Real Estate Photo Coach on ActiveRain :: Session 01 - Exterior Photos

These are the photos I made for our first photo session drill. They were shot at ISO 200 - f/8 @ 1/60th of a second. I shot these this morning while coffee brewed and the dog poo'd.

We will use F/8 as our starting point for all real estate photographs. For the most part will adjust our shutter speed only, and at times also our ISO. I will blog about The Power of F/8 at a future date.

This Exposure / Photograph looks a little Blown Out or Too Hot at our current setting of 1/60th of a second.

Lets see the same view at a faster shutter speed to allow the light to burn in for less time:

The photo above was exposed for  half as much time - 1/125th of a second. All other settings stayed the same.

Now lets expose for half as much time again:

The photo above was exposed for  half as much time - 1/250th of a second. All other settings stayed the same.

I used this example becuase of the mix of shadows and sunlight. You will notice that in some exposures the shadows look good, and in the last one, the sunlight areas (highlights) are exposed well. Unfortunately, in photography we can't have both - at least not In-Camera.

We can blend the exposures in a photo editor to get the best of highlight and shadow to some degree:

The photo above is a blend of the 3 previous exposures. These photos are not edited and can be further enhanced in a photo editor.

Rules of Thumb:

• For exterior photos in bright sunlight set your camera at it's lowest ISO setting (ISO 200 for most cameras)
• Set your Aperture to f/8
  
• Set your shutter speed to 1/250th and faster if too bright (1/500th, 1/1000th, etc.) and slower if too dark (1/125th, 1/60th, 1/30th, etc.
• Take note in your mind as to what the light level looks like in your scene. In time you will be able to judge your starting exposure settings.
  
• You will not be able to capture extremes of light and shadow in one exposure - this requires photo editing techniques.

I know what your thinking "Wait Coach... Photography can't be this easy... you mean we just set our ISO to 200, the Aperture to F/8 and rotate the shutter speed to a faster or slower setting if the photo is to bright or too dark?!"

Yep, that's the basics....

Interior views to follow - time for Coach to have dinner. (Uh - oh speaking of myself in the third person - I need to step away from the computer now!)

Feel free to contact me with any questions. And please comment so we can all learn from the group.

Also, Craig Daniels suggested we use Flickr instead of Box.net to share photos and extended comments. I always do what Craig Daniels tells me - So I will post these samples at my Real Estate Photo Coach Flickr Profile soon- See you there too!