This is a roundup of few property photographs done for building firm, Skyline Construction over a period of time.
The client wanted a property photographer to highlight some of the finishes that he had completed in doing the work and, from chatting with these Dublin homeowners, it was clear that his firm took a lot of care to get the right finish. Its always nice to see pride and care coming through in the work of a craftsman. Niall’s family has been in the building business for two generations and has worked on properties all over Dublin, including Georgian house renovations, but now mainly works on extensions in North County Dublin. The job entailed researching best time of day (orientation of the property), liaising with the client and the houseowner and, of course waiting for the right opportunity to shoot. In one or two cases it was required to visit the property on more than one occasion to ensure the best result. In the end, everybody was very happy with the images.
As I was highlighting the built elements and changes to each room, I shot these a little differently than I would if the client was a property agent. I tried to highlight the extra space than the renovations allowed, and to show the homeliness and lived-in feel of the properties. These are spaces that have been carefully considered by the clients, the architect, and the builder. So rather than taking every child’s drawing off the walls etc, or totally tidying the shots, some elements were left that made them look and feel comfortable, lived-in family homes.
In terms of technique, I used a combination of ambient light, with large flash heads and large diffusers to create a gentle interior fill-light to balance contrast ratios with the interiors, and some of the exteriors also, (to brighten the interiors shown). I also used a handheld flash in some cases to brighten areas where a large flash would be seen in the photo. The camera was placed on a tripod in nearly all scenarios to give me options in post production to combine lighting from outside a window, to interior shots where the window detail was too bright. A good tripod is essential here.
In post processing, I enhanced all the images, and darkened and lightened certain areas to give the best contrast ratio. I also colour corrected the shots, to make them more natural.
