In contrast to our eyes, the camera lens is limited by something called dynamic range. While the eye can take up to 21 dynamic range stop, the best lens can only take up to 14 dynamic range. To capture the same colors and lights as the eyes, we need to make up the missing dynamic ranges by taking multiple exposures. The solution is High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos.
HDR technique will help the camera to capture details for shadows and highlights that would not be possible with normal shooting.
If you have an underexposed photo and an overexposed photo, HDR editing is what you need to blend them together. When you’re doing real estate photography, HDR will play an important role in your shooting and editing. Let’s explore what HDR is and how to edit HDR real estate photos!
What is HDR photography?
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Dynamic range measures light intensity from bright areas to dark areas. In other words, it shows the contrast between the darkest and brightest areas of the image. Because dynamic range of the camera is less compared to one’s eyes, multiple photos should be taken to capture all the dynamic range that are missing. The process of combining multiple photos to create a photo that look as if you are looking at the object with your eyes is called multi-exposures. It is also known as HDR photography.
This method is accomplished by combining multiple images at different exposures and then stitching them together to create a final correctly exposed photo.
Mostly, this process requires at least three images at varying light exposure brackets.
- The first is to take photos with the highest brightness. The purpose of this is to get details in areas that are too dark
- Meanwhile, the second photo is a mid-exposure photo
- And the third shot for the shadows to get details in the areas that are blown out by the strong light
Why should HDR be used in real estate photography? ( The benefits of using HDR in real estate photography)
As you see in real estate photography, interior, exterior or even time of the day: dawn, dusk, twilight,… can be challenging to photograph because each type of room could have plenty of different light sources – windows, doors, skylights, etc. This creates varying lighting conditions and shadows overall
The main reason to use the HDR method is that it emphasizes every detail of the scene and to balance the space inside with the scene outside.
Moreover, cameras can’t quite capture nature like our eyes can, but with This method, the whole photo will look sharper, with greater clarity – this is amazing for real estate photography, because it can bring the viewers more information and a true perspective of the property.
That’s why HDR method is used commonly, especially in real estate photography
When Would You Use HDR Photography?
HDR has many benefits for various situation. These situations include photographing interiors, exteriors, night scenes, twilight or scenery.
A common thread around this would be that all these situation requires a wide dynamic range. The wider the scope of the photos, the more exposure will be required to make up for the short coming of light entering the camera lens.
Usually, your photos when taken will not look like what you can see in real life. Depending on how you set your exposure (manual or automatic), you may find that:
The sky is very bright and the foreground is quite dark, which causes some details to be lost or not visible
Conversely, if the Foreground is perfectly bright, the sky will appear to be blurred or too bright for standard brightness.
If the Sky is perfect, the foreground is too dark to see the details clearly
At dusk, this is the time when the foreground is much darker than the sky. Determining the correct exposure for both is difficult, but with HDR, it makes them easier.
That is the reason why HDR technique can be perfectly created at dawn or dusk
How to edit HDR real estate photos?
HDR Requirements
A quality DSLR with built-in bracketing is much better for you when you’re ready to create HDR images. Because it will not lose image quality when you take pictures at different exposures.
The tripod is also very important. Using a tripod ensures that your captured images will have stable alignment and reduce vibration in the image.
Last but not least, using professional photography tools and editing software will make the photo more perfect.
- Related Post: Highly Recommended Tripod for Real Estate Photography
- What camera is required to shoot HDR?
After realizing the benefits of HDR photos, do you know what are the best HDR-capable cameras on the market today?
Here are our top cameras highly recommended with auto HDR or exposure compensation.
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Canon EOS R6
One of the professional HDR cameras that we would like to mention is the Canon EOS R6. With Auto Exposure (AEB) and HDR modes and flexible exposure compensation combined with low-light performance for active HDR. R6 is full of great functions and specifications
This mirrorless camera features a 20 MP full-frame sensor and uses the latest DIGIC X image processor. In addition, it is supported by an ISO range of 100-102400 and an extremely effective AF system. Therefore, you can rest assured to use and produce great quality photos.
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Sony a6100
The next camera we talk about is the Sony a6100. It’s much more affordable than other professional cameras, but it still has great quality and great HDR options with three different options – Dynamic Range Optimizer, Auto High Dynamic Range. and Auto Exposure Difference.
The Sony a6100 has a 24.2 MP Exmor sensor and an ISO range of 100 to 51,200. The autofocus system is quick and accurate with 425 points in large coverage. It’s a joy to use because of its ease of use and compact design.
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Nikon Z7 II
The Nikon Z7 II is not a bad choice because of its impressive set of specifications. Due to its 45.7 MP sensor, excellent autofocus and high ISO range with Auto Exposure Bracketing and HDR modes, the Z7 II is well-suited to professional work.
Tri pod is crucial to getting stable exposure so you can properly blend the images in post-production.
How to editing HDR photos in Adobe Photoshop software
These are 2 ways general guide to give you a better understanding of how to edit HDR real estate photos:
Step 1: Choose and open the suitable brightness images. Normally at least 3 raw files in different exposures (highlights, mid-exposures, shadows)
Step 2: Open those 3 images in Photoshop camera raw. This way of adjusting RAW images in Photoshop with Adobe Camera RAW will create Accuracy in exposure, white balance and color (This step is really important because it determines the image processing.)
Step 3: In the next step, import 3 images in Photoshop software to detail and enhance each area of the image. Choose a photo with mid-range brightness as the main photo.
Step 4: Create 2 layers ( the dark image and mid-exposure image). Then create the black gradient in the shadows image. The purpose of this step is to remove the strong light.
Step 5: Use Brush tool (B) and low opacity (20-30%) to merge some areas that need to adjust to these 2 layers. Then combine layers by click Flatten Image (Ctrl + Shift + E)
Step 6: After that, Create 2 layers ( the edited image above + the highlight image) and do the same steps
Step 7: Remember! If you want to add more flame to your image, you can refer to “Easy ways to create flame in Photoshop for beginners”
Step 8: Finally, merge all the layers to get the final HDR photo you need
Also, You can use Merge to HDR Pro though these step:
First: Open the images into Photoshop.
Second: Go to the Automate menu (File > Automate > HDR Pro)
Third: Choose Merge to HDR Pro
Tip to reduce shadow noise when Using HDR
Have you ever noticed that some images always have more noise in the shadows than in brighter tones?
This is because the image’s signal to noise ratio is higher where the image has collected more of a light signal.
In photoshop software, you should use the most exposed photo to represent a given tone when editing. Consequently, you can get more light in the shadow details (but without overexposing).
Any Alternative ways to edit HDR photography?
HDR photos actually have an important role in fields including real estate photography as the top quality it presents
However, Real estate image blending is also a good way to combine photos in order to bring wonderful shadows and highlights.Although it can be hard for wide-angle photography. Light and dark areas will not be ideal for a digital photo, but editing can adjust the contrast ratio and make photos look dynamic.
In addition to the normal work flow using a camera, smartphones can also work. If you are shooting with a phone, check out our post about how to take real estate photos with a smartphone.
What are some potential problems with editing/shooting HDR real estate photos?
Color issues are a fundamental issue with editing HDR photography because a perfect image must represent what you’re seeing as if someone was there to view your home. HDR often produces strange colors, difficult to distinguish and remove during editing although it depends on the ambient light. Maybe the white is also not clear that it can be a light yellow which usually comes from incandescent lights. The unwanted color tint oftenly red, blue, or yellow. This type of illumination makes images look unnatural with inaccurate colors.
There are several ways to mitigate this problem, you can check out our article How to remove color cast in real estate photos
Conclusion
HDR for real estate photography offers you many useful benefits. If you are interested in working in this field of photography, why not learn some HDR skills because this type of photography has huge potential.
But if photo editing is not for beginners to create a professional photo immediately, it takes a lot of time and the image may not be complete . Fortunately, getting rid of these types of image problems is already there for photo editing companies to deal with. Among those – Havah Edits provides wonderful real estate photo editing for all individual and real estate media companies. We provide high-quality services related to any editing for real estate photos. For more information about our services and related blogs, keep visiting our website.
If you have mastered HDR photos, check out what you can do with Flambient photography for real estate photos.
