OK, I wouldn’t exactly call this technique “new” because I suspect a large number of real estate photographers already use it, but for me it is new. Before I get into explanations about the workflow, here is one of the shots.
First the basics. This is not an HDR shot and was taken in a single frame. I used a single flash with this shot, although very soon I will move to using multiple flashes triggered by Pocketwizards. The agents that have seen this so far really like it, though I suspect some photographers may not like the effect. Continue reading for the workflow I used.
First, I am not an expert by any means for Photoshop. In fact, I currently almost never use layers – mainly because I still need to learn how to use them effectively. I also never use advanced techniques for real estate photography because I don’t have the time – I need to edit a good number of pictures within a short time so that I can send the pictures to the agent either that night or early the next morning. Therefore I use the following technique.
- Generally for these types of shots I do not use a tripod. I do use a tripod for the panorama photos, but for individual shots like this one I shoot handheld. I try to align the picture using the grid lines on my camera’s focusing screen.
- I never aim the flash directly into the shot or at the ceiling. As you can see, the ceiling is in the shot. I try to bounce the flash off a wall, preferably one that is behind me. Sometimes this becomes quite tricky and I am looking forward to using off camera flashes.
- All shots are taken in RAW. I set the white balance to cloudy just to be consistent. All shots are also taken in manual mode and I select all focus points because this is less important when using wide angle lenses. In terms of equipment, this was taken on a Canon 5D with the Canon 16-35 2.8L II lens.
- I import the pictures and make an initial pass where I correct the white balance and adjust exposure and contrast using Photoshop’s RAW tools.
- I then open up each shot to make the final changes. Until very recently, I would open the file in 8 bit mode but most recently I have switched to 16 bit mode.
- If there are any dust spots, I remove them here. I also try to remove anything unsightly on the walls or carpets.
- I dislike real estate shots that show a plant or something else ‘creeping up’ on the side. When I take the shot I try hard to avoid this, but sometimes there is a piece of a door or something else in the shot. If this occurs I crop the shot.
- Wide angle lenses have a tendency to distort the shot quite a bit. A number of agents don’t mind the distortion if the result is more is visible in the shot. However, sometimes it is a bit too extreme and if I don’t have other shots to replace it, I’ll fix the distortion using Photoshop’s transform and/or skew features.
- Finally, I use the shadows and highlights feature in Photoshop to give the final effect. If over applied, this can make the picture look a bit flat and fake. You can argue there is a bit of that in the above shot, but everyone I have showed it to doesn’t mind. The important thing to remember is the audience – most of whom are not photographers but just want to see the best representation of the house possible.
Here are a few other shots from the house. I took a number of panoramas as well. Interestingly I have found that I prefer to shoot these type of panoramas with the camera vertically than horizontally.
I still have a ways to go with real estate photography, but compared to pictures I took just a month or two ago I believe I am improving. Further steps I need to take are.
1) Take shots in a way to have less distortion and use PTLens to fix more of it.
2) Do a better job at removing shadow areas.
3) I have gotten better at not blowing out interior lights, but other pictures (not shown here) still had some problems. I know what I need to do to improve here, I just need to practice it. 
4) Do a better job with color reflections. In general I try not to bounce of of non-white walls, but interior lights sometimes do this for me.
