Architectural photography timelapse - mpkelley.com

[yokes]

Fantastic work.

How are you triggering the camera from so far away?

[eurosamsam]

BRAVO!!!



[aaronc608]

awesome ! i'm going to try some of this @ home :)

[8bitdigitaltv]

Such greatness...real inspirational!

[pofrani]

Thank you very much for the video detailing your step! Not many people would share this like you have done so I really appreciate it.

You must be one of the highly paid property photographer in the state?

[2FoG2]

great vid but a decent tog wit a polariser and nd's would get sooo close sooc

[rockjano]

Beautiful video and great Photo technique.

Congratulation, I will try this with my own house sometimes.

The original shot was made at sunset if I see it clearly, and the outer of the building was lightened with small strobes, but the lightening of the inside was done with the house own lights and long exposure Am I right?

[mikekelley]

@rockjano Correct.

[wallisphoto]

What a great video thanks so much!!

[1mill2]

WOW I read about you on stobist, checked out your website too, your pictures are amazing! I really got to give this a try.

[sanjoy87]

nice and interesting video, but very orientated towards commercial architecture photo it seems.. I wouldnt adopt the flash-"lightpaint"-technique for serious architecture photography.. lighting is something that the architects should have taken care of in the first place, so adding more lights with a flash like that is a no-go imo.. there's a huge difference between making cool pics of buildings and pics where the architecture itself is the main focus...

[mikekelley]

@sanjoy87 In both of these cases they were houses for sale, so making them attractive as possible was the main priority. I also don't use this technique for all of my shots :) Check out my portfolio to see what I mean. Depends on the client, as you said.

[sanjoy87]

@mikekelley aha, yeah I thought so -and for that type of use I can see why one would want to use that teqhnique -especially if the architect didnt do his job properly in the first place ;-)

[chrisnemesphoto]

Nice vid, it shows the length you are willing to go to in order to have an attractive real estate photo.

I have done a few exterior shots for a hotel that required strobing, and they kept wondering why the heck it took me so long to take a picture. :)

[aparmley]

Awesome work Mike (David Hobby sent me).

[oceandrew]

Fantastic work. With some 30+ layers how are you keeping your files manageable in Photoshop? You can't be importing RAW files, are you?

[mikekelley]

@oceandrew Hi Drew,

Yes, they are all raw (cr2) files. .psd file size sometimes approaches 1.5-2gb per image. The most important thing I've learned is to be sure to name ALL your layers specifically, that really helps keep it easy to work and 'maneuver' around the file, so to say.

[guidlines]

@mikekelley if you don't mind me asking, what are your computer specs to be able to handle such large files?

[mikekelley]

@guidlines 2009 17" Macbook Pro with 2.93ghz processor and 8gb of RAM. Handles them fine, surprisingly - I run it connected to a 27" cinema display. I also make sure there's nothing running in the background.

[oceandrew]

Fantastic work.  With some 30+ layers how are you keeping your files manageable in Photoshop? You can't be importing RAW files, are you?

[snwbrdrnl]

Thank you very much for sharing.

I love your photos, the work you put in them really pays off. I'll definately give your technique a try, waááy better than those HDR shots you see everywhere. (Actually, not at all comparable...)

[kryznic1]

holy crap that was some crazy shiz! I just started doing photography for real estate you just blew my mind. That is A LOT of work though and what I currently get paid is not worth the trouble. Although I might experiment with it to improve the portfolio. Good stuff!

[iso100]

@mikekelley Interesting. I'm in that far (barely) on large $2M+ properties but also don't spend this much time in post. Hopefully you're a good way into 4 figures!

[xplicitlyrix187]

very cool.. not really efficient tho. You could save yourself a whole lot of time and shutter actuations with 2-9 shot depending on the look you are trying to achieve. 1 exposure for the sky you want. Then 1 or 2 for the house and surroundings.. then tone map them together in photoshop... or make a realistic HDR and it will look exactly like that

[mikekelley]

@xplicitlyrix187 Haha, that's cute, but an HDR will never look at good as this :)

Believe me, I've tried. There is simply not enough depth, texture or contrast in an unlit HDR shot.

[xplicitlyrix187]

@mikekelley fair enough. just seemed like a ton of work. I figured you can just spot meter you dark, mid, and highlights... then blend them in photoshop ... similar to what you are doing now without having to light everything by hand... but whatever yields the results you desire... you obviously got this technique down.. good job!

[mer0ck]

@mikekelley Going to have to agree with you on this. At this point in HDR software, it will not come anywhere close to being this clean. I too have tried. A few times, and you can't get away from that "HDR look" that I personally can't stand. You and I share a lot of the same techniques MIke, but you've gone a step further with the strobes out doors... I might have to try this someday. Thanks!

[iso100]

This is great work. Seems to be a lot of time spent on site as well as in post production... not to mention the rental of a lift in the first example.

How much do you charge for these? I'm curious at what price point you're coming in and what kind of profit is left over...

[harriskw]

Really, really great work, and great video! Question: what are you using for supplemental lighting...are you firing off a strobe, or is it just a flashlight of some type?

[mikekelley]

@harriskw Thanks for the kind words! I'm using a Canon 430exII on a Pocketwizard Flex and Mini setup, with or without gels, depending on my mood :)

[someisaneperson]

Wow this is really cool thanks for uploading this mike.

[davidanglin]

Absolutely awesome! Great job Mike, thanks for sharing!