What do you need to know to do this? To get the insider tips, we went to one of Manhattan's busiest architectural photographers, Björg Magnea (www.bjorgmagnea.com). “The secret,” she explains, “is to compose pictures that hide the flaws and showcase the attractions of your home. You want to make it appear as elegant and spacious as possible.”
“Start by looking at the house,” says Magnea, “and decide which elements to play up, and which to bury. Find broad, uncluttered interior and exterior views with character, charm, and space.”
She recommends compositions that offer unobstructed views, with leading lines drawing attention to attractive focal points such as stairways, doors, couches, or tables. Compose your shots so these visual anchors are whole and uncropped, and leave enough space (compositionally) around them to project an ample feeling for the room. If you're only an average decorator but have a friend who designs, or one who simply has a talent for making spaces look appealing, enlist his or her help. Also, ask the real estate agent's opinion about the property's most desirable selling points to help guide the photo session.
When you've decided what to photograph, draw up a timetable. Usually, different rooms or exterior facades look best in light at different times of day. Don't try to get all your shots in a single two-hour session.
“The hallmark of great real estate photography is the absence of optical distortion,” says Magnea. Poor architectural photography, on the other hand, is plagued by perspective distortion (a.k.a. keystoning) and by barrel distortion (where parallel lines bow outward, especially at the edges of the frame). Barrel distortion is a common flaw in photos made with inexpensive wide-angle lenses.
The good news? Both perspective and barrel distortion are easy to control.
To eliminate barrel distortion, use a pro-quality wide-angle lens, even if you must buy or rent one. Usually, the more expensive a wide-angle lens is, the better its distortion characteristics. (To learn which lenses are best, check our library of online lens tests at www.PopPhoto.com.) If you can't afford pro-quality glass, consider shooting multiple passes of a room with a normal lens, and stitching the (digital) images together in an image editor. If that's not an option, compose your shots so the outer edges, which usually have the worst distortion, can be cropped. Finally, Adobe's Photoshop CS2 has filters that can “repair” both barrel and pincushion distortion. If you frequently shoot architecture, this feature alone is probably worth the upgrade to CS2. (For tips on controlling perspective distortion, see the tilt/shift sidebar on the last page of this article.)
The digital camera is an essential tool for real estate agents, architects, designers and others who regularly take photos of real property. A digital camera can also be an important tool for individual sellers who must photograph their own home.
Whether a professional or not, the importance of taking well-composed and exposed photos of real estate can not be understated. Using a few tried and true techniques can produce near-professional looking images without the need of buying expensive equipment.
Wide angle lens for real estate photography
While a wide angle lens isn't required for taking photos of real estate, it is certainly a plus. Cameras and lenses with wide angle capability capture more of a scene than a normal lens.
Not only can a larger area of the scene be photographed with a wide angle lens, but wide angle allows you to stand closer to the main subject. As a result, it's often possible to take photos free from unwanted objects in the foreground such as trees and poles.
If you haven't purchased a digital camera, consider one with a 28mm (35mm equivalent) lens. Or check if the one you already own accepts a wide angle converter lens.
Composing real estate photos
Make a habit of checking the composition in the viewfinder or on the LCD before taking a photo. There are no hard and fast rules for composing real estate shots, but do keep in mind a few principles.
- Do some staging. Temporarily move distracting items from the scene such as a car in the driveway or a For Sale sign on the lawn. For interior shots, tidy up the room so it looks uncluttered.
- Highlight positive areas of property.
- Before snapping the shutter button, review the scene so vertical or horizontal line are perpendicular.
- Take shots from different angles so nothing obstructs an important part of the scene.
- Moving slightly to the left or right, or back a few steps, before taking a photo can improve composition. Check the co
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mposition on the LCD. - And your camera? Should you shoot digital or pull out your trusty
film SLR? “Both systems have their advantages,” explains Magnea.
“Digital lets you see what you're getting as you go, and it lets you
more easily address color temperature issues that can pop up with
interiors lit by both natural and tungsten light.” But digital cameras
with APS-sized sensors limit your ability to capture the wide fields
of view that are necessary, especially for interiors. “In
architectural photography,” says Magnea, “having the right lens is
more important than having the right camera.”
Tips for Shooting Interiors
Start by cleaning out your rooms, then add color back in. Don't leave surfaces empty, but don't create clutter either. Add accent colors with throws, wall decorations, bowls of fruit, and flower arrangements. Long-stemmed flower arrangements tend to make a ceiling seem low, so stick with shorter arrangements that hug the table. Place furniture and lights to make rooms appear bright, open, and large. Consider repainting dark non-wood interiors with lighter colors.
Keep your lighting simple and natural. Magnea prefers to use bounced incandescent lights for darker interiors. They let her easily evaluate lighting effects (strobes fire too quickly), and their color temperature matches that of most interior light fixtures. For bright, sunlit interiors, the natural light serves as her main light, and she fills in the shadows with strobes.
Don't let your lights cast shadows. One quick cure for this is to bounce the light off the ceiling. Standard, 250-watt lightbulbs in clamped reflectors (sold in almost every hardware store) work well. For bright, sun-flooded rooms, shoot early or late in the day, when sunbeams penetrate deepest into the room. Use your widest lens and shoot from the farthest distance possible to expand the feeling of space.
If the exterior light in rooms with prominent windows is too strong, it can make the windowed side of the room too bright. Also, if the light outside is significantly brighter than indoors, the windows in your pictures will appear blank white, showing no exterior detail. For these reasons, it's often best to wait for a cloudy day, or shoot late in the day, after the sun has set.
Tips for shooting exteriors
Exteriors look best when flowering plants are in bloom. If you're planning to put your home on the market in the next year, do yourself a favor and take the exteriors the preceding spring.
Budget time for cleaning up your property. This includes obvious tasks like mowing the lawn, trimming shrubs, and painting fences. Don't forget even such minute details as hiding tags that hang from patio furniture cushions.
Pick an angle that shows off the front facade with no obstructions. Use leading lines to guide the viewer's gaze to the front door, or to attractive architectural or garden elements. Don't include another building in your shot, unless it's a landmark of historical or practical interest. To make your home appear three-dimensional, compose with more than one façade showing, and shoot in light that selectively illuminates one surface. Avoid flat light or light coming from directly overhead.
One surefire technique for shooting exteriors in color is to wait until twilight. The warm-hued light spilling out the windows makes a cozy contrast to the bluish outdoor light of dusk. Shoot when interior and exterior lighting is of (roughly) equal intensity. The outside light goes rapidly from perfect to too-dark, so be ready. There's usually about a 10-minute window of perfection. Bracket by shooting a picture every minute during these 10 minutes, using the same exposure. As the blue light outside dims, incandescent light within will lend an increasingly warm, almost impressionistic feel to your now-beautiful home.