Comments on: What Everybody Ought to Know About Verticals

By: Photo Essentials: How to Fix Verticals | Texas Real Estate Photography | Austin & Houston Photographers | Austin, San Antonio, Houston

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:19:49 +0000

[...] Because we live in this vertical world, where gravity defines up and down and vertical defines the direction gravity is pulling, we all have this built-in hyper-sensitivity to vertical. If we walk into a building with the verticals off or look at photo where the verticals are off we feel a tension or uneasiness. It’s an unconscious warning in our head that says, “something is wrong here”. As a real estate photographer you want to keep verticals perfectly parallel with the edge of the photo so this tension is eliminated and doesn’t distract from your main message. – PFRE [...]

By: larry

larry — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:20:09 +0000

@Nate- Your example deserves a more complete response. I admit that every time the opportunity arises I take these overhang shots from second story balconies of foyers or stair landings. I must have I’ve shot hundreds of these shots. I always feel the desire to capture the feel of the space. But in the end they almost never work out. Invariably when laying out the shoot and deciding which photos to use to present the home, these kind of shots almost never are in the final 10 to 20 best shots of the home unless there is some unusual feature like a spiral stairway. I find they almost never feel right because of the wacky angles.

This same thing is confirmed if you look at publications like AD where there is extensive editing by art directors. I can’t remember a single shot like this I’ve ever seen in AD or a interior design publication.

I’m like you though, I still shoot them but in the end analysis I realize they don’t make really strong shots.

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:33:36 +0000

@Patrick- It appears you can use a little grammer ed yourself… “Larry, I love your website, but if [your] going to nit pick…”

PS – @ Larry… Thank you for providing such a great resource. Much appreciated!

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:45:38 +0000

@Larry- Thank you for your repsonse… Your opinion noted. I guest beauty is in the eye of the creator.

-Nate (aka “wild and crazy”)

By: larry

larry — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:12:46 +0000

@Nate- Nope, I don’t agree. You could do a stairway shot like this that didn’t have such wild and crazy looking verticals.

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:19:36 +0000

In some rare instances leaving verticals uncorrected can enhance…
http://www.nateart.net/Other/118-Haut-Brion-Ave/9461169_CKeZJ#634759932_UzpUb

By: What Everybody Ought to Know About Verticals - Larry Lohrman (Phootgraphy for Real Estate) @ Photo News Today

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:16:51 +0000

[...] Source and Read More: phootgraphyforrealestate.net [...]

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:09:01 +0000

Larry, I love your website, but if your going to nit pick about little things, and I do agree with you. You should also proof read your articles as this would lead to you being a more credible source. Would you read a scholars thesis if it had grammar and spelling mistakes?

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:41:44 +0000

I see this problem of non-vertical verticals consistently in photos taken by local OBEO and Tourfactory photographers. As a REALTOR as well as a photographer, it drives me crazy that other agents are willing to pay good money for such crap.

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:37:38 +0000

I try and capture the room as it is (albeit in the best light and presentation possible). I have seen ceilings that aren’t prefectly straight (the house is sinking??) and I’ve left them like that (although I do wonder why sometimes) but I’ve never seen a vertical that wasn’t vertical. There’s just something uncomfortable about converging verticals.

Out of interest it is normally the first thing I will fix as I come away from the computer feeling quite ill (motion sick?) if I don’t.