Final Delivered Image - Luxury Real Estate Northridge, CA

Luxury Real Estate Photography In Northridge, CA

July 27, 2016

This house was a dream to photograph! Not only was it five minutes from my place, but this house offered a lot of unique photographic opportunities. There were quite a few lighting challenges to overcome, but they were the rewarding kind.

At this shoot, I had a couple of furry helpers following me around. I thought I had managed to keep them out of the final images, but I did miss one...

I don't usually use umbrellas when photographing and lighting a room, but when I do it is almost always in the kitchen.

Here is a quick behind the scenes video of how I lit the previous kitchen shot:

I really liked how this one point perspective image of the kitchen turned out. I was able to leave most of the lights in place from the previous photo and just focus on the composition.

When I entered the master bedroom and adjoining rooms, it became even more apparent that a musician owned the place. I liked his style and he pulled off what I believed to be an impossible feat: making pink walls work!

This backyard was fantastic! What a great place to throw a party...not to mention what a fun backyard to photograph!

When I do luxury real estate and architecture photography, I normally have to travel much farther than my own neighborhood. What a great hidden gem in my own backyard. Getting the chance to do luxury real estate photography in Northridge, CA was a welcome reprieve...especially since I got to skip the 405 freeway!

The final delivered photograph of the kitchen - Real estate photography in Brentwood, CA — The final delivered photograph of the kitchen - Real estate photography in Brentwood, CA

Luxury Real Estate Photography In Brentwood, CA

April 29, 2016

Being a real estate photographer in Brentwood is great! This was an enormous house I photographed recently for Edward Tinney of Nourmand & Associates. This house was just off Sunset Blvd and despite the size, I actually managed to get through this property shoot pretty quickly. This was largely due to the fact that this place was a joy to photograph!

Final delivered photograph of the exterior of the home - Real estate photography in Brentwood, CA — Final delivered photograph of the exterior of the home - Real estate photography in Brentwood, CA

Final lit and delivered photograph of the stairway

Ambient only shot of the room before we decided to move the distracting chair

Ambient only shot of the master bathroom

Final lit and delivered photograph of the master bedroom.

Final lit and delivered photograph of the bedroom.

Final lit and delivered photograph of the master bathroom

Final delivered photograph of the backyard view from the balcony.

This kitchen area was great - look at that island! I set up lights inside the room, but I also had umbrellas outside to mimic sunlight.

Ambient only shot of the kitchen with the agent inspecting the scene

One of the final photographs of the kitchen

The wallpaper in this house would probably not be my first choice...

Final delivered photograph of the dining room

Final delivered photograph of the living room with a digital fire added

A shot of me pretending to be a light stand because I left them all the way on the other side of the house.

Me trying to figure out why this flash wasn't firing.

Final delivered photograph of the living room

Final delivered photograph of the backyard

It was perfect weather that day for real estate photo shoot and this home in Brentwood was a lot of fun.

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?