PFRE-Logo-white-bg
Reading
blue-triangle-element

Articles

PFRE is the original online resource for real estate and interior photographers. Since 2006, it has been a community hub where like-minded professionals from around the world gather to share information with a common goal of improving their work and advancing their business. With thousands of articles, covering hundreds of topics, PFRE offers the most robust collection of educational material in our field. The history of real estate photography has been documented within these pages.
All Articles
blue-triangle-element

Latest

Image banner for the February 2024 PFRE Photographer of the Month Winner Art Ibewuike, with a featured image of his winning photo titled "Living Room or Family Room""

Congratulations to Art Ibewuike, February 2024 PFRE Photographer of the Month! The theme this month was "Living Room or Family Room". Art Ibewuike - #895 Paul-Dan Dragoman - #898 Peter Wingfield - #900 Here's what Art has to say: Thank you so much for ...

Contest
blue-triangle-element

OVERVIEW

For over a decade, photographers from around the world have participated in PFRE’s monthly photography contests, culminating in the year-end crowning of PFRE’s Photographer of the Year. With a new theme each month and commentary offered by some of the finest real estate & interior photographers anywhere, these contests offer a fun, competitive environment with rich learning opportunities. 

Contest Rules
blue-triangle-element

CURRENT CONTESTS

View / Submit
blue-triangle-element

PAST CONTESTS

View Archive
Resources
blue-triangle-element

Resources

PFRE prides itself on the depth and breadth of the information and professional development resources it makes available to our community. Our goal is to help real estate and interior photographers be successful while bringing the community together and elevating the industry as a whole.
blue-triangle-element

Conference News

No items found

Congratulations To Barry MacKenzie April PFRE Photographer Of The Month

In: 
Published: 28/04/2014

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

A bunch of great images this month. Congratulations to Barry MacKenzie capturing the jurors attention and winning by a significant margin. Here is the jury's voting results:

  1. 48 pts #25, Barry MacKenzie, London, ON
  2. 20 pts #41, Alasdair Mcintosh, York, UK
  3. 10 pts #49, Robert Ekins, Sydney, AU
  4. 9 pts #30, Dean Hales, Melbourne, AU
  5. 8 pts #27, Andrew Mott, Victoria, BC
  6. 7 pts #2, Stefan Randholm, Marbella, ES
  7. 5 pts #5, Simon Draper, Inverleigh, AU
  8. 4 pts #20, Jim Bolen, Boise, ID
  9. 3 pts #13, Kerry Bern, Ames, IA
  10. 2 pts #32, Hiep Nguyen, Honolulu, HI
  11. 2 pts #34, Ryan Wicks, East Sussex, UK
  12. 2 pts #38, Tony Colangelo, Victoria, BC

Barry is a real success story, I talked to him several times back in Sept of 2011 when he was just starting out in real estate photography. He's come a long ways and is now doing some really fine work!

Here is Barry's description of his winning image:

First, I'd like to give a big thanks to all the jurors that tossed some votes my way – I'm pretty pumped that my photo was selected as the winner this month!

This master bedroom was shot using a Canon 5DMKII and the EF 17-40mm f/4L. After the shot was composed it was relatively straightforward to light. That being said, it was definitely a challenge to pull detail from the dark floors and dark furniture without clipping shadows or adding any visible noise or banding to the image.

The first flash was placed in the bathroom around the corner to the left. It was bounced into the wall, ceiling joint at ¼ power. The lighting in the bedroom consisted of a flash camera left at ½ power and a flash bounced high camera right also at ½ power. Once I established the proper exposure for the room I shot several extra frames bouncing light off the walls and ceiling at full power to bring up the detail in the wood. I used these extra frames to mask in portions that were underexposed in the main photo – there were a total of five separate shots used to create the final composite. To finish the image I added a slight vignette to focus the viewer’s attention towards the center of the frame. I also did some basic cloning and retouching and local adjustments using layer masks.

Again, I think there's a lot to be learned by going over the entries and the comments that people have made on the entries. Thanks for everyone's participation!

PFRE Photographer of the Month Winners:

Larry Lohrman

20 comments on “Congratulations To Barry MacKenzie April PFRE Photographer Of The Month”

  1. I am shooting virtual tours in North Carolina, USA. I find your photography extremely professional. I am shooting with a Nikon D-90. Are all of you shoots done with flashes and how many do you use and what camera settings are used.

  2. Thanks for all the nice words - much appreciated!!

    @ Ralph : Yes, I use multiple off camera flash for every photo I make - my lighting bag has 10 Yongnuo YN560's inside but I rarely pull out more than 6 on any given shoot. The camera settings for this particular shot were ISO 320, f/8, 1/30s @ 20mm. Hope that helps!

  3. @Barry congratulations your photos are gorgeous as are all the shots on your site. Question, was this bedroom shot for a periodical, builder or architect? I ask because the last few agents I have shot for barely want to give an hour for the shoot so really no time to set up multiple flashes. How long did this take?

  4. @ YZO : Thanks for the feedback! This bedroom was shot for a standard real estate listing. It was a $1.8M, 4500 sq/ft home that took me roughly 2 hours to shoot - an average home usually takes me anywhere from 45-90 minutes. Tell your agents to chill out! They've been hired by the homeowner to market (in most cases) their most valuable asset!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Vendors

Rela Logo
CS6 PSE Logo
HD Photo Hub Logo
FullFrame Logo

Learning Topics

.
magnifiercrossmenucross-circle