Week 16: Commercial Real Estate Photography

Photos of the Week

Week 16 Assignment: Commercial Real Estate Photography

This week I wanted to try another aspect of Real Estate Photography, which is the Commercial side. I would say that the Commercial side covers just about everything that is not residential; businesses, warehouses, restaurants, office buildings, etc.

The images above were taken at different times of the day; one during the day, one at dusk(no pretty sunset this week), and one at night. The first image is at the REI campus taken at night. I love the architecture of their cafeteria and I knew it would make a great subject. The second image is of a coffee shop at the Kent Commons shopping area, taken at dusk. The third image, an office building in Des Moines during the day, I like the dramatic effect that the clouds create.

Coming Next:

Week 17 Assignment: Green

Week 15: Sunsets

Photos of the Week

Week 15 Assignment: Sunsets

This week there was a small change in plans when I found myself at a beautiful sunset scene later in the week. I don't get the chance to see too many sunsets during the winters in the Pacific Northwest. Due to this surprise, I wanted to take the opportunity to show you the variety of photos I try to capture from one scene location within a few minutes.

The scene is from the Camano Island Yacht Club, which has a pier, a few overturned row boats along the beach and the sun setting in the distance. It is the type of scene and ingredients that I love to photograph.

The first image is of the pier, which I like to lead into the photo from the corner to draw the viewer in. This image, along with the rest, have been produced as HDR images, which I have become quite fond of making. The next two images are of a few of the boats on the beach, and the last couple images bring in some driftwood, which can be found on most beaches in the Northwest. Capturing images like these at the end of the day always make the day seem brighter.

Coming Next:

Week 16 Assignment: Commercial Real Estate Photography

Week 14: HDR - 2nd Look

Photos of the Week

Week 14 Assignment: HDR (2nd Look)

I decided to revisit HDR (High Dynamic Range) again this week after I attended an afternoon seminar on HDR last week. This seminar exposed me to a piece of software that I had heard about before but did not have any experience or much knowledge about, Photomatix. Photomatix does a far better job of creating HDR images, or an HDR look, which can be more on the artistic side, than what I have used before with Photoshop CS3. CS5 is coming out shortly, which is supposed to do a much better job than previous versions, but for now, Photomatix creates exactly the look I have been looking for.

The first photo may look familiar, it is the same photo from week 2 that has been redone using PhotoMatix. I will let you be the judge of which looks better. The rest of the photos have been taken in different settings and under different lighting conditions (i.e. direct sun, overcast, shade). In each case, I took at least 3 photos, bracketed at 2 stops over & under standard exposure. I then combined the 3 photos in Photomatix with minimal adjustments. This is a new software for me, so by the time I get to HDR - 3rd Look, I hope to have it mastered.

Coming Next:

Week 15 Assignment: Sunsets

Week 13: Real Estate Photography

Photos of the Week

Week 13 Assignment: Real Estate Photography

A new area of photography I am looking to get into is Real Estate, so I wanted to see what I could do. It can be tough to build up a portfolio of real estate photos, unless you know a lot of people with clean, well decorated homes. I figured out a way to broaden that list..open houses. Every weekend, there are many open houses of home for sale, so I simply went to a few and asked if they minded if took a few photos to build a portfolio. It worked well and I made a few contacts in the process.

The photos are from a couple different places with most of them being an HDR composite I created using a new software I am trying out, Photomatix, which is why there are watermarks on them. Due to the range of highlights and shadows in the interior scenes, I believed this would give me the best looking images. I will touch on more HDR next week.

Coming Next:

Week 14 Assignment: HDR (Second Look)