Twilight is the magic hour for real estate photography when the exterior of the house looks it best. With most prospective buyers now looking online, a stand out twilight exterior photo is the money shot that grabs potential buyers attention. In the video, architectural photographer Scott Hargis shows how to shoot an exterior view at twilight, mixing natural and interior lighting to make a house look its best. The video is just over one hour long. In part one, Scott takes two front and back exterior twilight shots. In part two we see him in post editing the photos.
Topics include:
- Why twilight?
- Setting up front and back shots
- Waiting for the moment
- Turning on interior lights
- Editing images
Twilight shots are tricky, there is a lot of waiting about followed by a rush of activity. The best light occurs within a window of fifteen minutes just after sunset. In a typical brief from a real estate agency in Melbourne, I need to take five to seven shots in and around that fifteen minute window. I don't have the luxury of spending a lot of time on taking only one or two shots as Scott does here. Even with two setups, we see Scott struggling to get the perfect shots.
Despite this limitation, I did pick up some useful tips from the master at work. For the front exterior Scott wanted to get up high to include a mountain ridge line behind the house. Even a fully extended tripod was not going to cut it, as you can see in Scott's Real Estate Photography: The Basics video. In the twilight video, Scott uses a double cab ute tray as a platform to gain the required elevation. Around the back of the house, Scott sets up his back up camera on intervalometer while he concentrates on the hero shot out the front.
Another nifty trick was the use of newspaper to to mimic a fire in a brazier in the back yard. He also adds strobes in the bedrooms to balance out the brighter lighting of the kitchen and porch lights. Other tips included the use of an ND filter when shooting into the west to darken the bright sky above the setting sun, or to darken the foreground in reverse.
For the front hero shot, Scott uses a 24mm tilt shift lens shifted up to minimise the amount of road in the foreground. This is something I've tried on site for verticals but never nailed, as focusing in dim light with a tilt shift is time consuming. In the video, Scott zooms in with live view and then uses a loupe on the LCD to achieve tack sharp focus.
The use of the ND filter and the Tilt Shift are all part of Scott's philosophy of getting it right in camera to minimise work in post. However when shooting multiple setups in a short time frame, using tilt shift lenses and ND filters is probably out of the question. Typically, blown out western sky's are replaced with drop in skys and foregrounds darkened in post by professional editing teams.
For the front hero shot, Scott uses a 24mm tilt shift lens shifted up to minimise the amount of road in the foreground. This is something I've tried on site for verticals but never nailed, as focusing in dim light with a tilt shift is time consuming. In the video, Scott zooms in with live view and then uses a loupe on the LCD to achieve tack sharp focus.
The use of the ND filter and the Tilt Shift are all part of Scott's philosophy of getting it right in camera to minimise work in post. However when shooting multiple setups in a short time frame, using tilt shift lenses and ND filters is probably out of the question. Typically, blown out western sky's are replaced with drop in skys and foregrounds darkened in post by professional editing teams.
The second part of the video on editing was of less direct interest to me, as I hand over my images to an editing team at the agency. However I'm always conscious of providing the best frames I can in camera to reduce the editing teams workflow. So it is important to understand the editing teams worksflow. Scott walks through a blending an image for the rear exterior which is a common professional editing technique.
Overall I found this video on exterior twilight shooting a good investment of my time. Scott is a seasoned presenter and the production values of the video are high. I picked up many useful tips and reinforced much of what I know - twilight shooting can be stressful even for a master like Scott. I look forward to reviewing Scott's the Kitchens video next week.
Overall I found this video on exterior twilight shooting a good investment of my time. Scott is a seasoned presenter and the production values of the video are high. I picked up many useful tips and reinforced much of what I know - twilight shooting can be stressful even for a master like Scott. I look forward to reviewing Scott's the Kitchens video next week.
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