, but this gets down to what the agent was looking for. Exposing for both the windows and the rest of the interior takes extra time and work, either in lighting, post processing (HDR and/or multi-exposure compositing) or both. Extra time and work takes money. How much was the agent expecting and at what cost? Since I can't answer those questions, my opinion of the value of your shots to your client is very limited.

There are some things which I'd like to bring to your attention, regardless of the merits of your current pictures in regards to your client's expectations. Lighting your interiors with tungsten, flash, or even HMI fixtures and lamps is a very old and effective way to precisely control the balance between backlit sources, such as daylit windows, and the rest of your picture area; even if you use HDR and layer comping, the effects of actual pro-active lighting are sometimes better and not exactly reproduceable by post processing. Learn how to light better, and you will never regret it. However, this does take extra time and should cost more money.

Last, sometimes, you want the windows to be blown-out, or at least considerably brighter than the interior. Sometimes, it looks better when the exterior is brighter (but not "blown"), or what's outside is not very attractive, and probably would best be blown-out, since it would otherwise be ugly, and faking it with a comp from another source would be unethical. Also, much determined HDR work showing equal brightness between interior and exterior views (ever see that happen with your own eyes except at dawn and dusk?) is sometimes overdone and can even look obviously ridiculous.

So, I conclude with this advice: learn how to light interiors or light them better, learn to use HDR and multple exposure layer compositing in moderation with good taste, and, most of all, know exactly what your client expects from you, and tell the client, in return, exactly how much time and money that that would require, before ever undertaking any job in the future. Meanwhile, good luck working this out with your client; I hope that they will be reasonable and just aren't looking for a way to backttrack on their expenses.

Regards,
David

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