For Johnny

Hey Johnny-

Here are some general tips to help you out with shooting Homes:

COMPOSITION:

Where to stand
When in doubt, shoot into a corner

Keep Verticals Strait
All Vertical lines in the shot should be straight up and down

This is achieved by keeping the camera level OR fixing perspective in PS or Lightroom (for Lightroom its in Lens Correction)

One Point of Two Point Perspective
I generally think of this as shooting “dead-on” (One Point) or shooting into a corner (Two Point).  Generally, Two Point is generally more useful as it tends to make the space look the right proportion. However One Point can give a more interesting “architectural” look.

05

Above: One Point  /  Below: Two Point

 

04

 

LIGHTING:

Natural, Flash, and/or HDR Lighting?
Truthfully, it really depends on the house… If it’s light & bright (white walls and lots of windows), you may be able to get away with Natural lighting only…  Early morning/late evening light might be your best bet with this, so the light isnt so harch from the outside.

If you have experience with HDR and/or Flashes, They are ways of compressing/evening  out the Dynamic range of light from the outside

Windows
A lot of times, if you want the windows to have the right exposure, you’ll have to mask them in separately in PS. Otherwise, you can let them blow out. Again, early morning might help this situation if your just using natural lighting

OTHER:

Here is a PDF Book on lighting interiors, it’s a decent read: Lighting Interiors Handbook