The basics of Real estate flash-ambient photography

What is Real estate flambient photography?

Real estate flambient method (or flash ambient) is the most advanced photography technique out there that not all RE photography teams and photographers have quite mastered. Truth be told, flambient photography is more often used and suitable for high-end, luxury properties. This blog delves down to the most basic level of flambient shooting approach and it’s all you need for a strong start.

Equipment for flash ambient real estate photography

Basic equipment

We shall not mention the specific camera or lens model here, assuming your DSLR camera and wide-angle lens have been working right.

Tripod: many started out without one but for flambient and HDR, you need a sturdy tripod to perfectly align your exposures in the editing process. And we get it, some cameras are damn heavy!! 

Remote shutter trigger: this one is optional but highly recommendable. Even a gentle press on the camera shutter can move things in the slightest. So, consider a camera remote app, installable on smartphones to release the shutter directly from a distance.

Required equipment for the Flambient method

Flash: If you have one already, it’ll be fine. But if not, try Godox AD200 as this one is most commonly used in the RE photographer community.

Godox AD200 is a well-known gear for real estate flambient photographers

Flash Trigger: This is the device that mounts onto your camera to relay signals to your light. You can remotely tell the light source (flash) to fire or adjust its intensity remotely.

Light Stand and Reflector: Most likely you won’t have to use them but many photographers keep them handy in the car’s trunk in case the property doesn’t come with a nice white but dark ceiling. 

Camera Settings for real estate flambient photography

Put your camera in manual mode because that allows you to have the best control over exposures, independently.

The aperture range you can try is from f/5.6 to f/8. This allows you to keep the shutter speed in the right area for the flash. A wide-angle lens will help you cut it, with anything within that range. From time to time, you might need to change the aperture but try keeping it on a certain level, say f/7.0.

ISO can be kept at 400.

Shutter Speed is changeable on-site to get the best exposure. 

A few things to try is to set the camera focus to “Wide”. Auto white balance is debatable, some don’t trust it, and some do. But if you are new to the “Flambient” club, try AWB, and the further advance, the more ‘manual’ you can go.

How do you shoot a Flambient photo?

Three steps!

The Ambient Shot(s)

No Flash! Thank you. Just the natural light of the room is required for this shot. Try to expose it in the very center so you can capture an overall picture of the space. Take photos in RAW so you can maximize and utilize their dynamic range limits.

Ambient shot: shoot it as it is!

You can use as many ambient shots as you want. Sometimes you will need only one ambient shot (0), sometimes 3 (-2, 0, +2), up to 5 or even more. If you are working in a room with an extreme, try shooting a bracket of 3 images. As a must, have the base (0) exposure and then add +2 and -2 shots to register highlights and shadows.

Flash Shot(s)

The idea of shooting real estate with flash is to get the best exposure on every single selling point possible. It’s to make the walls have their authentic color, the interiors are brightened, and the window views are clear. 

Flash shot: shoot it with flashlight

To take the flash shot, it’s better to set your flash off-camera first. Try holding it 18 inches (45 cm) to 2 feet (60 cm) below the white ceiling and pointing straight upward. Still, you can leave the flash on the camera but doing that will possibly result in flash-created shadows from the interiors.

You will have to adjust the flash power (a bit of trial or error here) to get the right exposure. 

Window Shot(s)

Not all the rooms call for this special shot. But whenever you have a nice window view that can be a selling point of the property, take shots thrice.

Start with exposing the window and pointing a high-powered flash straight to the window frames. By doing this, you are being nice and kind and making editors’ lives easier. Imagine sitting there and trading the word to fix a smoky window view, which can be easily solved with a straight flash urgh. Can't imagine!

Window shot: focus on the window view!

When shooting windows, try different angles to secure a shot with minimal flash reflections. If you want to wipe out all reflections, shoot one shot with the flash turned off in addition to your flashed frames. Be sure to keep the camera exposure unchanged.

Flambient blending

Shooting alone will just leave with you a bunch of input files and that’s how blending is such a major part of the flambient method.

Final work: after blending and editing

If you have to deal with the post-production in-house, follow this video by Nathan Cool. That’s pretty digestible work.

Alternatively, you can consider working with high-end photo editing services such as Esoft. Here’s our contact. 

Conclusion

There you have it, the 101 lessons on the real estate flambient method (or sometimes called flash and ambient). Down the road, you might hear photographers saying single flambient or multiple flambients, chill, they are just how you work on more ambients and more flashes. Once you get a hang of the core, you’ll be good to master 201 and 301 levels.