The entryway of the home.  Very inviting! — The entryway of the home. Very inviting!

Real Estate Photography of A Beautifully Remodeled Home in Hollywood, CA

December 03, 2015

I got a call from an agent I hadn't worked with in awhile and we arranged for the photo shoot shortly after. This house had been remodeled from "the studs out" by celebrity designer Jeff Lewis of Bravo TV's Flipping Out & Interior Therapy. This house was so much fun to photograph! The house was beautifully staged inside and that always leads to better final photographs.

The inside of the house was a breeze to photograph. I had to let the windows blow out (the bright white glow where you can't see out of them in the final image) intentionally in the living room so that the scaffolding and large dumpster (explained later) would not be visible.

The ambient shot of the living room.  The stager and I decided moving the chairs would make a more inviting photograph. — The ambient shot of the living room. The stager and I decided moving the chairs would make a more inviting photograph.

A shot of me getting the lighting in position.

The final delivered photograph of the living room.

Both the agent and the stager were present for the shoot. They were incredibly nice and professional. They managed to somehow find a way to both be completely out of my way while I was working on a particular shot, but observant enough to be aware when a design choice wasn't working for a room. Occasionally while I was setting up my lights they would run over and swap out a vase for another and other things like that.

The ambient shot of the dining room.  The agent was trying to quickly move her stuff as I set up. — The ambient shot of the dining room. The agent was trying to quickly move her stuff as I set up.

The ambient light shot of the dining room.

The final delivered photograph of the dining room and its connection to the adjoining rooms.

The final delivered photograph of the dining room.

At one point during the shoot a mailman came into the house and started checking the place out. That's a first...

The random mail man who came into look at the house while I was setting up the hallway/bathroom photograph.

The reverse angle of the bathroom with the agent surveying the scene.

One of the final delivered photographs of the second bathroom.

The final delivered photograph of the second bathroom.

An outtake of me checking the composition and lighting of the bathroom.

The ambient shot of the bathroom with a flash still left set up from the previous shot.

The final delivered photograph of the master bedroom.

The final delivered photograph of the master bathroom.

The final delivered photograph of the second bedroom.

One of the final delivered photographs of the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the drought has not been kind to Southern California and the grass was all but dead. Another downsides to the exterior portion of shoot was that the neighboring house was undergoing a complete remodel. There was unattractive scaffolding next door that was nearly unavoidable for the front exterior photographs. There was also a large dumpster bin just out of frame that was limiting some of the composition choices.

Dead grass in front of the house and scaffolding on the neighbor's house.

A photo I took from across the street with a longer lens.  The dumpster is just out of frame. — A photo I took from across the street with a longer lens. The dumpster is just out of frame.

One of the final delivered photographs of the backyard.

I reviewed the raw, undedited photographs with the agent and stager before leaving and they were both beyond happy. I informed them that the images were not completed yet and would look better after I spent some time with them on my computer. To that they emphatically replied that I don't charge nearly enough - a fantastic compliment that does make me wonder if they're right...

Email me ryan@legacylistingphoto.com to inquire about discussing your next real estate photography shoot. You can find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/legacylistingphoto/

The  final delivered photograph of the living room and window. — The final delivered photograph of the living room and window.

Real Estate Photography of A Living Room In La Crescenta-Montrose, CA

November 25, 2015

This was from a recent photo shoot for an agent with Century 21 in La Crescenta-Montrose. She had never used a professional photographer before me, but after the swift sale of her last listing she didn't hesitate to book me again for this one.

The final delivered photograph of the living room from the entryway.

In real estate photography, working swiftly is imperative. I would love to spend hours on each room, but that is generally not conducive for this type of work. For an architectural, design, or hospitality shoot you may have an entire day to shoot just a handful of beautifully composed and lit photographs.

The agents putting finishing touches on the staging and lighting the fireplace.

The final delivered photograph of the living room and backyard window.

For real estate, the budgets tend to be smaller and everything needs to be done as fast as possible. This entire house was done in under two hours and there was a little over twenty finished photographs delivered. Just because you need to work fast doesn't mean the quality of your work should suffer. It just means you need to adapt and utilize every time-saving trick you have up your sleeve.

The final delivered photograph of the living room and how it connects to the other adjoining spaces.

Here's an animated GIF example of what I mean:

Animated GIF of the lighting process of the living room and window.

The whole shoot was a great success. I was thrilled with the final images and the client was more than ecstatic when she received them. More importantly than both the client and I being happy about the final product was the near immediate result:

Email me ryan@legacylistingphoto.com to inquire about discussing your next real estate photography shoot. You can find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/legacylistingphoto/

Take care!

Real Estate Photography In West Hills, CA (From The HGTV show Flipping Moms)

November 16, 2015

I had the opportunity to photograph a beautifully remodeled home in West Hills. The shoot was booked last minute, but that was totally fine because I was free that afternoon. The home was going to be on the show Flipping Moms on HGTV. What I didn't know before I arrived was that they were still filming the episode at the house when I arrived. Oh...

You can see the HGTV camera crew outside.

More of HGTV camera crew milling about outside and me looking like a giant next to the tiny bed.

The house was alive with activity - there was crew and equipment everywhere! Real estate shoots are usually quiet, calm experiences. This was a big difference from what I was used to, but it was actually a fun change of pace. Everyone from the crew was super friendly and the house was nicely staged.

Barb Machen and crew putting the finishing touches in the kitchen and living room.

More of Barb Machen and crew staging the house.

The final photograph of the living room and kitchen.

I don't normally do any light painting if I can avoid it. While utilizing this technique can lead to some breathtaking images, it's not always practical for most shoots. It requires extra time both at the shoot and much more during post processing. Because I could only shoot in the rooms the lights and crew weren't in, I had some some time in some of the rooms to do a little .

Ambient light only photograph of the living room.

Adding some fill light and doing some hand held flash painting.

The final photograph of the living room.

Most of the other rooms were done at a much quicker pace utilizing some bounced fill lights taken in a single shot. The sun was setting quickly and I needed to move fast enough so that it didn't get too dark outside. I love the look of twilight shoots, but if the sun sets fully the windows turn completely black and unappealing.

The ambient light only photoraph of the living and dining room.

Work in progress with a badly placed shoot through umbrella and staging flowers without a home.

First composition of the kitchen that I ended up changing.

Final photograph of the living and dining room.

Another obstacle I ran into was that some of the light fixtures didn't actually work. I had multiple flashes to combat this, thankfully, and photographing this home without them might not have had the nicest results.

It's dark in here!  I'm standing in the shower for this shot, by the way. — It's dark in here! I'm standing in the shower for this shot, by the way.

Much better! This is the final photograph of the bathroom.

Wow those little lights aren't doing much and the main light wasn't finished yet.

There we go! The final photograph of the bathroom.

The final photograph of the entrance to the home.

One of the final photographs of the exterior of the home.

I sometimes deliver a few different options to my clients. Since I had done some light painting indoors earlier, I decided to offer a light painted exterior. Usually when I'm selecting the best photographs to deliver it's usually very obvious which ones are best. This time, however, I really couldn't decide if I liked the naturally lit exterior or the one I light painted. Which one do you prefer?

This was the more natural straight out of camera photograph of the home.

This was the more enhanced light painted version of the exterior of the home.

Me staging my equipment after arriving for the photography session.

Real Estate Photography in Hollywood, CA

November 13, 2015

This was a real estate shoot for Nourmand & Associates along with Solomon Group Estate at a home in the Hollywood hills. The front of the home was very misleading, as it hid the true size of the property from the outside. Thankfully, I had done my homework and knew what to expect on the inside...

...a gorgeous celebrity-owned, Mediterranean-style home where you entered onto the third story from the front door. It was lived in, but very clean and had striking features. What a fun place to photograph!

Me reviewing the living room image with agent - check out my striped socks!

Shoot through umbrella accidentally in the shot.

I would've loved a couple more hours to photograph this place. The master bed and bathroom were fantastic. Every single room had a breath taking view of Hollywood and its neighboring hills.

The final photograph of the master bedroom - with king and queen crowns above the bed!

The final photograph of the amazing bathroom.

The final photograph of the view of Hollywood, CA from the master bedroom balcony.

The final photograph of the wonderful kitchen.

The final photograph of the spare bedroom.

The final photograph of the pool and view of Hollywood, CA.

Well I got my wish in a way. Due to restrictive scheduling, the time of day they had scheduled the photography session for - while providing wonderful light for almost every room in the house - resulted in some difficulty for the front exterior shots. The sun was in the worst possible place, casting unattractive and harsh shadows. The agents agreed and we negotiated a return visit for a twilight session.