Comments on: More on Straightening Walls

By: EDGE

EDGE — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:50:51 +0000

First, I would like to say that I found this site while searching for information on ethics in real estate photography. I want to thank Larry for his knowledgeable and helpful suggestions. I have posted a link to this site on my auctioneers association’s web site that I think will be very informative and helpful for us auctioneers who do high profile marketing.

About verticals: In the past I have not worried so much about such structure but concerned more with informative content. I now see bad verticals sends at least a subconscious signal of bad vibes as well.

My question is what is more important: Should a real estate photo convey information to help a buyer determine if the room is right for them, or should the photo’s primary job be to bend the buyers mind toward buying the house and not really help them decide the house is right or them.

Using the photo above in this post, which I like because it is dramatic, I immediately can determine that this room could be horrible as TV room. Look at the useless position of the TV. But then I can see where the sofa could be used as a room divider between the room on the right and suddenly become more “decorator and useful”.
I am sure that ultimately a photos job is to just sell the house but this has really made me to start thinking there is ethics concerns in photography.
I’m sure this post probably belongs on a different thread but I wanted to use the photo in my example. BTW I think this photo is a good example of honest portrayal.

By: Photo News Today » More on Straightening Walls

Photo News Today » More on Straightening Walls — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:55:39 +0000

[…] Source and Read More: Photography for Real Estate […]

By: Cherie Irwin

Cherie Irwin — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 02:35:37 +0000

In my case, I use the Manfrotto Monopod with retractable steel legs. The legs are all the same length, so in most instances, it works perfect for keeping my camera straight. On the other hand, I’m working through a set of images that I shot today, and I just figured out that the head on my Monopod must have come loose because all of my images need to be rotated. Soooo frustrating that I have to fix every one of them, and this of course results in cropping off part of my image. It is so much better to just have everything straight to start with. Often I place a bubble level in the hotshoe to make sure that everything is lined up before I begin my shoots, but I neglected to do so today. I guess I just assumed that it was level.

My next purchase is the 14mm rectilinear lens from Canon. That coupled with a perfectly straight Monopod head should simplify editing in the future.

By: Doug Cranmer

Doug Cranmer — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 01:07:58 +0000

The thing I find amazing is how quickly the eye spots a vertical that is slightly off and the visual tension it creates. Some times you can feel the vertical is off but you have to get a reference guide next to it to tell for sure.

This is a very good point Larry about the “visual tension” that a converging or slightly misaligned vertical creates. Based on a conversation that I had with another real estate photographer recently when looking at shot that we were trying to figure out, I’d suggest that the effect is almost “dizzying” or making you want to look away after studying it, because your eye is inclined to try to “fix” it, but it may not be able to, one side is converging and the other has no discernable point of reference so it may not look “off” on the opposing side.