If you’ve followed me over the last year on Twitter you know I entered the realm of HDR in 2006 in order to get better results shooting real estate.  Why HDR for real esate photography you say? Simply because real estate photography and shooting interior architecture has been and still is one of the most difficult exposure challenges to solve in the realm of photography.  Consider this…

In many cases a shot needing to be captured to showcase a property needs to capture the exposure range of the interior and the range of the exterior. My question to you would be… “Have you ever shot landscape photography?”.  The reason I ask is because if you have, then I’m sure you’ve experienced the vast exposure range of the bright highlights and the dark shadows in those landscape shots.  Well, the shadow region of that landscape shot in 9 out of 10 images will be brighter than the brighter parts of an image for an interior shot.  Which is why when you need to capture the dynamic range of an interior and exterior for one image, you’ll begin to appreciate why HDR is utilized in real estate photography.

Here is a link to a recent shoot I just completed for a builder.

http://www.digitalcoastimage.com/comps/ws/index.html

That day was one of those incredibly hazy days with a ton of glare.  The kind of glare that makes you squint badly when you are outside even when not facing the sun.  It seems to spill everywhere and bounce off of anything and everything.  Well, that light was blazing in through windows into the rooms pictured.  Even when rooms with ample window coverage allow light into the room it doesn’t fully solve the contrast ratio issue.  HDR to the rescue.

Can flash be used? Yes. Always? No, not always.  Sometimes rooms are so tight or full of mirrors and using flash isn’t just a pain, but nearly impossible because of reflections and the inability to even get the flash units into a room let alone try and keep them out of frame.  There is definitely a place for flash and I do use it from time to time for specific uses ( especially this issue YouTube Video LINK ), but because many of my shoots are for rental companies I don’t always have much time to shoot units and a run and gun style works best.  Basically bracketing and moving from room to room quickly and then editing via HDR/Tonemapping in post.

Back to the topic I started…. if you think it is difficult to capture well exposed shots shooting landscapes and you’ve never attempted to shoot interior architecture / real estate, then you haven’t experienced PAIN yet!  LOL!  Seriously.  Until you’ve attempted (regularly) to shoot real estate in daylight hours (not sunrise/dusk, but bright daylight), then you haven’t yet found out why HDR is so important and useful for architectural / real estate photography.  Because that is when you will find out the dynamic range from highlights to shadows indoors with no window in frame can be wide enough by itself and difficult enough to capture by itself that when you add an entirely new brightness range of outdoors into the mix, the reality of what digital sensors can capture becomes clear.

Again, flash can and does present itself as a solution.  But with reflections, shadows created by flash units, etc… flash is not always easy or realistic.  That said, HDR isn’t always the best option either.  It just so happens that HDR is what saves my butt in 90% of my shoots.

I’ve actually been surprised at how many photographers have emailed me inquiring about learning what I am doing.  I don’t know if it is because of the economy that photographers are looking to add real estate to the mix or if they just haven’t used HDR in their workflow before.  My challenge is that I remain so busy shooting and editing with my client base that I haven’t seen the need or the time to consider tutoring others or creating training. But I have noticed the interest level nonetheless.

The challenge is that I can’t teach what I do on a phone call or through an email and I have had to turn down even those who were offering payment for either or email/phone support.  Maybe in 2010 I’ll find some time to either create training or possibly do some kind of workshop, but as of now I’m (thankfully) looking at a very healthy shooting schedule this winter and spring.  Summer is usually my slowest time of year being I live in a summer beach town and when rentals are 100% occupied, there is less to shoot