Architectural Spot Lighting saves the day in student housing photo project
While shooting at NEIU in Chicago, I took the time to do some spot lighting on this scene. In this first image you can see what the camera sees and there are lots of lighting problems. The window is easily 8 stops hotter than the couches in the foreground. The windows are almost blown out and couches are dark. I could have fused 5 bracketed photos as I often do, but I wanted to test this approach to lighting.
The Nest at NEIU architectural photograph out of the camera image
I walked around and used a Canon 600 ex rt speedlite with no modifier on it to spot light 6 areas. I triggered the camera from my Ipad which was loaded with the Cam Ranger software. The camera had the Cam Ranger unit attached to the fire wire port. This gives me the freedom to walk around and spot light and change the settings on the camera or on the flash without having to walk back to the camera.
Spot lit scene of The Nest
Then I painted in those lit areas in Photoshop. Even with no modifier on the flash to soften the shadows, I ended up with a much more appealing architectural photograph.
Final image of The Nest with spot lighting done in Photoshop
Residential Real Estate Photography special technique
Though I don’t do much residential real estate photography , since I am so busy with commercial architectural photography, I was hired to shoot a home to be listed on MLS, and it immediately got a full price offer in just a day on the market. The living room of the house had a vaulted ceiling so to show as much of this room as possible, I chose to photomerge two shots in Photoshop. This require that I shoot one lower and one higher image. I can do this because when I shoot with my Canon 17mm Tilt Shift lens, it allows me to maintain the true verticals in the images, allowing Photohop to be able to merge the two images into one. This provides a nice wide shot but adds the dimension of height so the viewer can see lots more of the room. I hope this stacking approach helped sell this house for my EXP Realty client!
Real Estate architectural photography of vaulted ceiling living room
Vaulted Living room with 2 stacked images in Photoshop
Architectural images that take a bit more work in Photoshop
Some architectural images take a bit more work. Occasionally as a professional architectural photographer it is necessary to dive into Photoshop to do painstaking hours of retouching. Here is an example of one of those architectural images that requires just sitting down at the computer and digging in. Knowing the nuances of Photoshop helps. Here are some of those tricks. First a single exposure of the building right out of the camera.
1200 West Marshall UVA singe exposure out of camera
The after shot after fusing 5 exposures, cleaning up the wires and poles, adjusting color, cleaning up the pavement and replacing the sky.
1200 West Marshall after retouching
Telephone pole wires are easy but not easy. The look straight but they are not – they droop. With the spot healing brush set to just a bit wider than the diameter of the wire, if you click on an edge of a window or some type of hard edge and then click as far at you think the wire will be straight enough to be contained in that healing path, and click on a final spot that also has a clean edge, you can make lots of progress cleaning up wires – even wires that cross windows and other parts of the building. Invariably there will be spot runs like this that will not work and you just have to pull out the clone stamp tool and do your best to match the length of the wire. Telephone poles will need the clone stamp tool – they are too wide for the spot healing tool. The spot healing too works as a content aware tool so it is looking for information around it to replace the selected area. Unless your telephone pole is sitting right over a nice clean stretch of brick, none of the healing or content aware approaches will work. Replacing the sky in this image is not too tough because there are no trees poking up over the roof line. A clean roof line is easy to select and then drop in a new sky.
Stacking Architectural photography
Stacking Architectural Photographs for property developement clients
Here is my main use of stacking architectural photographs. Often as professional architectural photographers we get frustrated as we are shooting a scene because even with a wide angle lens, we cannot see enough of the top or bottom of the room or the building. The ceiling architecture of rooms are often the calling cards of the architects and the builders, and they want to see their work in the photograph. Shooting with any lens under 17 mm will really start distorting the image on the edges, as a fish eye lens will do. In order to provide my architectural clients with a larger image, I will merge an upper image which features the ceiling, and a lower images which features more of the floor and the foreground. I can do this with the Canon 17 mm tilt shift lens because all I have to do is shift the lens up and down to get these two images.
Univ Crossings student housing upper image
Univ Crossings student housing bottom image
Photoshop then merges the two seamlessly.
Univ Crossings merged top and bottom big
Now I have a master image that is not a 3×2 landscape aspect ratio, which is what comes out of the camera, but instead, depending on my final crop, I get a 1×1 or square image – the same width as the native capture but taller, and often a much taller image than square like a 1 x 1.3 aspect ratio. Suffice it to say that stacking architectural photographs provides my clients with more “real estate” in the image and gives my cleints’ advertising and marketing design team me more latitude to crop vertically or horizontally depending on the need of the ad layout. The images also now has the feel of the kind of image that might come from a medium format camera.
In The News
- At May 23, 2015
- By Johnny Stevens
- In abstract, Aerial photography, aerial video, architectural photos, areial video, art for sale, austin architectural photographer, Austin photographer, canvas prints for sale, Drone photography, Drone Video, Fine Art, HDR, hot rods, landscape, light painting, Photography, Photoshop, portrait, portrait photography, professional, protrait, real estate photography, rust rapture
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Johnny’s work has recently been featured in the following publications. Click on any image to view each article!
Clients
- At February 09, 2015
- By Johnny Stevens
- In aerial, aerial video, american campus, architectural photos, art for sale, austin architectural photographer, Austin photographer, canvas prints for sale, Drone photography, Drone Video, Fine Art, headshots, landscape, light painting, Photography, Photoshop, portrait, protrait, real estate, real estate photography, rust rapture
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BizFilm Media, LLC
Johnny Carino’s Italian Restaurants
Mason Health Care
Oxford Commercial Real Estate
Paul Mitchell Systems
Pauly Realty
Premier Partners Homes
Regsiter Dixon Homes
Riverplace Country Club
The Natasha Group Keller Williams
The Roby Institute
Threshold Agency
Wayport
Will Mokry Designs
World Class Capital Group
Todd Associates
Portraits
Family Portraits portrait photography and individual head shots are an area of photography that requires lighting expertise, patience, and a calm disposition that makes everyone feel comfortable, whether it be a high school senior, a bride to be, or a family of 16. Contact Johnny to explore the best options for your next portrait.
From the photographer:
Shooting headshots or portraits is one of the most demanding photographic disciplines because it requires the photographer to exercise exquisite people skills while staying acutely aware of how his or her camera and lighting equipment is performing. It is not uncommon that the subject you are photographing is nervous, maybe short on time or maybe just does not want to be in front of the camera. Naturally, the photographer picks up on this energy and of course it boosts anxiety, but he has the responsibility of creating a sense of calm – a pleasant environment for the subject. He may be sweating bullets trying to exude calm while doing triage on his or her gear because suddenly your wireless trigger decides to stop working, but he has to smile and breathe deeply so that the subject is able to smile and breathe deeply. This whole concept of working with the subject while working with photography gear sounds simple enough, but once you get into this profession, you begin to understand the value of effective people skills while knowing your gear inside and out. Something I always to do help calm the subject is to reach out and fix a collar or tug on a blouse to relieve a wrinkle, or move a tusk of hair. This whole act of touching is very powerful. The subject is totally unaware that is creating bond of trust with the photographer. Just don’t overdo it!
Johnny Stevens, Certified Professional Photographer, Austin, Texas
Blog
- At August 06, 2012
- By Johnny Stevens
- In aerial, Aerial photography, aerial video, american campus, architectural photos, areial video, austin architectural photographer, Austin photographer, beautiful, drone, Drone photography, Drone Video, family, Fine Art, headshots, hot rods, landscape, lifestyle photography, light painting, Photography, Photoshop, portrait photography, professional, protrait, real estate, real estate photography, rust rapture, speedlights, student housing, student lifestyle, travel, video, videography
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Contact
- At August 06, 2012
- By Johnny Stevens
- In abstract, aerial, architectural photos, art for sale, Austin photographer, drone, Drone photography, Drone Video, Fine Art, lifestyle photography, nature, Photography, Photoshop, portrait, portrait photography, professional, real estate photography, student housing, student lifestyle, video
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Contact Johnny Stevens
CPP Photographer in Westlake, 78746
FAA Licensed Small Unmanned (Drone) Aircraft Pilot #4099138
FAA Registered DJI Mavic Pro quadcopter # FA3347KRKA
(512) 762-5621
johnny@johnnystevens.com
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About
- At August 05, 2012
- By Johnny Stevens
- In abstract, aerial, architectural photos, art for sale, Austin photographer, drone, Drone photography, Drone Video, Fine Art, headshots, Photography, Photoshop, portrait, portrait photography, professional, real estate photography, student housing, student lifestyle
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Austin Professional Photographer
Johnny Stevens, a native of Lenoir, N.C. has spent over 30 years behind video and still image cameras as both a director and producer. Johnny has shot hundreds of videos of all genres, and has honed his eye for photographic composition through tens of thousands of still images. Johnny started taking photographs as a hobby in his late teens and is now enjoying photography as a profession, focusing on portrait, interior design, architectural, and fine art photography in Austin, Texas. His photographic approach is uniquely artistic as seen in the galleries on this site. He is skilled in studio portraiture as well as natural light photography. He is also well seasoned in the art of High Dynamic Range photography (HDR).
Johnny Stevens architectural and portrait photographer Austin, Texas
Johnny is also a respected member of the following professional organizations:
National Association of Photoshop Professionals
Professional Photographers of America
Texas PPA
Austin Guild PPA
Interior Design Society
Don’t forget to share with your friends on social media using the sidebar, and connect with Johnny through the widget at the bottom of each page! Your reviews and likes/follows are the utmost compliment!
Check out and review Images by Johnny Stevens on Yelp
