Why the computer is as important as the camera
In Real Estate Photography there is a HUGE difference between the original image as captured in the camera, and a finished image.
In almost every shot, there is a color difference in the light produced by the sun outside the windows, and each of the different light bulbs and LED fixtures. Each light source creates its own unique colors. When you look at a scene with your eyes, your brain is amazingly good at correcting the brightness and the colors without you even noticing. To you, it all just looks very uniform and normal. Unfortunately, cameras don’t have this superpower at all, so that same scene captured by a modern camera, will show the true colors and the differences are often quite shocking.
Wide angle lenses are another source of problems because the curvature of the lenses creates distortion in the image. This shows up as wall lines that curve or trees that lean this way or that. Some of these issues can be corrected by the way you position the camera, but others will need some help.
IF you have the right software, and IF you know how to use it, most of these issues can be corrected back home in the computer. This is also where you can do some retouching by cloning a matching piece of the wall to cover up a hole or a damaged area.
These examples give you a bit of a look at what can be done.
This image required a 3 shot HDR composite. One shot captures the brightness outside while another shot captures the correct exposure inside.
The HDR software then processes the images into a single image composite that retains proper exposure in all areas to bring out details in the deepest shadows and highlights.
Other software programs are used to paint masks in different areas so you can adjust the color of the light until all the different areas match.
In yet another part of the software you can bend and shape the image until the straight lines are actually vertical and horizontal as they should be.
In a finished image, the colors match, the brightest spots don’t look blown out and the darkest spots still have a little detail. The colors are bright but not so saturated that it looks fake, and the wall and ceiling lines are all straight.
This was a truly challenging shot because of the different types of light bulbs, and because the tight quarters of a bathroom often require the use of a super wide angle lens which creates a curve in almost all straight lines.
I created a color mask for the left side of the image and then adjusted it until the toilet came back to white.
For the lines, I used Adobe Lightroom to correct the barrel distortion curvature which was very noticeable in the door frames on the right. Then I used another feature of Lightroom which allows you to select lines that are supposed to be square, and it literally bends the image to get those lines squared up like they’re supposed to be.
With the vent in the upper left corner, normally I don’t clone out anything, but in this case the wide angle lens made the vent appear to be tilted at such an unnatural angle that I decided to remove it from the image.
