Posts Tagged ‘Architectural’
Modern in Santa Monica
Last week I shot a new listing for the McCormick’s of Teles Properties. Details and more photos can be seen at http://943centinelaavenue.com/
Entry Way
Foyer
Living Room
Architectural Photos, and using photos for marketing
A few months ago I was introduced to Lauren Shadid via Josette Murphy of About:Space. Lauren left a big architecture firm and is in the process of building a website for her firm. I was hired to shoot a couple of completed projects which will be showcased on her upcoming website. For architects and interior designers I spend a lot of time making sure that the color and the design of the space is accurate.
Like myself and other photographers, architects and designers are particularly attuned to how their project looks when photographed. They spend hours deciding on colors, materials, fabrics and lighting; it’s only natural that the same attention to detail would occur after the photo is taken. In a lot of cases we become accustomed to how an environment looks to the naked eye, we don’t notice the color of the light or the shadows but once we look at a photo we start to notice those details.
In the case of this Sherman Oaks dining room that Lauren designed there were a lot of factors affecting the lighting and color. In this shot of the dining room, the custom made table, made by Boudreau Custom Woodwork, was casting a lot of orange light onto the ceiling and walls because of the light reflecting off the table coming from the skylight. In Photoshop I removed the color cast to give the walls and ceiling a more accurate color. The following is a screen shot of my work in Photoshop. It’s time consuming work but included in the service I offer my customers.
Dining room before color correction
Photoshop screen shot with color correction layers and masks
Spending money on marketing for small business owners is never easy. I’m in the same boat. Like my clients, I want to know that the money and effort I spend marketing my photography is effective. I often meet potential clients that think “good enough” is OK for their business and marketing materials. The great thing about architects and interior designers is that they know the power of photography and its effectiveness in communicating their work to potential clients.
Renaissance Towers for About:Space
A couple weeks ago I got a call from the interior designers at About:Space. They were finishing up on a project for the Renaissance Towers downtown and wanted to submit photos of their work for an industry award. Their work involved upgrading the lobby and leasing office as well as designing the new penthouse. The following shots are samples from our two day shoot.
Renaissance Towers Leasing Office Design
Renaissance Towers Lobby Design
As much as tried to integrate it into the shot, I just couldn’t manage to get the helicopter pad just outside the windows on the right to read. Next time I’ll request a helicopter.
Renaissance Towers Penthouse Living Room
Renaissance Towers Penthouse Master Bedroom
Looking back at 2009
Over the past couple weeks I have been digging through the archives to pull images for this year’s slide show. The slideshow represents all the assignments I shot in 2009 as well as follows the growth of our 20 month old daughter Grace.
It’s great to reflect on what worked and what didn’t and it has planted a few seeds for new business plans for 2010. The slide show is laid out chronologically so if the newborn shot next to the architecture shot next to the model seems out of place, now you know why.
Enjoy the show. Hopefully you will see some new images as well as think back to our photo shoot together. Maybe you’ll even see some images that will inspire another shoot for 2010. Thanks for your support and referrals, they keep my business alive.
The song is 28 butts by Little Jackie. I was introduced to Little Jackie by our local friend Jason Bently at KCRW. Enjoy and thanks for a great year.
If you missed last years check out the following from 2008:
Chuck Espinoza Photography – A Slideshow of 2008 Photography from Chuck Espinoza on Vimeo.
Images that help you market your business
A few months ago I shot a job for Engineered Custom Systems, a custom audio and video installation and design firm based in Redondo. My job was to document ECS’ work throughout a 10,000 square foot home in Rolling hills. ECS installed all of the audio, video and custom control features in the house. There’s nothing like being able to walk into any part of the home and control the lighting and audio with a touch of the button. In addition to a media room with five flat screens the home also has an outdoor spa area with a TV, golf simulator, wine storage room, poker room and speakers installed both inside the pool and above-ground to insure that you can always hear your favorite song when you’re swimming.
In our pre-production meetings we discussed how best to show the quality of ECS’ work. Many of the custom features don’t read well in a still photo but I think that conveys the quality of the work and craftsmanship. The speakers aren’t supposed to be the focal point in the living room and when people overlook the install because the speaker grills have been painted to match the ceiling they know they will receive a high level of service when they work with ECS. Interior designers especially love the fact that with the help of ECS they don’t have to worry about the audio or visual installation taking away from the decor.
Indoor/Outdoor living area
Pool with underwater speaker system
Bar in game room
Gym
Media room
Photoshop and Architectural Photography
Photoshop and architectural photography go hand in hand.
Here’s an example of a recent shot of living room. Because of the level of the camera and the height of the ceilings I needed to tilt the camera up, resulting in a keystone effect that give the appearance that the walls are leaning in. Although many people don’t register this immediately, subconsciously our brain knows that walls are supposed to be vetical and that something is off. This perspective distortion can be corrected in a couple ways. The first is to use a tilt-shift lens like Canon’s new 17mm ts-e ($2300). A tilt shift-lens allows you to correct the perspective by moving the axis of the lens. This lens is not only expensive but has very limited uses. The alternative is to correct the perspective using Photoshop or a similar editing program.
Unedited image Canon 5D and Canon 16-35mm 2.8 lens. Walls are supposed to be vertical.
Here’s the result after some work in Photoshop. Not only have we corrected the keystone effect but we have brought back details in the windows cropped out the window and walls that were in the foreground of the original image. The wall and window didn’t add to the image and were a bit distracting. By removing them we have brought the viewer into the warmth and luxury of this great living room and it’s spectacular views.
Image corrected and edited in Photoshop