Photography For Real Estate

I’ve done a couple of posts on the subject of shooting time-lapse for real estate views and I am infatuated by the time-lapse feature on my G9 recently. However, what I’ve been looking for is a technique to pass along that anyone can use with out regard to what computer or DSLR they use. So I was pleased to find a great approach to how anyone can create a time-lapse video on twipphoto.com by Scott Bourne and Nicole Young.

So how does this apply to real estate photography? I think a time-lapse video is a knock-out product for view properties. Time-lapse can turn any view into a dramatic statement and frankly that’s what every home seller that has a view property is looking for- a way to highlight their view. The thing you have to remember when shooting a time-lapse is that almost every view has dramatic movement that you can’t see with the naked eye. Here are several examples:

1. Moving clouds: Frequently when seen in a time-lapse the whole sky seems to be moving.
2. Changing lighting: The sun shining through moving clouds can make some wonderful lighting effects.
3. Transition from daytime to night time: Just the simple change from daytime to night time can look very dramatic because of the change in colors and lights.

I haven’t sold one of these yet but I’ve been practicing so the first time I come across a view property situation I’ll be ready. Here is a composite of three different examples of the effects I list above. The factor I keep forgetting is how long these things take to shoot. You typically fire the shutter every 1 or 2 sec and then play them back at 24 or 30 frames/sec so plan on an hour or so to get a suitably long video clip.

Update: What do you do with the the video clip once you get it? One option is you can include a video clip or clips in with Slideshow Pro with a bunch of still shots. Here is and example of how that would look. The first item in this slideshow is a video clip.