This is my first post in this group, and in any group on this site. These are some images from our first high-end architectural shoot that included a premium twilight photo, portfolio level interior shots, aerials, and an aerial video. The listing is in one of the most affluent cities on the east coast, near Bethesda, MD and is going for just over $5M. Any feedback would be appreciated as we worked extremely hard to make this our best work. Tried to follow the techniques of Mike Kelley for the twilight and interiors were a combination of flash and ambient. The 15 or so images we took more so for portfolio purposes utilizing architectural photography techniques are a major upgrade compared to the traditional real estate photos that were taken by one of the large real estate photography companies.
GTFO. This is not your first time! These look great to me, but I don’t do real estate photography for a living. Maybe someone with more experience can give you some pointers, but I’d say you’re doing very well.
Thanks Phillip, I am trying to break out of the real estate photography realm and get into higher end architectural photography as real estate can be a nuisance at times. Otherwise I do enjoy work for luxury homes, but even still the pay is not what it should be.
I agree with Phillip that your work looks great. It's interesting to me that they indeed look like high end real estate shots, not architectural images. And in fact you mention the house is for sale and I assume these were used to support that listing?
The biggest difference between the two is mindset. Real estate photography is intended to "document," whereas architectural images should tell a story. A real estate photographer will rarely move away from a wide angle lens that encompasses the entire scene/space. An architectural photographer will identify a specific area that conveys a mood, emotion, detail, or sense of space.
An example might be the kitchen where a prospective buyer wants to "see the space" but an interior designer or architect might want to portray how the surfaces and textures work together. Different client… different result.
Pick up a copy of Architectural Digest and notice that photographers aren't afraid to focus on a corner of a room instead of shooting the entire room. Or they might have portions of furnishings going off frame or focus on just two chairs where you can imagine two people having a conversation. Architectural photographers also aren't afraid to let the windows blow out on their interiors so the viewer "stays" inside.
Check out more portfolios on architect or interior designer's websites and you'll quickly see a significant difference in how the shoots are done.
Thanks for the great comments Daniel. Yes this was a real estate shoot to support the listing in a way, but really it was more so for a luxury portfolio for the agent himself. We did not shoot these wide-angle actually and these are only a few images. We wanted to tell a story and really draw the audiences attention to specific architectural and interior design features. We also did several vignette and detail shots that are not traditionally used in real estate listings.
I will certainly checkout more information on architect and designers websites, I really am looking for a way to reach out to this type of clientele rather than agents themselves whom would rather want wide-angle shots anyways. Luckily we were able to charge a bit more than traditional real estate here. Thanks a lot for the great comments!
@Daniel. Enjoyed and appreciate the clarity of your thoughts for the photography of both nature. Would try to imbibe the logic sooner. cheers.
Very solid work. The compositions are a little generic feeling, but totally appropriate for RE.
The twilight shot lacks a little pizazz, and it's a little too dark out (I struggle with this as well), but I like the composition a lot more than the daylight shot of the front exterior. I don't think there's anything wrong with repeating a composition across day/twilight shots, especially when they're so close.
I can't help the interiors would feel a bit more high-end if you had shot them without the lights on... If you have a bracket with enough detail in the bulbs and fixtures, you could work on compositing that detail into the shots... as it is all the interior bulbs are blown out.
These are mostly just nit picks though. Great job!
Thanks so much for the comments. I agree the twilight shot is a little dark as well, we ran a little late getting out there for that. Unfortunately for the interiors the client wanted the lights on, so as you know this isn't always in our control, but I do appreciate the feedback here. Thanks Colin, always great to get another eye on this stuff
I know how that goes... Sometimes I'll shoot with lights on and off, making sure to grab a shot exposing for the bulbs themselves. That way I can composite that detail in later if I want.
Nice work, Eric. The one criticism I'd offer pertains to the living room shot in that it appears to me that the flash was a touch "hot". Are you using a diffuser of any sort? If not, you might want to consider using them for more even lighting. Also, it's possible to use the HDR process with flash to get a more even distribution of light. This shot - https://sparkwerximagesllc.pixieset.com/sparkwerximagesllcportfolio/?pid... - was done using HDR and flash, just to prove my point.
Thanks, no diffuser on the light and perhaps the settings were just a little high, thanks for the tip. This was done via bracketing and flash as well. Appreciate the feedback too.