 |
October 13, 2008 |
  |
Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council |
|
|
Columns |
|
Whether you’re in the process of selling a house on your own or through a realtor—or you’re a real estate agent or a real estate photographer yourself—one of the most effective tools you can use to showcase any home effectively is a digital SLR fitted with an ultra-wide-to-wide-angle zoom lens. With more home buyers than ever shopping online, the visual impression you make on the small computer screen is crucial—and as the saying goes, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the interior and exterior views you see when perusing the images on the multiple-listing service (MLS) are pedestrian at best and atrocious at worst. If you can make your house stand out from the pack with more attractive and enticing imagery, it’ll give you an edge. At very least, you’ll motivate more people to look at the house, and every looker is a potential buyer. And now that the real estate market has cooled down in many areas of the country, getting the best possible house pictures online is more important than ever. Amazingly, the ultra-wide-to-wide zoom is also the most versatile lens for home buyers. Purchasing a home is inherently an intense emotional experience as well as a crucial financial commitment. One simple, straightforward way to minimize the frustration, refine your decision-making process, and maximize the joy of purchasing a new home: Take lots of pictures of each house you’re seriously considering using the right equipment and techniques. Practically anyone can do it, it’s actually fun, and it sends a clear message to sellers and real estate agents, that you’re a thoughtful, careful buyer. An ultra-wide zoom facilitates the whole process by letting you show small rooms, closets, vestibules, etc. in a single shot, and makes it much easier to show and entire house in relation to the property whether it’s on a large lot or smaller piece of property. 
 Expanding a living room: Modest sized living room (top) looks cramped when shot with normal zoom at around 33mm (50mm equivalent) setting, but much roomier and more inviting when photographed with Tamron 11-18mm (bottom) at close to ultra-wide 11mm (17mm equivalent setting. Wide shot actually gives a more realistic feel of being there.
If you don’t have a digital SLR the good news is that excellent consumer-aimed models from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and others can now be purchased brand new at prices in the $500-700 range, even less for the body only. If the prospect of shelling out $1,000-1,200 for a basic one-lens real estate outfit seems daunting, remember that these figures amount to only a tiny percentage of a new or existing home price. More important, a first class real estate photography setup it can literally save you thousands of dollars by enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of your real estate quest. And once you have settled into your new home, or sold your old one you will now have a state-of-the-art digital camera system that’s capable of capturing family, vacation, and creative pictures of the highest caliber. Why an ultra-wide zoom? What’s makes an ultra-wide-to-wide-angle zoom essential for first class real estate photography? It’s the angle of view that’s the key—as well as its pro-caliber imaging performance. On a consumer digital SLR (that is, all the popularly-priced models with APS C-sized image sensors,) an 11-18mm lens provides a 35mm equivalent focal length range of 17-28mm, which corresponds to an angular coverage range of 103.3 degrees to 75.3 degrees. A 12-24mm lens is equivalent to an 18-36mm and a 10-20mm zoom is equal to a 15-30mm in the 35mm formatAt these extremely wide angles you can shoot impressively expansive views in tight spaces, display small rooms in their entirety, giving them a more spacious look on the screen, and show critical details such as windows and closets in an attractive perspective. That’s why auto manufacturers almost always shoot pictures of car interiors with lenses of this type—they make them look more commodious! This effect of “expanded space” is more pronounced at the ultra-wide settings (at or near the widest setting) and more subtle at the regular wide-angle settings (as you zoom closer to 18-24mm) but it’s always present, and you can make it work for you in virtually all your interior images. 
Nestled in the woods: Homey appearance of classic cottage style stone house with slate roof is enhanced by shooting it on a sunny fall day after the leaves have turned, even though lawn is not optimal. I used the 18mm (28mm equivalent) focal length of the Tamron 11-18mm lens to show the house in its attractive setting.
Hints and tips on shooting with ultra-wides Now before you just rush out and start shooting real estate pictures with a 10-20mm, 11-18mm, or 12-24mm lens there are a few things you ought to know. When using an ultra-wide lens, especially at its widest setting, it’s important to keep your DSLR level, and aimed at the center of the wall or corner of the room you’re showing. Tilting the camera upward or downward will result in apparent perspective distortion that makes the picture look unnatural. For similar reasons, avoid placing window edges and room corners at the edges of the frame. To get a believable picture of an entire small room in a single shot, it helps to stand in one corner or the room if possible, but be sure to take a series of pictures from different vantage points so you can later select the one that shows the room in the best possible light.  Enhancing a finished basement: This image of the finished basement is an effective selling tool because it shows its large size to full advantage, and de-emphasizes low 7-foot ceiling. Taken with Tamron 11-18mm lens at 11mm (17mm equivalent) setting on Canon EOS 20D.
And speaking of light, don’t rely on your camera’s built-in flash. It may be OK at the 18mm (28mm equivalent) setting, but at the 10 pr 11mm (15-17mm equivalent) focal length it’s coverage will be inadequate, leading to unattractively darkened edges and corners of the frame. It’s best to open the windows, turn on all the lights, and shoot in daylight on a sunny day. The slightly warm color balance you get with incandescent lights (ordinary household bulbs) can actually be attractive, and most DSLRs will give good results in mixed (daylight plus tungsten) lighting conditions by using the auto white balance (AWB) setting or manually selecting the Daylight setting. If the light is insufficient for a sharp handheld exposure, set your camera’s ISO to 400 or 800 and/or use a tripod. Sage advice for home sellers Before you shoot your interior documentation, make sure the house is as clean, neatly arranged and as clutter-free as possible—the classic advice of real estate agents when preparing for an open house. In short, think of your photos as an online open house, and make it look as inviting and spacious as you can before taking pictures. If necessary, move that extra chair, table, or any other excessive piece of furniture outdoors or to another room while taking each shot. And it may even pay to put excessive items in a storage facility while you’re in the process or selling and showing the house. Finally, if there are any areas or features of the house that are actually a turnoff, such as a funky bathroom or utility room, unfinished basement, or a dilapidated rear porch, etc. you are in no obligation to show them online. Don’t! The buyers will see them soon enough anyway (if you don’t decide to upgrade them prior to showing), and there is no need to discourage them beforehand.  The intimate look: Sometimes an intimate view is more effective than a super-expanded one, and at times a vertical shot works best. This view of an eating area adjacent to the kitchen illustrates both these points. It was shot with the Tamron 11-18mm at the 18mm (28mm equivalent) setting.
While the ability to shoot expansive interiors or large and small spaces is what defines the ultra-wide zoom as The Real Estate Lens par excellence is that it can also work very well for exterior views, especially at the 18-24mm (28-36mm equivalent) settings. Just as this wide-angle focal length gives a spacious feeling to a room, it can also enhance the feeling of a house and its surrounding property, and make a small lot or parcel appear more attractive. However, going all the way to the widest 10mm or 11mm (15-17mm equivalent) setting may be overdoing it, making the house look small and insignificant. The widest setting may be useful in showing your beautifully landscaped spread, but probably not the house exterior. By all means take some pictures of the outside of your house at the 18mm setting, but also try your DSLRs normal 18-55mm or 18-70mm zoom lens at the 35 or 55mm setting as well. And for some grand frame-filling views of the house alone, back off considerably and take some pictures with a long-range telephoto zoom such as the Tamron 18-200mm at the 70mm, 100mm, or 200mm setting. Shooting tips for savvy real estate buyers Although the ultra-wide-angle zoom is the essential “Real Estate Lens”, a long range wide-to-tele zoom such as an 18-200mm is the perfect complement for house documentation because it lets you zoom in on details such as decorative gables, roofs and chimneys that are hard to reach otherwise. And when you back off to 50-100 feet or so it also provides the most accurate perspective rendering of the house in its setting at the intermediate focal-length settings between 35mm and 75mm or so. Finally the an 18-200mm lens perfect for capturing small telling details like decorative elements, paint condition, surface textures and various defects by using its macro capability that lets you focus really close (typically down to about 1/4 life-size). True, the most ultra-wide-angle zooms will also let you get close to the subject, down to about 10 inches, but at that distance, the maximum magnification is only 1/8 life-size, not quite in the macro range.  A bigger bedroom: To show this small ground floor bedroom to best advantage, I shot it at the 15mm (24mm equivalent) setting of the Tamron 11-18mm lens. Image maximizes attractiveness while minimizing apparent perspective distortion.
If you decide to use a long-range wide-to-tele zoom lens like the 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 in addition to your ultra-wide Real Estate Lens, camera shake can be a problem, especially at or near the 200mm setting. Setting your camera’s ISO to 800 or even 1600 will let you shoot at a faster, more hand-holdable shutter speed, and any slight increase in noise (the digital equivalent of graininess) at these high ISO settings will be more than offset by the increase in sharpness. Remember, these pictures are for reference and comparison, not necessarily for publishing or printout. Finally, take an organized approach to your comparison house buying pictures. Bring along a pad and magic marker and shoot a first frame identifying the house by street number, etc. before you begin your coverage. It also helps to make a basic shooting list, and to follow a set shooting procedure such as exterior front view, side view, oblique view, then interior views of living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, basement, etc., then incidentals such as fireplace, pool, Jacuzzi, etc. Make sure to document specific features you like and don’t like, as well as items that will require repair or remodeling. The latter can be very useful when negotiating a price with the seller! The goal is to create a comprehensive picture file of each house on your “possibles” list, so you can review them all at your leisure, as a digital slide show or side-by-side comparison. There are scads of software programs that will enable you to do just that, but whatever system you use, the more standardized your documentation, the easier your decision-making process will be.   Dealing with a dormer bedroom: Truncated contours of this dormer bedroom look more inviting and expansive when photographed with the Tamron 11-18mm lens at the 11mm (17mm equivalent setting), top photo, but watch out! Placing windows at edges (bottom photo) and/or tilting the camera results in noticeable distortion that makes the picture look phony and unappealing.
However, even if organization is not your strong suit, using a digital SLR and the right lenses—the ultra-wide “Real Estate Lens” and its partner the “ Long Ranger” 18-200mm—to facilitate your house-buying quest is rewarding, profitable and fun. I must admit that I didn’t achieve my goal of documenting 12 possible houses before falling in love with the 1896 Queen Anne Victorian we just purchased but the pictures sure were instrumental in helping me convince my wife that this was the house for us. As someone once said, that is worth all the tea in China! Check out this selection of Real Estate Lenses for consumer DSLRs: 1. Tamron SP AF DiII 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 (17-28mm equivalent)
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
© 2002 - 2008 Take Great Pictures |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
