Real Estate Marketing Trend : HDR Photography
by bhophoto
HDR (High dynamic range) photography is when you take a series of photographs each shot at a different exposure setting and then use post-processing software (like Photoshop CS2) to combine the images into a single picture.
You can see the stunning results by wading through the HDR Pool on Flickr (which includes some beautiful shots by my buddy Bennett Ho who took the image at the beginning of this post).
Because HDR really makes colors and detail pop, it’s only natural that it would find its way to real estate for listing photos.
Whether it’s calling it by another name or packaging it into a bundle, I suspect HDR is going to have a real influence this year in real estate marketing.
The great thing is that it’s fairly easy to accomplish using a inexpensive DSLR (I use a Canon Rebel myself), so even if you don’t spring for a third party service you can do it yourself. If nothing else, you’ll be making sure your shots don’t end as one of The 24 Worst Bad MLS Photos of the Year.
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Norm Fisher | Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Very nice. Great potential for indoor photos as exposure issues often lead to bad images. You have to take some care though as HDR images often end up looking more like drawings than photos.
shaun mclane | Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
I hate to see that HDR is gaining steam. Yes, HDR can be beautiful, but I don’t think it’s the wander to real estate photography. Maybe I should disclose…. I’m the guy from ekday, but I’m also a professional real estate photographer. I started my RE photo career using HDR, and loved the results, but one run through the real estate for photography photo pool, and I was torn to pieces. The results were me buying the correct gear, and working strobes to eliminate shadows (what I was using HDR for in the beginning).
HDR is cool, and it looks great for exteriors, but moving to interiors takes away from the “realness” of a property. For photographers just getting into HDR, you’ll see the tell-tale sign - halos around everything (notice the halo around the roof in the screenshot in this post).
A big discussion for RE photography is replacing skies and grass and truthful marketing. I think the growing HDR will soon take over this conversation.
If you’re interested, you can see my HDR AND my post-HDR images in my flickr profile:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekday/sets/72157600477452775/
Jim Cronin | Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
Surprised it hasn’t caught on faster. It’s so easy and can be used to improve difficult lighting in daytime listings that offer a view from indoors.
One of my first posts at the Tomato was on HDR: check it out.
http://realestatetomato.typepad.com/the_real_estate_tomato/2006/07/improve_your_li.html
Catherine | Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
I’m with Shaun on this one. HDR has its place, I’m sure, but in the wrong hands it can look cartoonish, and thus, still constitutes bad photography. Restraint is best if using it in real estate photography.
Tamara Christopherson | Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
Great topic - for the customer (the home seller) HDR can provide some great benefits. Price point, turn-around, and quality. Vicaso is rapidly growing and adding photographers to our team - we would love to hear your thoughts (good or bad) on our approach to HDR.
http://portland.vicaso.net/gallery/samples
Cheers!
Tamara
Linda Hutchinson | Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
Photography makes all the difference. It designates who are the true professionals in real estate. Great article.
Overland Park Real Estate | Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
I love HDR photos but have never tried them on listings. I need to get CS before I would be comfortable that I had something that was presentable. I would guess that a lot of agnets (novice to the technology) would end up making their listing look like a fantasy home made of liquid crayons, instead of just bringing out all the colors and lighting.
Duke Lane | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
One thing omitted - and very important - is a tripod. If the images are going to overlay correctly and not end up a huge blur, they’ve got to be exactly the same, and nobody I know is a statue.
Formerly doing real estate photography (to the tune of some 20,000 or so images per month) I’ve found HDR as effective - if not MORE effective - indoors than out. This is especially true in panoramic photography when a flash is generally not an option.
There are some HDR products out there now that can use multiple images all at once, versus the earlier (e.g., Andromeda’s DRI) products that could only use two at a time. I’ve sometimes found that some features, such as skies, are better removed from underexposures before combining them. Trees with sparse leaves usually blur as the leaves move in the breeze.
Athol Kay | Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the link love, much appreciated.
HDR is a mixed bag. Works better for exteriors than interiors. Agree with Shaun that the Flickr Photography for Real Estate group is basically “teh group” for real estate photography skillz.
Tony Meier | Apr 7, 2008 | Reply
I use HDR quite frequently on my exterior shots and have recently came across a program called Enfuse that works well too.
As stated above though HDR is no guarantee of a great photo, in fact some of the worst ones are by an amateur’s use of the technology. See what I mean here:
http://eastsidehomes.typepad.com/weblog/2008/03/bad-mls-photo-2.html
Tracy | Apr 12, 2008 | Reply
I’m a photography novice and had to google DSLR to fully understand Joel’s recommendation. I ran across this cautionary tale, which seems to track with Tony’s comment and others above: http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/308/.
The moral of the story, the way I read it, seems to be “good for geeks,” and the rest of us should hire the geeks.