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Photography in the Florida Keys - How we do it
Most photography in the Florida Keys is expected to have at least 3 things: blue skies, turquoise water and white puffy clouds. Recent weather conditions have made this requirement a bit more challenging than it usually is, but we are still shooting. We just have to spend more time with edits and post processing.
The Challenges
Sometimes it is a rainy week with 100% cloud cover like we experienced last week. We replace the skies when shooting on days like these, but most folks don’t know that we sometimes have to do that on a sunny day when we have no other option but to shoot directly into the sun. Today, the wind was blowing over twenty-five knots, which makes it a little sporty flying the drone and can cause motion blur on the water due to wave action or difficulty keeping the drone steady. On top of that, the predatory birds were out hunting on every shoot today. Fortunately, a little bit of patience and this technique mentioned in a previous post enabled me to complete each project.
The Advantages
Shooting Florida Keys Photography on an overcast day is certainly possible and can sometimes yield unique images. We call it “Bloodline Style.” Excessive cloud cover reduces the strength of the sun, which makes it easier for balancing light across the entire image or video and can enable us to show more detail in certain areas than we could if the sun were bearing down on us. Sometimes the replaced sky or enhanced water could actually look better than when shooting on the prettiest day. Here are 3 recent photos taken in the Florida Keys. Can you tell which one was taken in between rain showers?
Conclusion
If the weather is not ideal, don’t despair. We’re ready for that too and embrace the opportunity to bust out the blue jeans and rain coats. Besides, if you’re in the Florida Keys and don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes and it will probably clear right up.<
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In anticipation of Halloween ~ a Frankenstein creation of my own for your viewing pleasure!
Last week we shot 215 Jerome Avenue in Islamorada for Keith Allen at Century 21 Island Life TheRealKeys.com. Keith always wants the works, but the home was unfurnished and the main feature was really its location near the Islamorada Arts and Cultural District. No, the Caboose doesn’t come with the house. Funny side story...I actually lived on that street when the Caboose was delivered and it was quite the spectacle. Late one night in March of 2013 everyone in the Neighborhood put down their beers or whatever to behold the second coming of Henry Flagler clickity clacking right by our humble windows down Jerome Avenue. One neighbor thought he was hallucinating. This is a photo from the next day, when they were transferring the Caboose from the truck to the small section of railroad tracks behind this very home.
Anyway, we ended up shooting the photos, Matterport 3D scan and some aerial video that day. Since I had some extra time, I shot some ground based video throughout the art district to add to this as well as other videos. When I returned to the office, I regretted not shooting video for the inside of the home, but realized that the Matterport might just have what I needed to round out the property video with some interior motion shots and this is the finished product.
Perfect for Dark Homes with a View
It’s always a challenge to balance the interior and exterior light, especially when shooting video and everybody knows I hate blown out or faked out window views. I think that for a dark home with dark ceilings, using the Matterport to generate the interior video, is awesome way to create the perfect cinematic video to effectively market that type of property both inside and outside at an affordable price.
New Marketing Support Tools on the Horizon
We're probably going to have to come up with a new package for this hybrid and we just received a new 3D Marketing Kit which I will use to become a Zillow Certified Photographer. I’m excited to finally have a direct line to a technical support person at Zillow that will help me provide and be knowledgeable about the media types rewarded by Zillow.com and will enable me to maximize the exposure for our clients marketing on Zillow.com
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Matterport™ or Cinematic Video
So my good friend Beth recently sold her oceanfront home. We swim together for exercise several times per week. Her Realtor, Holly Hight at Island Equity Real Estate hired me to do photos, video and a Matterport, so Beth got to see me shooting all of the different types of cameras and then how Holly used the products to sell her house. Beth absolutely loved the Matterport and reached out to me thinking that it would be a great tool for the local school for fundraising, recruitment, and to show progress on their new school building
Choosing Video
I was all for it! After chatting with her a bit, first I learned that they wanted to use it for a long time and really needed more flexibility for custom brand messaging and color customization. Secondly, they wanted it to be very simple to use. Finally there were a couple of areas in the school that we wanted to avoid. Real Estate Videos work best for large, bright homes with amazing outdoor spaces. There are endless options for customizing cinematic videos. It is truly a custom commercial for the property allowing you to focus on the most captivating features of the home. We can shoot around undesirable elements, cut, splice and even reverse video clips. We can shoot day or night and add music and or voice over.
Considering Matterport
Matterport is an awesome tool when you know how to use it. It is highly customizable within a few specific parameters and empowers the user to completely determine their experience. They choose the sequence and navigate at their own pace. It even allows for measuring walls and openings. We can add pop up specifications about appliances and more! Matterport is primarily for shooting indoors, but when the lighting and weather is right, outside shooing and mapping is possible. Today’s project was a Matterport scan done on a recently sold home, so the interior designer can quickly get to work on planning, but that is Travisable for another day. Stay tuned!