I would like to add that the time it took to write the Blog exceeded the effort to recreate the perfect shot. Well done Ryan.

Sometimes I can make that work and sometimes it is just a bear.  There are other ways but they seem to be just as hard or easy as yours.  Thanks.

Ryan, I have never been able to make it work, but now that I read your post I'm coing to give it a try - I have Photoshop Elements, but this strategy is in there,

Karen Kruschka www.e-virginiarealestate.com

KC - Thanks

Gary - I have tried it several different ways too. This is by far the easiest in my opinion.

Karen - This should work in Elements. As long as you add a new layer before you move the window over, you shouldn't have problems.

"Blown-out" windows is a problem I see over and over again.  It is possible to 'fix' this as you shoot, but you need some powerful flashes.  The flash on a P&S will rarely suffice so unless you are taking pictures with a good DSLR with decent flash(es), this technique may be the only way to avoid drastically over-exposed windows. 

If the camera has a feature called Auto-Exposure Bracketing (AEB) you can get three photos at three different exposures and work with those.  Of course owning and knowing how to use a photo editing program like Photoshop is also required.  It can be a lot of work, but the results speak for themselves.

ILW 

Ryan, you are givin away all the secrets man..  pretty soon I'm gonna go out of business  :)

very nicely done...

Lee - The best way to fix the problem is to take photos when the light is low outside, but that is not always feasible. Auto-exposure bracketing can work too, but still hard to get great results.

Met - I thought we were supposed to share here on ActiveRain :-) Thanks for the complement!

Great tip.  Thanks for taking the time to write it up and post it.  I know that took more time than to actually fix the photo.

Don - You are welcome. Yes, it did take a lot more time to write the post than actually fix the photo :-)

Thanks for posting the tips for photoshop, I find myself bookmarking your blogs for references later.

Heather - I am happy to help.

Ryan,  Thanks for sharing.  I learn so much here about how to improve my listing photographs.

Kim - If you are willing to learn, then I am willing to teach. Thank you for commenting.

I just started Iwas working on on that im glad I found some help thank you.

Michael - You are welcome. It looks like you are just getting started on ActiveRain. Let me know if you need any help getting started.

What a great post!  I muddle through Photoshop but find it so difficult to "figure" out how to do things.  Thanks for your ideas.

Lisa - I am glad that I was able to help. There are a lot of great photoshop posts on ActiveRain.

Ryan,

One thing that I always do is blast the window with full flash so that the edge around the window isn't so dark.  I find that this makes the cutting and pasting look more natural.  It also helps when there are blinds or objects in front of the window.

John Hokkanen 

Wow, nice work!

I've been doing that for several years - the results are impressive, but it does get tedious sometimes when you have dividers in the windows, curtains, etc.... then it's important to use a flash so those elements lighten up.   I created this example a few years ago which illustrates the difference very dramatically.

John - Thanks for the tip you and Margaret do such nice work.

Tchaka - Thank you.

Fred - The flash did make a big difference in your example. I am assuming that you didn't bounce the flash directly off the window, or you would seen the reflection. Where do you point the flash?

Ryan:  I think I aimed it at the ceiling, angled up... but I did that like three years ago.  i don't remember what I did this morning.  :)

Fred - That would make sense to aim it at the ceiling. I don't have a separate flash for my camera, so that creates a problem. Thanks for sharing this though. Hopefully other readers are learning some good tips.

I never thought of something like that... very cool technique

Paul - This is a basic attempt HDR photography, but it is not too difficult and works well in practice.

This is THE cleverest thing I have ever seen.  You guys are amazing!  one day... Ted Baker assures me... one day....

Juliet - Thank you for your very flattering comment. One day...

I have tried this soooooooooo often! With your help, today it actually worked!! THANKS!!!

Anya - Wonderful! I am oh so happy that I helped someone today.

This technique is used by the movie industry and has a name:

HDRI- high dynamic range imaging 

The possible applications are numerous! :)

Darrel - Same concept in photography. As I commented earlier this is the most basic form, but that is a good place to begin. 

My approach is to set exposure for the windows (and the light streaming into the room) and adding bounced flash to bring up the room so everything is balanced. Here are two examples:

Jay Groccia

OnSite Studios 

This is one area that drives me crazy! I am still trying to figure this whole light idea out. Thank you for the tips, I have book marked this!

Heather

Thats a pretty good flash you have but a lot of us are trying to make do with the point and shoot camera. 

Gene ~ I used a point and shoot camera and I didn't use any flash. I set my aperature high and set a longer exposure.

Thank you so much for the post....time to drag out my old tripod.

Earleene ~ You are welcome and yes, you should probably always be shooting your real estate photos from a tripod ;)

I went out and bought a new tripod today.  ;-)

By the way Ryan, my son worked at a camp called Sambica on lake Sammamish all the way thru college.  He loved it out there.  As a matter of fact he got one of his good friends to come out there to work for the summer and she never came back.  She loves it out there.  Beautiful country.

Earleene ~ Hopefully you bought a fairly study tripod. Mine was only $50 and it works okay, but I have gotten into taking 6 exposures per photos, so I would actually like to get a better tripod.

Regarding Bellingham, yes it is a beautiful area when the weather is nice. The summers here are the best. There are a lot of people that snowbird from Bellingham to Arizona and South Cal.

One thing that I would caution regarding HDR - it can get very 'cartoonish'. Even using a point+shoot, one can simply put a flash deflector on it (even something as simple as a business card taped to the front of the camera and make the flash bounce up instead of blasting forward. Now go and get 2, 3, or 4 mini 'slave' flashes  - these are small and inexpensive and can be hidden behind furniture and placed on shelves behind the camera or even held in your hands and pointed in different directions to smooth out the light. This will get the colors and textures of things in the room to look a lot more natural.

Another danger with HDR is when you use real long shutter speeds to pick up all the shadow detail, very bright light sources near the dark parts will 'bleed' into that part of the scene and spoil the shot. That's what's happening in the top poto - look at the blueish 'fog' around the fireplace.

For your viewing pleasure, here is a home we recently photographed - CLICK on the photo to explore the entire home.

Jay Groccia, Principal Photographer

OnSite Studios

Jay ~ Thanks for the tips. This is a pretty old post. I have learned a lot more about HDR photography over the last 6 months. Here is a photo that I shot last night in my TV room. You are correct that there is a little bleed over of blue from the outdoor white balance, but all in all I think it is much better.

Much better - I don't find the smearing of the ceiling lights or the feathering at the window border too bad. It certainly is FAR AND AWAY BETTER than 90% of the real estate photography out there - and I think THAT is the important point for this board. My clients hold me to a higher standard because publications demand it.

Jay Groccia, Principal Photographer

OnSite Studios

Jay ~ Thank you. I only spent 5 minutes editing this photo, so I don't feel too bad. You are correct that I could have turned down the dimmer on the ceiling lights and be a bit more careful with the window trim. One of my friends is a professional photographer and he is always giving me a hard time. Realistically, it makes me feel better.

I'm with Jay Groccia. I expose for the windows and than add light by using my external flashes to bring up the light inside the room.

It is much more time friendly. Post edit work in photoshop can be a bit of a pain!

Lynsey ~ Or you can just wait until the sun is about to go down and the natural light is perfect ;)

BTW: You being a photographer, why no photo?

@Ryan ~ Good point. But the sun doesn't go down until about 7:30.. and that it too late to be working for me! :)

That is a good question! The main reason why I don't have a photo is because I often shoot homes by myself, and I worry about people hiring me because they know who I am and what I look like. (FYI: I am no one special, and I am nothing special HAHA... but there are weirdos out there just the same.) So I try to stay behind the scenes.....

I used to be a Realtor and it was a very important thing to be aware of your surroundings. Because for a little while there, there were stories popping up about women realtors who were getting kidnapped by people who pretended they wanted to tour a home.  Scary!

PS- That way my repsonse.... :D

Lynsey ~ Know I now why you got out of real estate... couldn't handle the hours... LOL.

I was just giving you a hard time about your photo. I understand that people like to fly under the radar. I also know that real estate agents need to have their agent photo on display because people like to look at who they are working with. The only reason that I gave you a hard time is because Jay started commenting on a 7 month old post and now I am getting beat up by the pros for some past work.

Realistically, most real estate agents are taking photos with a point and shoot that lacks an external flash. I was just trying to provide some tips on compensating for windows, which is something that agents have to deal with all the time.

Thanks for your input and the laughs :D

HAHA! Ya, people calling at all hours of day and night is too much for me. You are right!

In my defense- 7:30 would be fine to work.. if it ended there.. but you add on 2 hours of shooting, drive time and post edit work and your at 11:00pm! That doesn't float my boat.... LOL

I'm not giving you a hard time! I actually think that your tutuorial was a good one, and I use those tools myself... 

Good job. :)

Ryan, I was actually planning to post a blog about windows and the view. Your way is good and it works great, but for many people it takes too much time.

Irina ~ Thank you. Like anything else, with a little practice you can better quickly and save time in the long run.

I have had to rely on this technique many times, but like some of the other comments, prefer to expose for windows and then allow flash to fill in room. Much more time effective.  However, there are always those times that don't work as well as necessary and its Photoshop to the rescue.   

I see so many listings with unprofessional blown out windows.  It can be so distracting to the picture.  Thanks for sharing the technique with others.

Good discussion! I can only think of one thing to add.  Rather than adding a layer via the main tool bar, you can simply click on the "add new layer" icon in the "layers" pallet.  The new layer icon is the second icon from the right in the row of icons just below the background layer.  It looks like a white page with a corner turned up.  Clicking on this icon will insert a new layer just above the layer you have selected.

It is worth mentioning that if you would rather focus your energy on selling homes, there are services out there who will perform these kinds of procedures for you. 

Cheers,

Mio

Thanks for the tipe - I am going to try this with the next home that I list.  I really appreciate the information on how to do this.  Thanks again!

Trish ~ You are right and sometimes this is the only way to go.

Bill ~ Good call on the "new layer" icon. I actually do the same thing.

Also, it is ideal to spend all of your time focusing on selling real estate, but taking & editing your own photos can also be the most reliable method.

Barb ~ You are welcome. This is a pretty easy technique for most agents with a point and shoot camera. Despite the resistance from some of the professionals that have commented, you can produce some decent results with a little effort.

While I think it is commendable that agents spend a lot of time making the best photos that they possibly can as DYIers, I think it is irresponsible to say that DYI is more reliable than using a pro. Being a professional implies consistancy in quality.

From my perspective, a real estate agent shooting their own listings is akin to a FSBO. The same thought process is in place, "why should I pay someone to do it when I can do it myself"?

Well, the truth of the matter is that for the same reasons a professional real estate agent is used to sell a house, a professional photographer will do that much better.

I think it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, just because some IS a professional doesn't mean they are right for the job - there are plenty of excellent wedding photographers that have no idea as to how to shoot architecture. I wouldn't use a criminal attorney to handle my estate and I wouldn't see a neurosurgeon to do a heart bypass.

Granted there are listings out there that don't have the profit margin to pay for pro photogrraphy, but when an agent slaps up a bunch of poorly lit, badly composed with tipping walls, leaning furniture, and quite frankly, ugly photos on a million dollar listing, they are, in my opinion, ripping off the client.

Let's face it - we are here to SELL a house not simply take an order for it. I think one of the things that is keeping the market down is buyers wait until they see something that grabs them - when they are scanning listings - especially online - if the photos don't grab them, they simply click on the next listing and the opportunity is lost - forever.

@Anonymous ~ I think we are actually in agreement. However, an agent with decent equipment and knowledge can produce great photos for the MLS and their marketing materials. They are not going to be near as good as the best professional photographers and probably not as good a most photographers that call themselves professionals, but if they can come close how is that bad for the client?

Is a potential Internet buyer going to refuse to look at a house because the white balance of the windows is incorrect? Of course not. Would an editor of a magazine refuse a photo because of poor white balancing? I think they would be disappointed. 

The intent of good real estate photos is to entice buyers to look at homes. It just isn't necessary to produce magazine quality photographs and certainly not for all homes. The MLS is going to butcher the photos when they compress them anyway. 

The reason that I suggested that professionals can be unreliable is because they are often extremely busy and can take a while to schedule. Once they shoot the photos they also require further time to process the photos. It can be difficult to coordinate all of this with the seller, while still following the MLS rules.

Please understand that I hold professional photographers in the highest regard, but it is not always necessary to hire a professional for real estate photos.

I like the layer, and I too can use a bounce.  If I'm really feeling like extra work, I'll bounce 2 flashes.  Either way, tripod, 2 shots, layers:   Bouncing, 2 flashes, takes about the same amount of time

This is a real problem in AZ with our consistently sunnY days.  Thanks for the tip!  I'll be giving it a try.