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What are some of the benefits of hiring a professional Real Estate photographer?

There are many benefits to hiring a professional photographer to photograph the property. If you are the listing agent, you will save yourself time and money by having someone else take care of your photography needs. You will rest assured that all of the images will be of the highest possibly quality, and ready for either web or print, and conveniently placed on CD ROM with the property address printed on the CD label for easy access. In addition, using professional photography services will set you apart from your competition during your listing presentations!

If you are a homeowner doing a FSBO, or would simply like to have your home professionally photographed so that you may supply your listing agent the photos, this is one of those 'must invest' areas in preparing your home for sale!

Don't rely on under-exposed, over-exposed, blurry and distorted photographs to sell your property!

What camera and equipment do you use? What about post-processing?

KH Photography currently uses a Nikon digital SLR, and a 12-24mm lens. All photos are taken in RAW, and the 12mm lens is very low distortion so it allows to capture a large portion of any room without adding distortion or a 'fish bowl' look. In addition, we use a very heavy duty  tripod with a leveling head so that the camera can sit perfectly square, again eliminating distorted and skewed lines, in addition to allowing for slow shutter speeds if necessary

As far as lighting the interior, KH Photography uses a variety of methods. We employ the use of multiple flash units and wireless transmitters, light stands, and umbrellas. This ensures a nice even, well lit interior and also helps keep the windows from being 'blown out'. In some instances, HDR photography is used as well. Every home and lighting situation is different, so we use the best technique for each situation.

Below are examples of shots right out of camera, and with post-processing added. Each shot used multiple off camera strobes for fill light.

All photo RAW images are post processed after the shoot in Adobe Lightroom to adjust white balance, exposure levels, and any needed tonal corrections. Image sharpening is done in a unique 2 step process in Adobe Photoshop, and web ready and full size print ready photos have their own unique sharpening applied to them. If HDR photos were taken, they are processed through Adobe Lightroom and exported to Photomatrix for the merging of the exposures. In some cases, hand masking and painting the different exposures together still achieves the best results (the 'old school' way, before HDR software was available!).

I am having a Virtual Tour done for the home - why do I also need to hire a professional photographer?

While most Virtual Tours can be another effective tool to showcase the home, potential buyers still need to sort through the hundreds of listings on the MLS to find your listing before even getting to your Virtual Tour. Having an excellent photographs of your home is key to get the potential buyer's attention to view your listing - and your Virtual Tour!

Another thing to note is that most Virtual Tour companies are on a very tight timeline to complete the job, so they rarely able to spend the time needed to properly stage the shot.

I hear alot about HDR photos - what is this?

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. In its simplest term, it allows you to reveal highlights and shadow details in an image created from multiple exposures. For the purposes of Real Estate Photography, this is a technique that can be used in both the interior and the exterior view out the window is properly exposed, or to capture a dramatic sunset on the back patio. This is accomplished by taking multiple exposures at the time of the shoot, then, special software is used to merge these images to produce a High Dynamic Range image which shows an amazing amount of detail, tonal depth and light range.

Why might the photos look too bright, to dark or have a color tint?

In a word - monitor calibration! Every computer monitor has slightly different characteristics, and in everyday use, they are never calibrated. Today's LCD monitors in particular with glossy screens are optimized to watch movies online, meaning they are bright and often have alot of contrast.

When processing photos, we use a professional quality large screen LCD monitor that is routinley calibrated for accuracy. Of course, the photos may vary slightly when viewed on another monitor, but this ensures that the color, brightness and contrast is as accurate as possible.

This chart may help you in setting your monitor if it appears to be way off.

Photography Services offered in the greater Phoenix area of Arizona. Other Valley areas/statewide services also available.