Photography for Real Estate / Discuss

John McBay says:

I'll get it out of the way at the very beginning. If you are serious about real estate photography and you have the chance to attend one of these workshops, do not pass up the opportunity.

After a few minutes to drink some coffee, get our equipment squared away and introduce ourselves to one another, the day proceeded as follows:

From about 8:30 to 9:30 Scott and Thomas talked about flashes and the light they produce. How to direct it, how to control it, how to modify it, how to make your photos look good by taking full advantage of it.

From about 9:30 to 10:30 Scott and Thomas tethered one of their cameras to a laptop and proceeded with a demo of how to light a basic living room. After each shot we would all examine the most recent image on the computer screen and the guys would talk about how effective each change had been and what additions they would make for the next shot. Using this method, they started with a straight ambient shot and added one light at a time and adjusted that light (explaining every step of the way, what they were doing and why) until it looked the way they wanted it.

From about 10:30 to 12:45, we broke up into four groups of four people. Two of the groups went to a nearby house. In each house, four people would be shooting bedrooms and bathrooms while the other group would be shooting living rooms and kitchens.

Thomas and Scott would give each group an assignment, telling us what to shoot and from what perspective. We would then begin to photograph and light the scene. The guys would move back and forth from the bedroom group to the living room group, asking about the choices we had made as to where to position the lights, what strength they were at, whether we had used any modifiers (WAD, etc.), what we were bouncing them from and why, etc.

If we were having a difficult time with lighting a particular portion of a scene (brushed stainless fridge, high gloss, dark wood cabinets) there was an informed back and forth and the guys would make suggestions and discuss with us why a choice we had made was working or not, and what to do about it.

A wonderful lunch was served. We had a brief discussion and Thomas and Scott answered any questions that we had about the morning's work.

From about 1:45 to 4:00, we changed instructors (if you had Scott before, now you had Thomas), we changed houses and we went from living rooms to bedrooms. The format was identical to the morning shoot.

Sometime after 4:00 we all gathered in the opposite house from the morning living room tutorial shoot. Thomas and Scott were going to light and photograph the much larger living room, which had views into the kitchen and breakfast nook. This was much more demanding than the earlier living room shoot. The format was the same. Tethered camera, discussion about each change in lighting, figuring out how to deal with particularly difficult areas that needed to be lit, watching and cringing when Thomas's SB800 crashed to the floor from the top of the fridge, etc. There was a lot of input from the students and constructive back and forth from Thomas and Scott as to where and how to place the lights.

Once the living room shoot ended there was an open forum where the guys answered any and all questions, not just on lighting, but on RE photography in general.

That evening, Scott, Thomas and a number of us went to a local restaurant for dinner and drinks.

It was great finally getting to meet Scott and Thomas. They are both great guys, very knowledgeable, funny (especially the Thomas vs. Scott back and forth banter) and incredibly generous to share their extensive expertise with the rest of us.

It was also fun getting to meet some of the personalities we all see on the PFRE website. People came from as far away as Chicago and Montreal to attend this workshop. I am sure that everyone felt the experience was invaluable.

I would suggest that no matter what your RE photography skill level, there is much for you to learn from these workshops.

Thanks again to Scott and Thomas.

John McBay
Posted at 3:05PM, 19 May 2009 PDT (permalink)