Hello Vic, I have done a few virtual tours for real estate agents. Unless the house is very high end, the photo quality doesn't need to be that good. Not that you shouldn't try, but most of the shots shown on the web are done with little digital P&S cameras.
If you have java and flash enabled on your browser, here is an example of one that I did. http://www.daytonphoto.com/vrtour/kw/jobs/PineView/index.htm Things to be aware of: It is usually better to shoot from a corner of a room with a leveled tripod showing some floor and some ceiling, but not too much of either. Then go to the opposite corner and shoot the other way. This gives you reasonable coverage of a room in two shots. Narrow hallways and bathrooms sometimes look better shot vertically. Most agents like the house to look a bit cozy. The way to do this is to turn on interior lamps and use outside light for the main lighting. The lamps will give a soft, yellow glow and look nice. You will struggle with the strong light coming through windows compared to the rest of the room. It is best if you can draw shades or curtains to knock the light down quite a bit - try to get it more balanced around the room. You may end up with very long exposures as the light gets dim and you want to shoot quite stopped down to get more DOF. Make sure the house is clean and picked up. Messy houses don't sell as well. Also it is nicer to shoot with furniture still in place before a move out - empty rooms don't really show too well. I wouldn't use flash - one of the problems is that it doesn't really show the home the way the owners would see it. The interior lighting with outside lighting works better. Go for midday shooting if you can control the window light (blinds, shades, etc) - otherwise shoot morning or evening when the light coming through will be diffused and weak. -- Best regards, Bruce Monday, August 1, 2005, 12:51:26 PM, you wrote: VM> Hello, VM> next week, I'm going to make some photo's of a house interior for a VM> friend. The house is to be sold and the pictures are to be used as VM> illustration for the sales announcement. Does any of you have experience VM> with that? VM> Some idea's of myself: VM> - using my widest-angle lens (24mm VM> Super-multi-coated-takumar) to get as VM> much as possible on the picture VM> - the lens is not very fast, but has a good depth of field, even wide VM> open... VM> - ISO400 color film (no AGFA, got bad experience with that on VM> granularity; I have some roles of Kodak Ultra, is that any better?) VM> - camera would be Spotmatic F or Super A (with mount adaptor)... I only VM> bought the Super A very recently, and I noticed the meter is off, at VM> least compared to the Spotmatic F; the first roll on the Super A is VM> still being developed, so I'll need te results to 'trust' it's meter VM> - using a tripod to take advantage of available light as much as possible VM> - compensate exposure to eliminate effect of visible windows on the VM> light meter VM> - view horizontally, not to distort perspective VM> Do you think these are good guidelines to produce a quality set of pictures? VM> What do you think about using flash? My only experience in flash VM> photography is direct flash and reading aperture setting from a label on VM> the flash, based on ISO and distance... I don't really think this will VM> work out for interior photography, especially since I'll be using very VM> wide angle and target object distance typically covers a wide range. I VM> assume that indirect flashlight may help, but I have no VM> TTL-flash-metering, so no clue what exposure settings to use (yes, I VM> have the Super A, but as far as I understand, It'll only do TTL with a VM> dedicated Pentax flash, like the AF280T + an A-SMC lens). VM> Could I just meter and expose for available light, flash indirectly and VM> compensate for that with two stops (just a guess), to have at least some VM> fill-in flash? VM> Any suggestions are welcome. Once it's done, I'll publish some of the VM> pictures. VM> Groeten, VM> Vic
