Real Estate Photography – When Mother Nature is Your Biggest Visual Asset

As a real estate photographer you are always looking for something that will give a house a competitive advantage while trying to capture it photographically in a manner that highlights the home’s selling points. You will never, however, anticipate the magnitude of how much Mother Nature can help you.

Bellevue Washington, is much like her big sister Seattle, often cloudy during the winter and only providing glimpses of the natural treasures around you.

I was contacted by Ardell BellaLaggio of Brio Realty to come and shoot a home that she would soon be listing. It was a beautifully renovated historical home on the western side of Lake Washington. The weather was terrible yet typical, 45 – degrees, wet, and windy. My years of being a New Englander were squandered during the last decade as the dry heat of Arizona afforded me a new perspective on weather and a pathetic tolerance for low pressure systems. I jumped puddles, avoided the micro-mudslides that painted the side walk, and put my head down as I scampered up the never ending maze of steps and landings.

I approached the summit of the stair-mountain and finally the porch was within reach. Ardell peaked her head out of the window and I was greeted by a half dozen people and the strong scent of paint thinner. I looked around and could see they were scrambling to put the last-minute touches on the house. Clearly we would not be shooting everything today.

We quickly began discussing the process and strategies we would use to photograph the home. The lake, which was barely visible was going to be the center of attention. I asked if there were mountains that may play well. Ardell and her partner Kim knew there were some mountains around but none close enough to help. We agreed that I would come back following night and shoot. I took a few shots that I knew were not dependent upon the view and headed out.

The next day I came over the top of Capitol Hill and thought I had seen a white mountain. Looking like a bobble-head driving a car, I bobbed and weaved desperately trying to see if it were true. Then, absolute proof, I was staring at the single biggest overlooked visual asset… “WE HAVE SNOW CAPS!!!”. An instant rush filled my head and I began day dreaming about the shoot to come. I found myself speeding through the Arboretum as my power-steering squealed in pain. As I approached the final hill I stared left desperately trying to take it all in.

With new found super human strength, I man-handled my strobes… like the Delta-Male that I am, and ran all the way back up those damn stairs. The forty feet above sea level started to cause some major respiratory distress. I managed to barely fight off altitude sickness but knew that a nose bleed would likely set in. With only the porch left to conquer I looked up to see the contractor waving at me… telling me… tell… te… TELLING ME TO GO AROUND TO THE SIDE DOOR?!?!? BUDDY!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?, I screamed silently. I just sherpa-ed 80 pounds worth of unrelenting awkwardness up a stair-master of a yard. Please tell me I am at least the butt of some joke. I would simply hate to waste this perfectly aggravating moment on misery alone.

Finally back inside, I can already see that we are going to have a great shoot. I needed to calm myself down and get back to the game plan. If you get too overwhelmed you will lose your methodology and make critical mistakes. The light wasn’t quite perfect yet, so I took my time setting up the strobes and triple-checked the camera settings. I didn’t want to go for too big of a shot. I had some time and started out with the smallest view. It was small both in terms of scale and importance. It was a view shot, but it was not the money shot.

This shot of the corner was the perfect warm up. The view was my priority because it was the most dramatic aspect of the shot. The furniture is nice enough, but it was not the best that the house offered. The view is spectacular and contemplating what the summer brings is equally magnificent. All I knew is that I would need to charge a hell of a lot more to be able to afford this house.

I took 20 or so pictures looking for perfect representation for both the inside of the house and the view. When I got what I thought would make the perfect combination I started contemplating the next shot. With a situation like this you need to be running both inside and outside constantly monitoring Mother Nature and being on the lookout for any surprises. Ideally you want to have two cameras ready to go. One paired with your interior wide angle lens and the second with a telephoto lens. Having to switch lenses for every shot will waste valuable time. You are doing double-duty and I have been known to run in order to capture a series of shots.

Photographing Nature requires a conservation mindset in that you are given a certain amount beauty over a finite amount of time and your job is to make sure you use as much of the beauty as possible with out wasting any of it. Its funny how Nature repeats itself.

Stepping out onto the porch this red glow caught my eye. I turned right and was blown away by what I saw. Mt. Rainier was visible and it happened to be pinks. I quickly grabbed my 70mm to 200mm lens and mounted it on to my tripod and began snapping. The whole drive up the hill I was looking left and never saw what was dead in front of me. I probably passed a family of Sasquatch too.

Could this get any better? I think not! Today was such a gift. I could not paint, let alone contemplate, a better showing than what we were given. Then I started thinking about the entire conversation I had with the real estate broker about not having any mountains. Ardell was going to be floored by these. I rushed back inside and new I had to get some more interior view shots before I ran out of day light.

The bedroom was going to be a tough call. Generally, I like shooting them at night, but when you have a view you have more liberty. The sun is not shining directly on the lake which provides balance between the intimate settings of the bedroom and the smooth and soothing blues of the shadowed lake. Having a harshly lit exterior is sort of a mood killer and would be too distracting.

Looking into the LCD on the camera I liked what I saw. The soft interior of the room was complemented well by the architecture of the ceilings and the views from out side. This is the exact moment when I noticed something I had not planned on. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Behind the mountains outside rose a bright light. It was a full moon rising over the Cascade mountains!!!

I instantly switched game plans and knew I need to capture this moment. The moon rises surprisingly fast and I knew I less than 2 minute before the shot was lost. Furiously I removed my lens and switched to my 70 to 200mm lens so that I could get a more “real life” perspective. The tripod was set up and ready to go as I got my target in sight. I fired my first shot and checked to see how it looked. “Too Dark!!! You have got to be kidding me”. Fumbling some more, I was finally able to turn on the light to the display so that I could make my adjustments.

With my camera dialed in I turned for another round and BINGO! we got it. The moon was half exposed adding to the drama of the moment. I can’t tell you how many times I had been out on the trail and had scrambled for a similar shot and was always too late. My positioning was not right, or my tripod was back in the car, or I just fumbled around too much. This was just a great shoot that was only getting better.

Now that I had my shot it was time to get back to business. With the full moon helping me out I changed my game plan slightly. Lake Washington was going to reflect the moonlight and I new that there was an opportunity to capture it through the windows in the dining room. There was not enough time to get the moon directly in the picture. More likely than not, the moon would be too small in the composition of the picture to even matter anyways. I decided to line the camera up in a way that would capture the reflection off of the lake and Bellevue, Washington’s city lights in the background. It came out exactly as I had hoped for!

As a real estate photographer you can only be as good as the home you are photographing will allow you to be. On a rare occasion, Nature will step in and help you with a dramatic sunset or a perfect moment when a bird or butterfly adds something fun to the foreground. On this night, Nature stole the show completely!

And what did Ardell have to say? “Fabulous! Simply Mahvelous!!! as Billy Crystal would say. Kim and I are very, very pleased!”. I wish I could take all of the credit…

Harley Lever

www.HarleysEye.com 

Restaurant Photography – We eat first with our eyes!!!

Everyone has seen it before, you walk up to a restaurant with dozens of pictures in front depicting the food and the beef is a deathly gray, the refried beans look old and crusty, and the vegetables look as if grandma had cooked them for several decades before blessing your plate with the vitamin-depleted mush. I am sure many brave patrons were forgiving of the poor quality pictures, but as a restaurateur, do you really want pictures of that quality representing your food?

Simply look to “Iron Chef” or other food competitions and you will realize that food presentation is as important as taste. Today food must be presented artistically and chefs go out of their way to “Out Picasso” the competition. The Internet has changed the game. As a restaurant owner you must expect that diners who have never eaten at your restaurant will visit your website before making a reservation. Your pictures will be your customer’s “first taste” of your cuisine.

Food photography and food styling are becoming extremely popular services sought out by restaurateurs, bar owners, wine makers, and others in the food and beverage industry. Jan Jongkol co-owner of Opal, one of Seattle’s newest and most popular restaurants explains that “Restaurant marketing has changed drastically… your photography, web site, and print advertising must be impeccable in order to attract increasingly more sophisticated diners”. Their web site, redesigned by restaurant marketing firm WeSprout Solutions, experienced a 650% gain in traffic in just one month and translated to 35% increase in reservations. Food photography was a key aspect in attracting new customers. “We can have the highest ranking site on the Internet, but the photography of our food is the final selling point” she explains.

However, when seeking a photographer food photos should not be your only concern. Restaurants require photographers with several skill sets. The ambiance and decor often help shape a visitors experience. Capturing romantic settings on film can be challenging and using a photographer experienced in architectural photography is important. In addition, photos of patrons, wait staff, chefs and others individuals may require a photo journalistic style.

How to choose a restaurant photographer
Here is a quick guide to choosing a photographer for your restaurant.

• Choose a photographer with a varied skill sets to best capture your restaurant’s “Visual Assets” including Food, Architectural, and Photo journalistic experience.
• Check out their galleries and look for consistency, style, and how many other restaurants use their service.
• Ask to speak with their clients. Great photographers will also have great business relationships. Speak with other restaurateurs who have used their services. This will help you avoid the “One-time Wonders”, those photographers who market their best shot ever, but can never replicate it.
• Beware of photographers who offer to come by and shoot your food or restaurant for what seems to be “free”. Likely, they will provide you with the photography and once you use their photography they will ask you for “Usage and copyright fees”. All too often I hear stories about restaurant owners who are taken to court for photography used in print advertising. The other costly side effect is that you will need to pay your web designer $50+/per hour to take down the photographs and post new ones. My best advice: Get your usage rights in writing!!!!
• Use a photographer that has professional lighting systems and equipment. Everyone owns a camera, but that does not mean they are professionals. The best equipment combined with the best skill sets usually will provide the best results.
• Ask for guarantees. Every photographer has bad days and sometimes pictures do not come out as well as they hoped. Work with photographers willing to re-shoot the food free of charge. Great photographers never want their poor images on the market and should be willing to guarantee their work.
• Lastly, work with a photographer who is willing to collaborate and incorporate your ideas. Ultimately, you need to be proud of every aspect of your marketing and if you do not have the pictures that convey your restaurant in the way in which you want, you will never be happy.

What should you pay for Restaurant Photography?
Well that is certainly the million dollar question and hopefully will not cost you as much. The first step is to know what you want to have photographed and then develop a coordination strategy. Some shots are best taken when the business is closed or when there are no customers. The last thing you want is to have strobe lights, extension cords, and tripods in the middle of your dining room at seven o’clock on a Friday night. Plan your photography shoots for before you open or just before you close. This will help maximize everyone’s time, keep your labor costs down, and most importantly have little to no impact on your customer’s dining experience. This will also reduce the likelihood that the photographer will have to return for other shots later.

Photographers generally offer hourly, half-day, and full-day rates. Their rate usually includes post-processing work needed to fine-tune the picture, but make sure you ask. The last thing you want is to hire a photographer for $150/hour and find that the post processing time was not included in the rate for the shoot times. Often post processing time will require more time than the shoot itself so be aware!

Generally speaking photographers will charge between $75 – $500 per hour. With the higher end of the scale, you start paying for the “Photographer’s Name” as much as their skill. Half-day rates will run between $300 – $2500 and full-day rates run $600 – $5,000. I know many of you just lost your appetite reading these rates, but the truth is that you will find many more photographers on the lower end of the scale. The other point to consider is that these images are the ones you will be using on your website, print advertising, email marketing, magazines, and more, so taking the low-cost route may be a lot more costly in the end. If you pay $2,000 for your website and $500/week for print advertising it is a good idea to use pictures that will induce “crave-ability”.

Always ask for a package pricing and inquire about any discounts for repeat business. For many restaurant’s the food changes with the season and because of this it is important to have photography that is up-to-date. Featuring a hearty beef stew during a summer heat wave will not convey the refreshing appeal of your cuisine. The photographer has a vested interest in repeat business too. The photography market is saturated, so finding and keeping good customers is also of high importance to the photographer.

Harley Lever
www.HarleysEye.com