Like I said, I want to have that skill for the situations that require it. I shoot more homes for MLS listings and flyers than I do for magazines though. I like conveying realism and a finished product that shows off a home well. But I am a realtor who moonlights as a "professional" photographer, not the other way around.

The best known local professional photographer is a cool guy who has done some work for our company (headshots, drone work..) was impressed with what I am able to do and how I do it. That was kind of nice to hear.

 

When you're doing commercial work like that the #1 thing that really matters is that the people you are working for are happy with your product. If you're satisfying that then anything else is just icing on the cake.

 

Mattg,

Two separate lighting issues as far I can deduce.

Light LEVEL: take a spot meter off the window you don't want to blow out. Take a meter reading off the interior of the room (not the brightest spot, not the darkest, mid range). If the difference is more stops of light than your camera can accommodate (most likely) you either need to reduce the light power outside (dawn/dusk) or increase the light LEVEL inside with additional lighting to get the inside/outside balance within reach.

Light COLOR: Try using an 18% grey card (Delta Gray Cards Exposure Aid, Pack Of Two CPM22010) in the green or red room. Get your light level right with flash/natural light and then snap a shot with the grey card. Use that shot to set an in-camera custom white balance to adjust for light color and it should go along way to overcoming bounced flash color cast.

 

Also, you probably already found this but here is a sight dedicated to RE Photography:

Photography For Real Estate

 

Regarding Your issue about blown windoes.. Does it really matter as much if it's not the focus of he image?

That one you showed of the red room, what's outside? Part of a tree? Doesn't really show that "hey this house has a nice view" IMO



You could always take 2 shots, one exposed properly for the house and one for the window and cookie cutter them in Photoshop.

 

Level wise, I have learned this by trial and error. It's why I bough the biggest flash that could be perched on my camera. I do use time of day to my advantage when possible and necessary. As far as technically metering the bright and dark areas of a room I don't do that. I do use a flash for 99.9% of interior shots.

Color wise, I almost always use auto WB for interiors. It's usually as close to actual color as I need, then I tweak to taste in post. The only time I experimented with manual WB I didn't use a card, I used a white door inside my house. In that case auto WB still worked better. I would like to learn how to use a gray card to properly set WB though.

 

Most of the time it does in this type of photography, but sometimes no. If you can capture blue sky, green vegetation or a view it does. If it's a window or siding of the neighboring house, or something else unattractive you want to show that off less. Strictly blown out windows to me looks like the person doesn't know what they're doing, or have the proper equipment. Though I see in many home interior magazines and the like that you can let the windows blow out and still create a fine image. They are usually showing off furniture and decor though.

You can tell when it matters -

IMG_7633 by Matt Garner, on Flickr

And when it matters much less -

IMG_5870 by Matt Garner, on Flickr

 

Just picked up a D7200 for my son's Christmas present.

 

Nice! I'd like a second body...not sure which way to go.

 

I got roped into taking pics at a close friend/family event this weekend with a request to stick around and take some formal family portraits after.

The event was good, although it made me reconsider my thoughts of selling my 10-22mm, as the 17mm end of my 17-55 was "barely" wide enough for the tightly packed house. I only had so much room to back up and occasionally it wasn't enough.

After the event, I set up the tripod and got to work on the family portraits. There were a lot of little kids involved.

I will never become a professional child photographer. Ever. E.V.E.R.

It wasn't the kids, they were fine to work with, albeit a little challenging.

The parent's OTOH, were a PITA. If I am taking pics of your kids and we want your kids looking at the camera, PLEASE STOP YELLING AT THEM TO SMILE FROM 5 FEET LEFT OF THE CAMERA !!!

I can't tell you how many shots I took where the kids are, naturally, looking away at their parents who were yelling "smile, smile, SMILE, SMIIIIIIIIILLE, stop picking your nose, STOP PICKING YOUR SISTER'S NOSE, put down the rock, SMIIIIIIIIIIIIILE..."

 

Lesson learned, haha

 

IMG_6245 by JS + MS3, on Flickr

 

Cool perspective!

I thought Rose was usually a light pink...

 

Any of you portrait guys use beauty dishes? What size? Do you like the look?

 

I have a white one and a silver one. Both 22"... I like them for headshots but sometimes I'll throw a diffuser sock over it, at which point it's really just a round softbox

 

Thats cool. Post up a shot or 2?

 

The silver is more contrasty and I normally use it with guys
Dallin (re-post, new version) by Ken, on Flickr


Where as the white is softer, I tend to use it more with women
Galina by Ken, on Flickr

The thing about beauty dishes though, is that they are really meant to be placed pretty close to the face, just outside the frame (thus mainly for headshots), once you start pulling it farther away, the light will become more harsh, which is why some people (including I myself) will throw a diffuser sock over it. Sometimes I just use them "as" a round softbox because it's quick to mount.

 

Excellent examples! Thanks Man!

 

I know HVStar became Maxsaver.net, but they don't seem to exist anymore?

Anyone have a good option for discount filters from Asian market?

 

interesting that the FujiFilm Instax Instant Film was the best selling photo product on Amazon this holiday season.

Anyone use one?

kind of curious about the Instax Mini 90

 

i see they have just a printer only that i can connect my smartphone to and print pictures taken with the phone or whatever is in my camera roll

 

need an advice on pricing...

a friend of mine is helping on some kind of website project for a "non profit" organization and she needs pictures of Vancouver... and wants to know how much I would charge to either 1) take new pictures and/or 2) use existing ones.

how much would you charge per picture?

 

Is she talking about prints, or the rights to digital images?

 

sorry for the late reply, I could swear I posted a comment

but anyways, turns out she's helping to make some kind of brochure, and just needs pics of Vancouver for it. Basically kinda like stock photos.

 

Sorry guys, I broke this thread yesterday, took a day to get the post deleted.

 

What happened?

 

I posted a link to a site that three meteorologist founded that predicted where photographers would have a good chance of seeing nice sunrise/sunsets, and apparently something happened when I posted that froze the thread up. I couldn't scroll down below the thin orange line in the bottom of my post so I couldn't delete the post, and also I couldn't see the link I had posted.

Not sure if it's cause or effect, but I am seeing a lot of the double-posts again today.

The original site I was trying to post was (not linking it this time) w w w DOT sunsetwx DOT com.

 

Ohh ok, didn't notice an error. But I never came back to the thread.

 

Happy Dance

 

 

It should be a crime to ship a brand new camera with a 0% charged battery and instructions that it must be fully charged before use...


I am up to 2 blinks on the charger and it's killing me...

 

At least you have a new toy to play with. My 6D got eaten up by Wall St

 

You can borrow mine if you are in AZ. Just keep the nose grease off the LCD.

 

with the weak ass Canadian $, maybe you should buy one up here

 

Hmmmm I wonder how much it would end up costing

 

nice stogie!!!!!!!!

 

Hi guys i haven't been on here awhile
my bad






WORK Emotion T7R2P - Nissan GTR Ravspec R35 - cl9abp


or my flickr

www.flickr.com/lcrazyaznl

 

Nice! Good to see you around.

 

Interesting read about how Kevin Durant was able to shoot at the super bowl.

Pics aren't too shabby either.

My View From Super Bowl 50 | The Players' Tribune

 

holy crap, this pic hit Flickr explore

First time for me, my phone was/is blowing up with all the notifications about the "faves"