When scrolling through galleries of photos for residential (and some commercial) properties, it always seems like the perspective is off. But each picture seems a little differently off – almost like a fisheye lens, but not. What are they using to do that and why has that “look” become industry standard, even when we all know the pictures aren’t true to life?
In: Technology
I’ve been a property photographer in the UK for >10 years now.
It’s important that the photos show as much of the room as possible but there are agents/photographers who go to extremes such as a very wide angle taken from high up or low down which distorts the room.
My aim with all of my shoots is to try to replicate how it is to stand in that particular room. The widest lens I use is a 12mm (on crop-sensor), which is about as wide you can go without distorting the image. Our eyes see a much tighter ‘zoom’ but we’ve got excellent peripheral vision which makes up for it. I’ve never used a fish-eye lens
I use HDR to blend exposures, but only so that the lighting is closer to how your eye would see it; making sure there’s some detail in the windows, but not completed visible; taking the glare off laminate floors; keeping shadows dark where they’re meant to be.
I personally can’t stand extreme HDR shots which look like bad paintings or AI.
I never adjust colours beyond what exists in real life, ie the sky won’t look tropical and the grass will be the right shade of green!
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