Been gone too long w/ new project: Tips on Evening photography

[fatmaxxv]

I've been too busy living my other life: buying/ selling real estate.... Going to have to make the real moo-lah to pay for this high-sucking hobby.....

Here's my new venture and I was wondering if those who have some tips to share??

I'm interested in EVENING photography instead of the regular agent shots....
http://www.builderblueprint.com/buil...hotography.htm

1. What equipment?

2. What photo tips?

3. Any websites you stumbled across that can be enlightening?

I currently use a tripod, Canon Rebel XT, 10-22mm to shoot. Have a 430EX speedlight too.

Please help!

[Daniel Bates]

Evening as in low light? What you've got will probably work pretty well... if I wanted to get a killer low-light rig I would buy a 5D and the 50/1.2 (and a fast wideangle, not sure which).

Photo tips? Use mirror lockup (MLU) if the XT has it. Use a remote release when working off a tripod; that'll reduce vibrations.

[chloew]

Based on personal experience, the key is proper lighting. You can get away with using a tripod and long exposure using available light, but to make your images stand out, you will need additional off-camera lights. This could be multiple 430EX slaves or other studio-type of lights. You will probably also need some modifiers such as umbrellas or softboxes.

Based on each individual location you need to be able to highlight specific features or fill in shadows.

[venchka]

The site you linked to says it all:

On-Site professional interior and exterior photography. Hires - 8 MP SLR
-Exterior time-exposed night shots complete with wet sidewalks.
-Panoramic photos, creative angles, room preparation.
-Enhanced color and lighting. Lush green grass, crisp blue skies.
-Clear see-through window enhancement, so exterior view can be experienced.

WOW! An 8MP SLR!

Daniel, the 24/1.4 comes to mind. However, there is a guy doing this kind of thing using a matrix of 50mm exposures (a LOT of exposures) and software for stitching & perspective control. I would think HDR would come in handy as well, especially late in the day.

[venchka]

Here's a link that might give you some clues to fitting all the pices of the puzzle together.

Architectural photography

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

[jeffkohn]

I think you'll find that exterior shots such as the ones on that site are take at 'twilight', ie a bit after sunset. What you want is just enough ambient light to get a decent exposure of the building and a deep blue sky. The trick is shooting at just the right time so that the ambient light balances with any artificial lights in the scene, such as lit interiors that are showing through windows, or exterial landscape/porch lighting, etc. HDR imaging might come in handy for this type of situation, and maybe 'light painting' could be something interesting to try. But for the most part I would think you could do these exterior shots without extensive or specialized equipment.

High-end interior photography is I think considerably more complicated due to the complex lighting setups that are used and the need to balance disparate light sources that may vary in intensity and color.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Anybody ever try to do a night time infared shoot that has you painting the subject with some sort of heat source? Could make some interesting photos, especially with a cool night background.

As to low light photography you can learn to paint the scene with remote light sources that vary from a standard flashlight to lights with color gels to lazer pens to other light sources of varying light Kelvin outputs. Say painting a scene with a flourescent light source would give you a greenish cast while painting it with a propane powered light would give you another spectrum of color and then say a sodium vapor lamp would give you other colors-we would be talking about very long exposures with a lot of onsite work and experimentation by you. (exposures over 10 minutes)

[fatmaxxv]

Thanks for all the comments. I plan to go to a property I have this evening and work some tips (with what I have). I'll post some (if they turn out).

[josphy]

Hey, the equipment you have now is perfect. The important thing here is going to be a tripod and TIMING. You need to take your shot at the right time to balance out the remaining light in the sky as you head towards dusk and sunset with the artificial lights of the houses and/or interiors. I would set up your shot around the right time and the light changes pretty rapidly towards the end of the day, so just shoot and experiment to get the balance between the two the way you like it.

The only thing I could really see adding later might be a tilt & shift lens but you can correct for perspective when necessary using software for the time being no problems.

[josphy]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

Anybody ever try to do a night time infared shoot that has you painting the subject with some sort of heat source? Could make some interesting photos, especially with a cool night background.

Oh and infrared film/DSLR aren't sensitive far enough into the spectrum to record heat. They only record near-infrared...so basically just beyond the red spectrum, but not far enough to pick up heat.

[Carson]

Those are my photos at builderblueprint.com And guess what, I have the exact same set up you have. For exteriors, I have 3 $20 craftsman shop lights shined at the home from left, middle and right. Timing is evrything. For inside and outside. I take the shot right as the sun is almost completely down. Take a shot every minute until the sky is almost completely dark. I usually have to rush to take all of the photos (inside and out) inside a 15 -20 minute window of opportunity.

Originally Posted by josphy

Hey, the equipment you have now is perfect. The important thing here is going to be a tripod and TIMING. You need to take your shot at the right time to balance out the remaining light in the sky as you head towards dusk and sunset with the artificial lights of the houses and/or interiors. I would set up your shot around the right time and the light changes pretty rapidly towards the end of the day, so just shoot and experiment to get the balance between the two the way you like it.

The only thing I could really see adding later might be a tilt & shift lens but you can correct for perspective when necessary using software for the time being no problems.

Hit the nail right on the head.

WOW! An 8MP SLR!

Is that not important? I wasn't marketing to professional photographers you know...

I'm glad I found this forum it's right up my alley.

[Carson]

By the way, here is an excellent link for someone interested in real estate photography:
http://larrylohrman.wordpress.com/
And this:
http://www.squidoo.com/carsoncoots