I’ve been having this little philosphical battle with myself – whether to back into a corner and shoot as wide as possible (in my case 12mm) so as to show as much as possible, or to zoom in some and capture more intimate scenes. Here are 2 shots illustrating the extremes…
Of course the answer is simple. Provide what the client wants. But there’s no harm in providing both and perhaps gently pointing out the pros & cons of each.
Scott Hargis ably illustrates them here. Briefly, overly wide shots stretch and exaggerate the size of objects near the foreground edges of the frame while reducing the apparent size of things near the centre. They make useful ‘documentary’ shots, recording the relationship and flow between rooms, although they can make a room look much larger than it is (a plus?). ‘Tighter’ zoomed shots are useful when one wants to capture the lifestyle value of a space – the feel of sitting in a couch while gazing out to the garden for instance.
Back on Track
Crikey…you start a blog with the best of intentions to make regular posts, then suddenly become busy. If this keeps up I’ll have to consider outsourcing my photo processing to Uzbekistan! 😉 But it’s all good. I’ve had the priviledge of photographing some stellar homes and met great people along the way. I’m posting a couple of photos from a particularly lovely home that was styled to perfection.
An early morning walk through the Hyatt grounds.
Rotten weather eh?
Seems like it’s been wet and windy for weeks, though really, it’s only been one week. Sure felt relatively miserable after the long spells of later winter sunshine we’d previously been enjoying. Here’s a shot I grabbed before it all went pear-shaped. Mid-afternoon and the cane is glowing with back light, while blue Ninderry gazes broodily westward. It’s a shot I’d seen several times from the car while on the Sunshine motorway. Finally I made a special trip. Shot from the edge of the road with traffic whizzing by.
This one gives a feel for the recent weather. It was fine enough (grey, but not actually raining!) to squeeze in a property shoot.
The dawn of a new life.
Liana & Dave are obviously ecstatic at the prospect of welcoming their baby into the world. And until then they’re enjoying the process. I met up with them this morning at Second Bay, Coolum to greet another beautful Sunshine Coast sunrise.
Composing a photo of an interior.
Scott Hargis is an architectural and interiors photographer based in San Francisco, and has been a prime source of inspiration and ‘how to’ methodology for me as I’ve developed as a property photographer. Scott has made two trips out to Australia to run interior photography workshops, one of which I attended in a display home on Bribie Island. This video is from his own blog. Amongst other things, Scott points out good reasons why you shouldn’t always shoot as wide as possible.
Composition for Interiors from Scott Hargis on Vimeo.
The Boardwalk, Mt Coolum
I was on the boardwalk this morning, checking the surf and looking for photo ops. The full moon was setting and the sun about to rise. The boardwalk is a nice facility, taking one on a sinuous walk through the dune forest canopy to emerge at the beach. On the return trip, Mt Coolum is front and centre.
Nawwww… :-)
Slaving over a hot shutter
A full day of photography yesterday, a mix of personal projects and a paying gig. First up was dawn patrol on Coolum Beach where I met two young blokes heading out for a surf before school, then a gentleman from NZ here on holiday out for a brisk walk and lastly a couple clearly basking in each other’s light who had risen to enjoy the sunrise together. They were all at varied ages and stages, and reminded me why I had started this project in the first place; to capture and share images with people enjoying a magic time of day.
Then it was off to photograph a home for sale. I hadn’t realised from the address, but as soon as I pulled up I knew that I’d photographed the same residence a couple of years earlier. It’s always interesting reshooting a property and comparing the results to an earlier effort to see how one’s taste in choosing angles, and techniques of lighting and processing, have changed.
After lunch I headed to a local cane farm and captured a panorama encompassing Mt Coolum and a barn bearing a mural of surf at Mudjimba. Bathed in warm afternoon light it’s a scene I’ve loved ever since arriving on The Coast. The panorama consists of 42 individual images, so you’ll have to wait until I get around to processing that one. |Update: if you refresh the page a few times this panorama will appear as the header image.|
But all-in-all a satisfying day.
The first sniff of summer?
Technically we’re over the hump, past the shortest day and on the downward slide toward Summer. I’ve already mentioned that I’ve noticed the sun rising that smidgin earlier, and it also just feels a little warmer. Of course, this early in the piece, it could easily turn chilly next week. Of course ‘chilly’ is a relative term. Being just 26 degrees from the equator we’re hardly expecting snow drifts any time soon. But just to keep spirits alive, here’s a summery shot from the vault of me and she just minutes from home.
