The one thing that I enjoy about your work (above all the other things I enjoy about it) is that the final product that you seem to achieve is a "natural" look as opposed to the terrible washed-out photos I see from so many other real estate photographers. They look so fake that it's deceiving to the prospective buyer. And, as an award-winning real estate professional since 1971, the LAST thing I want to see is a photograph that does not accurately represent the property. Thanks for your "natural" approach. It's very much appreciated (at least it is by me).
Hi Rich, I saved this video a while back and only just got around to watching it. THANK YOU for this - I'd watched a tutorial yesterday on the same process that was more detailed and lengthy but left me baffled as to how the concepts work. I appreciate this video a lot
I also like to copy the ambient, set one to normal and the copy to luminosity... this way you can choose between blending color (normal mode) or brightness (luminosity mode). Or perhaps masking in either to taste.
Great techniques on a normal day i have to shoot 4 to 5 properties every day with around 30+ images a prop depending on size. Also have to do the floor plans and aerial drone photos. Images back to the clients by next day. I would be here for years. Normally i set up multiple flash guns in adjacent rooms on very low power with softbox defusers bouncing away from the area i need lit. This is a great technique though and would use it if i had limited jobs per day
I'm pretty new to photography, if fact I only took it up about six months ago so that I could learn to shoot real estate. It has taken about four months to save up the money to get the proper gear, not top of the line but good stuff. In the mean time I watched videos, yours are by far the best. Two months ago I signed up for LR and PS and began practicing your methods; I've had to watch a few of your videos three or four times. Thank you Professor Baum for the education I've gotten at TH-cam University. I'm not yet making a living doing real estate photography but I have shot a few apartments and houses, I'm happy with the results. I have to admit that at 68 I don't learn as fast as I use to. All your videos are great but I particularly like those that show the shoot setup and the editing. Kind regards from Oregon.
Was led here by Nathan Cool, Rich, and just wanted to say thanks for all you do. I am returning to photography after years of being away and looking to jump into real estate photography as a late-life second career. I only ever reached "serious hobbyist" level many years ago, and enjoyed shooting with my Pentax K7 mostly outdoors. But with my wife starting her second career as a realtor, I figured why not do the photos for her listings and see if that can't become a small business in its own right! So here I am cramming everything you and Nathan put out so that I have a clue where to start, lol. Anyway, great content and keep up the good work! Cheers; Paul.
Just wanted to let you know that your "window pull" technique has been the most valuable tool I have learned all year! That impresses agents to the extreme. Thank you!!!!! Secondly, you are a good teacher; you explain things clearly and concisely. There is no substitute for a good teacher. Lastly, my OCD side thanks you for going back to get that hallway, lol. ( It drove me crazy until you did it. Lol) Looking forward to whatever you throw at us next!! Best wishes for a wonderful week!
Thanks Rich. Never knew how to get rid of glare on a frig for example or lighten a darkened area other than copy and paste or dodge and burn. Brilliant info. Have always used copy and paste to drop in windows, globes etc too. I am going to practice the window pull technique in my home to get it down...the best method i have seen so far. Thanks for all your help.
Can't tell you how many of your videos I have watched, but I can tell you there is not a single one of them where I did not learn a ton of useful things. I am relatively new to real estate photography using lights, coming from the dark side (HDR), but I must say you've got me hooked. I don't often comment on many videos, but there is just so much great information here for me to learn, I felt like I should at least say thanks to you!
@@RichBaum I'm sorry to bother you with this but I can't find your IPAD case anywhere. I looked on your Kit website, but it isn't listed. I have an old Samsung Tab A but i can't find a case for it. I hate to have to spend the money for a brand new one, but I want the larger display with my old eyes and failing eyesight. Can you tell me where to get a case? I wonder if they have them for Samsung.... ?? Thank you for your time and patience. MC
You are very welcome, I am happy to help. Don't wait, using lights usually gives a far better result and in the long run can be faster and easier.. but it takes a little time to get good at it
Thank you for this tutorial. I have an upcoming shoot this Saturday and I'm trying to muster all the knowledge I need. One thing I wish you could have done is to brighten the cabinet and the ceiling reflected in the mirror.
Thanks for this video. I am just starting with real estate photography. Done a lot landscape in the past. But that does not pay the bill at the end of the day.
Well good luck Ralf, This type of photography can be tricky when you start but keep at it.. and if you find you need some extra help I can offer one on one coaching, so if your interested just send me an e mail to rich@richbaum.com and I can tell you more about it.
Hi Rich, you're helping out immensely with the interior videos, will you be doing more exterior shots at different times of the day? That's my biggest challenge.
Hey Rich, LOVE your videos!! You have done a lot of great ones, I'd love to see something on Composition. This shot looks very odd to me like it should be panned way left to lose a lot of the wall to the right. I'd love to hear why you chose this comp and what makes you chose the comps you do. Thank you!
I love your videos Rich! Thanks for taking the time to make these for all of us. Question for you I'm able to do the first mask with ambient fine, but when I got to do the second mask to darken the lighten and try to do a window pull my brush stroke is coming out muddy without pulling through any of the picture. Hope this made sense and any help you can provide would be so appreciated. Thanks again!
Kim, Sorry but I am not clear on what your asking.. I do offer one on one coaching if that is something that might help you. If you are interested you can send me an e mail to rich@richbaum.com
It looks like you have a lot of different exposures to choose from, not just the three that you used to comp. Do you usually shoot those all manually, use auto-bracketing, or perhaps some combination? How many variations of with-flash and without-flash do you capture. And the root question: what is your methodology for capturing, and verifying, that you have what you think you'll need before leaving the site?
+Rich Baum - just a thought on your mysteriously moving windows. I had a similar experience with mine and I just happened to notice one day that I had imperceptibly brushed my finger horizontally across my Apple Magic Mouse as i was using the mouse for another operation. I guess previously when it happened my touch was so light I never noticed. So if you're using a magic mouse with your Apple system, you might think about that.
Hmmm...it's a real mystery then. I wonder if it could be some other option you have turned on for your mouse? I really haven't explored all the "nooks and crannys" of the MAC OS yet as I'm a relative newcomer to the MAC world. Good luck tracking that down and do let us know what it was when you eventually find it!
Rich, love your videos, I have been learning so much! I have just a quick question for you. Can you please explain how you know when to use luminosity and when not to, please? thank you Rich! maybe you could even do a video on it?
Mandy Aliano that is a really great question and one I don't have an answer to other than, sometimes I find setting to luminosity works better but usually "For Me" normal mode works best. What I find myself doing is switching back and forth between the two modes will show you which one works best. I wish I had a better solution but I don't.
would you be able to keep the lights turned off, then just get an exposure for them and set it to lighten? Anyways, thank you so much for these videos!
Rich, for the Ambient, are you shooting on Aperture at a particular setting (say...7.1 or 8) or is it on manual where you adjust the Histogram to be even or centered?
Hi Terry, I always shoot my interior shots in Manual and I got to be honest, I just set my exposure by experience, after I have shot 10,000 rooms now I just kind of know.. and I almost always shoot ISO 400 and f7.1 which I learned from Scott Hargis.
Great tutorial. I thought that ambient light and flash light doesn't merge well due to the colour temperature. One is warm (depend on the time of the day) and the other is always neutral. How did you overcome this issue (eg. change the tones in LR to match them)?
On the part where you're masking in the bulbs, you painted in over the selection. Any downside to just hitting delete instead after you make the selection?
Great video, new to PS & learning all I can, I noticed that you always moved the shots around, globe above room then ambient of room. Any reason why? Couldn't you just shut off each one in its original position & accomplish the same result when painting in?
You are the best Rich! Do you take the images with multiple exposures in manual mode? If so how many stops between exposures, 2? Or do you take them with multiple different strengths of the flash settings instead?
I'm trying this technique to "paint" over some harsh shadows on a brown wall but the flash and ambient colors don't match (I assume because of different white balances - the flash is closer to tan than brown). How do I deal with that?
Hi - This is a very informative and clear tutorial. I have Lightroom and Photoshop Elements 2019. Is it possible to do the editing you show using PSE 2019?
As a pro we want a lot better than HDR and we charge a lot more money. HDR is for those that shoot a house for $150. I only do higher end homes and they pay a lot more money. Thats why I am here to learn from Rich. Im 71 years old and have a lot to learn.
Nikolay, Here you go.. th-cam.com/video/q1oqCR1LUJI/w-d-xo.html And please join my Facebook Group that will go with this Channel: facebook.com/groups/1462821257117686/
Hi Rich. I'm a new subscriber to your channel, and I may not be fully understanding the terminology you're using. When you say "ambient," or "ambient light photo," what exactly do you mean? By "ambient" do you mean the natural light coming in from windows, for example? When I look at the photo you say is "ambient," the windows look a bit too bright, as if you had used exposure compensation to make sure the dark background area would show up in the photo. I'm just a bit confused. Thanks for replying. I am learning a lot from watching how you approach real estate photography, and your use of layer masks in Photoshop.
it's horrible. there is no depth try to shoot same image using as many lights and diffusers you may wish, but get all in 1 exposure, avoiding reflections and hot spots; much better results
The one thing that I enjoy about your work (above all the other things I enjoy about it) is that the final product that you seem to achieve is a "natural" look as opposed to the terrible washed-out photos I see from so many other real estate photographers. They look so fake that it's deceiving to the prospective buyer. And, as an award-winning real estate professional since 1971, the LAST thing I want to see is a photograph that does not accurately represent the property. Thanks for your "natural" approach. It's very much appreciated (at least it is by me).
Thanks Ken.. your words have mad my day better..
Hi Rich, I saved this video a while back and only just got around to watching it. THANK YOU for this - I'd watched a tutorial yesterday on the same process that was more detailed and lengthy but left me baffled as to how the concepts work. I appreciate this video a lot
Check out my latest video as it might help you to understand this technique
I also like to copy the ambient, set one to normal and the copy to luminosity... this way you can choose between blending color (normal mode) or brightness (luminosity mode). Or perhaps masking in either to taste.
I watched this a week ago and after implementing these techniques, my real estate photography has been taken to another level! Thank you - Will
Great !!!
And please join my Facebook Group that will go with this Channel: facebook.com/groups/1462821257117686/
Thanks Rich, again...needed a brushup.
Great techniques on a normal day i have to shoot 4 to 5 properties every day with around 30+ images a prop depending on size. Also have to do the floor plans and aerial drone photos. Images back to the clients by next day. I would be here for years. Normally i set up multiple flash guns in adjacent rooms on very low power with softbox defusers bouncing away from the area i need lit. This is a great technique though and would use it if i had limited jobs per day
I'm pretty new to photography, if fact I only took it up about six months ago so that I could learn to shoot real estate. It has taken about four months to save up the money to get the proper gear, not top of the line but good stuff. In the mean time I watched videos, yours are by far the best. Two months ago I signed up for LR and PS and began practicing your methods; I've had to watch a few of your videos three or four times. Thank you Professor Baum for the education I've gotten at TH-cam University. I'm not yet making a living doing real estate photography but I have shot a few apartments and houses, I'm happy with the results. I have to admit that at 68 I don't learn as fast as I use to. All your videos are great but I particularly like those that show the shoot setup and the editing. Kind regards from Oregon.
Was led here by Nathan Cool, Rich, and just wanted to say thanks for all you do. I am returning to photography after years of being away and looking to jump into real estate photography as a late-life second career. I only ever reached "serious hobbyist" level many years ago, and enjoyed shooting with my Pentax K7 mostly outdoors. But with my wife starting her second career as a realtor, I figured why not do the photos for her listings and see if that can't become a small business in its own right! So here I am cramming everything you and Nathan put out so that I have a clue where to start, lol. Anyway, great content and keep up the good work! Cheers; Paul.
Thanks Rich specially to let us know very clear instructions to choose one tool or another !! very helpfull - best regards from Paris France
Thank you so much.. hope you are not too hot over there..
Just wanted to let you know that your "window pull" technique has been the most valuable tool I have learned all year! That impresses agents to the extreme. Thank you!!!!! Secondly, you are a good teacher; you explain things clearly and concisely. There is no substitute for a good teacher. Lastly, my OCD side thanks you for going back to get that hallway, lol. ( It drove me crazy until you did it. Lol) Looking forward to whatever you throw at us next!! Best wishes for a wonderful week!
Hi Rich
Thanks for all of your videos! They really have helped me get better real estate photos. Thanks again
Thank you
Just starting out in the industry. Your tutorials are just what I need. Thanks.
Thank you Rich for sharing your technique and how you blend your photos for a more ambient yet natural looking work. 👍
Thanks Rich. Never knew how to get rid of glare on a frig for example or lighten a darkened area other than copy and paste or dodge and burn. Brilliant info. Have always used copy and paste to drop in windows, globes etc too. I am going to practice the window pull technique in my home to get it down...the best method i have seen so far. Thanks for all your help.
Sorry, Rich - just found your video on it. This must make it the millionth request!
This is wonderful. Thank you so much for your effortless teaching and clear explanations.
You're very welcome!
Can't tell you how many of your videos I have watched, but I can tell you there is not a single one of them where I did not learn a ton of useful things. I am relatively new to real estate photography using lights, coming from the dark side (HDR), but I must say you've got me hooked. I don't often comment on many videos, but there is just so much great information here for me to learn, I felt like I should at least say thanks to you!
Thanks Rodney, you made my day..
You are helping me so much. Photoshop and blending flash images used to be so intimidating!
Thank you. Every little bit helps! Thanks for taking the time!
Thanks Rich - fantastic! Your videos are very well done, very informative, and totally professional. Thanks for all the great information!
Rich, yours is the most beautiful photography I've ever seen. You're my mentor! I hope to be an eighth as good as you someday.
Oh thank you very much
@@RichBaum I'm sorry to bother you with this but I can't find your IPAD case anywhere. I looked on your Kit website, but it isn't listed. I have an old Samsung Tab A but i can't find a case for it. I hate to have to spend the money for a brand new one, but I want the larger display with my old eyes and failing eyesight. Can you tell me where to get a case? I wonder if they have them for Samsung.... ?? Thank you for your time and patience. MC
Lifeproof stopped making them just check Amazon and you will find dozens.
Thanks, Rich. So helpful - also inspiring. Have learned a lot from this one alone.
Keith, so happy I can help
Thanks Rich, your Facebook group has been great. I'm getting closer to making the transition from HDR to Flambient.
You are very welcome, I am happy to help. Don't wait, using lights usually gives a far better result and in the long run can be faster and easier.. but it takes a little time to get good at it
Great video, Rich! This stuff is the best thing since sliced bread!
Another fantastic and very helpful video! Thank you, Rich for sharing your knowledge!
You are welcome.. Please be sure to check out our Podcast www.shootingspacespodcast.com
This is a great video, Rich! This is a problem I have, and I don't have remote flashes yet. I subscribed for more, keep it up!
Great tutorial and easy to follow. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for this tutorial. I have an upcoming shoot this Saturday and I'm trying to muster all the knowledge I need. One thing I wish you could have done is to brighten the cabinet and the ceiling reflected in the mirror.
Hi Rich, really nice tutorial. As much as I would like to shoot with strobes, agents really appreciate the ability to get in and out.
Love this tutorial - learned a lot thanks
Thank you.
Excellent video! I'm a new follower!
Welcome Jen, hope you will watch all the videos.. feel free to post questions too.
Thank you for your videos, I'm learning a lot, I am doing my first house shoot tomorrow, I will use your advice :)
This is my "go to" tutorial. So much info, thank u!
I offer one on one coaching if that is something that might interest you.. If so send me an e mail to: rich@richbaum.com
Thanks for this video. I am just starting with real estate photography. Done a lot landscape in the past. But that does not pay the bill at the end of the day.
Well good luck Ralf, This type of photography can be tricky when you start but keep at it.. and if you find you need some extra help I can offer one on one coaching, so if your interested just send me an e mail to rich@richbaum.com and I can tell you more about it.
Another great video, thanks Rich!
Thanks again Rich!!! Yet another great video!
You are so welcome.
Thank you so much, Rich! This is a great tutorial for a beginner like me!
Your welcome
Hi Rich, you're helping out immensely with the interior videos, will you be doing more exterior shots at different times of the day? That's my biggest challenge.
I never pick the time of day to shoot unless Twilight's. I can usuially make a single RAW image look pretty good anytime
Hey Rich,
LOVE your videos!! You have done a lot of great ones, I'd love to see something on Composition. This shot looks very odd to me like it should be panned way left to lose a lot of the wall to the right. I'd love to hear why you chose this comp and what makes you chose the comps you do. Thank you!
Excellent tutorial again Rich
Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing. It really help.
Super video! Subscribed. Love your intonation.
Awesome video... SO helpful. Thank you!
Thanks Rich, very practical advice.
Excellent Video Rich
Cool video
Very helpful, Rich, thank you. (You have a good heart, man).
Thanks Phil
Been painting in the ambient in luminosity- need to try normal mode now!
Fantastic tutorial extremely helpful as usual!
what a great tutorial, thanks for teaching me this Rich
Very informative Rich...i need to learn photo shop indeed..cheers
Thank you Bro... I was looking for it.
Thanks so much! I appreciate your reply..
I love your videos Rich! Thanks for taking the time to make these for all of us. Question for you I'm able to do the first mask with ambient fine, but when I got to do the second mask to darken the lighten and try to do a window pull my brush stroke is coming out muddy without pulling through any of the picture. Hope this made sense and any help you can provide would be so appreciated. Thanks again!
Kim, Sorry but I am not clear on what your asking.. I do offer one on one coaching if that is something that might help you. If you are interested you can send me an e mail to rich@richbaum.com
It looks like you have a lot of different exposures to choose from, not just the three that you used to comp. Do you usually shoot those all manually, use auto-bracketing, or perhaps some combination? How many variations of with-flash and without-flash do you capture. And the root question: what is your methodology for capturing, and verifying, that you have what you think you'll need before leaving the site?
It can differ from image to image, somethings no brackets and something many, but there is no rule.
Thanks, this is great!
Very helpful! Thanks!
Thanks for your info.
+Rich Baum - just a thought on your mysteriously moving windows. I had a similar experience with mine and I just happened to notice one day that I had imperceptibly brushed my finger horizontally across my Apple Magic Mouse as i was using the mouse for another operation. I guess previously when it happened my touch was so light I never noticed. So if you're using a magic mouse with your Apple system, you might think about that.
I do t use a Magic Mouse but thanks for the suggestion
Hmmm...it's a real mystery then. I wonder if it could be some other option you have turned on for your mouse? I really haven't explored all the "nooks and crannys" of the MAC OS yet as I'm a relative newcomer to the MAC world. Good luck tracking that down and do let us know what it was when you eventually find it!
great video!
WHO DOWNVOTES THESE VIDEOS? insanity.
Rich, love your videos, I have been learning so much! I have just a quick question for you. Can you please explain how you know when to use luminosity and when not to, please?
thank you Rich! maybe you could even do a video on it?
Mandy Aliano that is a really great question and one I don't have an answer to other than, sometimes I find setting to luminosity works better but usually "For Me" normal mode works best.
What I find myself doing is switching back and forth between the two modes will show you which one works best.
I wish I had a better solution but I don't.
Rich Baum thanks so much! 😊 I'll play around and see what works best for each situation! Thanks again!
Mandy, I just posted a video that you requested, how is that for service !!!
Rich Baum I know! I saw it the second you posted! you are the greatest!!! thank you so very much Rich!!! 😘 👏
would you be able to keep the lights turned off, then just get an exposure for them and set it to lighten? Anyways, thank you so much for these videos!
There are so many ways to do this.. but for me I do it my way.. but you are total correct (I think LOL)
great tutorial. Just one note, on 14:15 you moved one layer that destroyed the perfect job you did a few seconds before on the globe.
Thanks for the feedback, I often make mistakes but hopefully you get the idea..
Big up !
Rich, for the Ambient, are you shooting on Aperture at a particular setting (say...7.1 or 8) or is it on manual where you adjust the Histogram to be even or centered?
Hi Terry, I always shoot my interior shots in Manual and I got to be honest, I just set my exposure by experience, after I have shot 10,000 rooms now I just kind of know.. and I almost always shoot ISO 400 and f7.1 which I learned from Scott Hargis.
Great tutorial. I thought that ambient light and flash light doesn't merge well due to the colour temperature. One is warm (depend on the time of the day) and the other is always neutral. How did you overcome this issue (eg. change the tones in LR to match them)?
I adjust my ambient shot in Lightroom to match what I need to blend into the flash shot in Photoshop
@@RichBaum Thank you. I guess it's the most effective way.
Fantastic! What was that secret sauce bump you added? Thanks.
On the part where you're masking in the bulbs, you painted in over the selection. Any downside to just hitting delete instead after you make the selection?
Great video, new to PS & learning all I can, I noticed that you always moved the shots around, globe above room then ambient of room. Any reason why? Couldn't you just shut off each one in its original position & accomplish the same result when painting in?
It's just the way that works for me.. As I always say, there are many ways rto do everything in Photoshop..
You are the best Rich! Do you take the images with multiple exposures in manual mode? If so how many stops between exposures, 2? Or do you take them with multiple different strengths of the flash settings instead?
I only shoot the exposures I need and it can be from 1/2 to 3 stops, it just depends.
If you need further help I do One on One coaching via SKYPE.. If interested send me an e mail rich@richbaum.com
Thanks for video, just getting started and needed this. What setting you use for camera and color temperature setting?
As I shoot RAW I find Auto WB to work best for me..
Silly question. FIrst I love your videos. But in this one when you say "lit shot". Is that a flash shot?
Yes, a lit shot is a shot I use lighting.
I'm trying this technique to "paint" over some harsh shadows on a brown wall but the flash and ambient colors don't match (I assume because of different white balances - the flash is closer to tan than brown). How do I deal with that?
You need to try and adjust the ambient shot to match the colors where you plan to mask in..
Hi - This is a very informative and clear tutorial. I have Lightroom and Photoshop Elements 2019. Is it possible to do the editing you show using PSE 2019?
I am not sure.. but I would recommend if your serious about this you need the full blown Photoshop..
Thanks @@RichBaum for the quick reply. I'll try and follow along with your editing in PSE, and see how it goes.
Great stuff, very helpful. But one question... what the hell is that "Dehaze". My Lightroom CC does not have that???? I've never seen that before?
Dehaze is at the bottom.
Can I ask when you have exported to layers in PS do you have the ambient layer or flash layer on top and for what reason.
Ambient layer is on top
Why dôn’t you do HDR inside ligthroom ? It’s faster than doing all the things you do in this video
To me there is no comparison and I really don’t like HDR. But it took me years to understand the difference.
As a pro we want a lot better than HDR and we charge a lot more money. HDR is for those that shoot a house for $150. I only do higher end homes and they pay a lot more money. Thats why I am here to learn from Rich. Im 71 years old and have a lot to learn.
Rich, how do you white balance your shots...a card or an element in the photo? thanks.
I shoot RAW and adjust in Lightroom..
Where can I find your special sauce Lightroom preset??
Nikolay, Here you go.. th-cam.com/video/q1oqCR1LUJI/w-d-xo.html
And please join my Facebook Group that will go with this Channel: facebook.com/groups/1462821257117686/
thx!
Hi Rich. I'm a new subscriber to your channel, and I may not be fully understanding the terminology you're using. When you say "ambient," or "ambient light photo," what exactly do you mean? By "ambient" do you mean the natural light coming in from windows, for example? When I look at the photo you say is "ambient," the windows look a bit too bright, as if you had used exposure compensation to make sure the dark background area would show up in the photo. I'm just a bit confused. Thanks for replying. I am learning a lot from watching how you approach real estate photography, and your use of layer masks in Photoshop.
Ambient is always the exposure using available light not with flash.. flash is with flash.. Ambient light is just natural light..
Thank you, Rich, for getting back to me, and for clarifying your use of the word ambient.
Could you get similar results with a single flash?
Yes, If you "Let the ambient do the heavy lifting" you can illuminate the background areas with an ambient exposure.
Rich Baum thanks for the quick reply and the helpful videos
Damn whoever said Rich sounds like Donald Trump. I can hear it now every time.
OMG No!!!!
Great, now I have to exit. You are right
Try better composition next time.
it's horrible. there is no depth
try to shoot same image using as many lights and diffusers you may wish, but get all in 1 exposure, avoiding reflections and hot spots; much better results