Photographing Houses

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werno

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Firstly, hello.

Secondly, I've been asked to take some photos of houses for a local estate agents.

The problem is my main camera is a Leica v-lux which, whilst i'm generally pleased with it, uses a lens which only seems to capture half of the room, so im taking pictures of walls. Annoyingly it is of course not an SLR, and thus I can't change the lens.

What would you suggest for professional results that aren't too pricey? What camera, and what lens? I'm assuming a wide angle lens. I am incredibly poor (the leica was a present) so the cheaper the better, im guessing i'll be told a D50 or something. Sadly I'm so poor I'll have to get it in installments too.

Whilst we're on the subject, any other tips would be great in regards to estate agent photography. Is there a book on it?
 
Gandhi's your man for this but I think you already know what you need, it's just a case of finding the funds.
 
Probably not ideal, how about stitching some photographs together?
 
You should be able to buy a wide angle lens, which attaches to the front of your camera like a filter. No idea how much they cost or whether that would be wide enough though.

Michael.
 
mij said:
You should be able to buy a wide angle lens, which attaches to the front of your camera like a filter. No idea how much they cost or whether that would be wide enough though.

Michael.
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that would be absolutely perfect, i'll get hunting
 
Hmm, maybe, but don't they often distort? Plus how sharp will it be at the edges of the image? I'm not a big fan of them, but then haven't used one for a long time.

A Nikon D40 and 18-55 would do. You can find them for around £250.
 
Those clip on lenses are normally pretty horrible in terms of images quality but schneider are the best lens makers there are, so it could be promising. They have started to make for various camera companies now too, so they might not be all they once were. Got to be worth a punt though.

As for shooting interiors, there are a few basic rules that should get you started off on the right foot.

Agents can get wide angle camera and point it at a room themselves, so you need to be either very cheap or shoot much much better than they can.

Assuming you don't want to be cheap, you need to aviod the pitfalls they will be making.

A tripod is pretty much a must. To go wide and avoid nasty distortion, the camera needs to be totally level. Otherwise, flat surfaces will drop off towards the edge of the frame and verticals, well they wont be verticals anymore.

Check the edges of the frame. I cant stress this enough! To look really good, your shots need to balance and be well crafted as much they need to show lots of the room. Make sure you don't have half a clock, chair, window, door...... actually half an anything sticking into the frame. It looks awful.

Every room has it's own charater, tell the story of the room.

You will have to accept that most of your windows will be blown out. Better to lose the window detail than compromise the room to get the view. Since you wont have any additional lighting to bring the room up to the level of brightness outside, just let it go. Unless you want to get into some HDR processing and balance it that way.

.....and one last one. Dont' be afraid to bully the vendors into tidying up. No clutter!
 
As above.....(sorry was busy photographing the cat lol)

oh, and try to shoot from waist/sitting height in the lounge/bedroom and slightly higher, but not head height in the kitchen.

Rooms look very odd taken from normal perspective!


Even with that wide-angle attachment 24mm is very tight for shooting inside, especialy if they are smallish rooms.
 
Even with that wide-angle attachment 24mm is very tight for shooting inside, especialy if they are smallish rooms.
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I didn't see that bit. It's not going to be wide enough really. Would be Ok for magazine work possibly but agents like the BIIIIIIIIIIIG picture more than detail. (in most cases). :)
 
Gandhi said:
As above.....(sorry was busy photographing the cat lol)

oh, and try to shoot from waist/sitting height in the lounge/bedroom and slightly higher, but not head height in the kitchen.

Rooms look very odd taken from normal perspective!


Even with that wide-angle attachment 24mm is very tight for shooting inside, especialy if they are smallish rooms.
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Was just about to post a new thread with a similar query then I found this. :)

The camera I have at the moment is a Canon IXUS 700 and it's not even close to getting enough of the room in. I'm looking for advice on a decent digital camera, good ease of use, that will allow me to take internal house/room shots. These are primarily for use on property advertisement rental websites and possibly for fliers too.

I'm also a keen skier so would like a camera that's not too large but robust enough to handle any scrapes/falls!

I also find the stitch capability on the IXUS canons good fun.

Any advice on an easy to use camera and lenses for interior shots?

Thanks in advance,

Alan
 
You're going to need a dSLR & wideangle lens really. I don't think any compact or bridge camera has a wide enough angle of view to get the field of view you're going to need alas.

As for ease of use of said cameras....well........it depends on your skill level really. The nikon d40 is very small and lightweight but I'm not sure how well it would stand up to the rigours of the slopes though. I snow-board and I don't think I'd take my d200 up on the slopes if I was likely to be doing anything at the end of the envelope that means a big fall when it all goes wrong.

Sorry if that sounds a bit negative but you may be asking a bit much of a compact.



I also wouldn't fancy a camera between me and the piste if I stacked it. D200 in the spine anybody?
 
Gandhi said:
You're going to need a dSLR & wideangle lens really........
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Yeah, kind of realised I'd need an DSLR just wanted it confirmed in case I was missing something (has been known) :) .

Went into Jessops today at lunchtime and looked at a Canon EOS 400D and also the Sigma 10-20 lens. Probably a bit more than I was hoping to spend but that should cover it?

Gandhi said:
I also wouldn't fancy a camera between me and the piste if I stacked it. D200 in the spine anybody?
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That's just because you pesky snowboarders can never stay on yer feet long enough! Take your point though, would have to tread carefully with one of them on you.
 
You may want to look at a flashgun too. More expense I know but kinda necessary.

I'll never forget the funny skiing frenchman who all the way up the ski lift kept on.....

'Zhou are like zee funneee eeenglishman Mr beeen non?' 'hahahahaha! Meeester Beeen'


Last I saw of him was face down when he stacked it getting off the lift.


karma is a beautiful thing!
 
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