Photo Ops 

The competition to attract prospective residents who begin their apartment searches online is fierce. Securing this Web traffic can be greatly improved with high-quality photography.

When hiring a photographer, you often get what you pay for. But onsite staff can influence the process in significant ways before the photographer arrives, ultimately improving the quality of images to be displayed in a community’s print and online marketing materials.

Interior Production
Done properly, interior photography involves specialized, crafted lighting. For the photo production process to work smoothly, the interior decorations and space arrangements should be prepared and pristine before the photographer arrives.

At least one week prior to production: Management, maintenance and housekeeping staff should walk interior areas that are to be photographed (common areas, interior amenities, model units, etc.) to assess needed repairs and updates.

Look for and immediately address the following:

• Touch up paint
• Refresh decorative items
• Repair broken or malfunctioning cabinets and doors
• Fix damaged baseboards
• Replace damaged blinds
• Address damaged or malfunctioning light fixtures
• Be consistent with interior lighting color values in a given space.
• Don’t mix cool and warm fluorescent bulbs or clear or opaque incandescent bulbs. Mixing lights of varying color casts looks ugly in person, and it doesn’t look any better in photographs.

One day prior to photography:

• Dust and vacuum or mop all areas that are to be photographed
• Replace any burned-out light bulbs
• Clean all glass, metal and hard interior surfaces, including mirrors, windows, counter tops, shelving, tubs, sinks and the top of the refrigerator
• Dust window blinds
• Dust ceiling fan bodies and blades
• Remove bugs or debris from carpeting, furniture or other surfaces

On the day production is slated to begin:

• Straighten and freshen all decorative elements
• Refresh bed linens in model units
• Make sure bathrooms look complete (i.e., no empty toilet paper rolls)
• Vacuum again
• As best as possible, limit entry into areas being photographed
• Turn off model minders/self-timers
• Turn off fans
• Turn on the lights
• Turn off televisions
• Organize desk surfaces
• Remove any visual clutter
• Set computer screensavers to an image that reinforces the company brand

Exterior Production
Outdoor photography involves more variables than interior production, not the least of which is weather. And because natural light is a critical component, time is limited for optimal production, so proper due diligence aimed at preparation is critical.

In a comprehensive production cycle, the photographer will likely spend most of the day at the community. Because of the nature of light, the community’s orientation and many clients’ desires for nighttime photographs of exterior elements, photographers will likely arrive prior to sunrise (and during the summer months, that’s well before most staff arrive onsite for work). Similarly, production may not end until well after staff typically goes home.

Commonly, there are three or four hallmark beauty shots requested by the community. Most often, these include the pool area and a front-side identity shot. Depending on the scale and amenities offered at the community, there may be several other key images that must be produced during the brief time when natural light is ideal. Therefore, the community must be “camera-ready” prior to when the photo shoot begins.

At least one week (and ideally one month) prior to production:

Management and maintenance staff should walk the property together and:

• Look for areas that need touch-up paint on building facades, trim, property amenities such as playground equipment, curbs or parking lot areas, and address those needs
• Look for and repair any broken iron work (gates, railings, etc.
• Check all exterior lighting, including pool and spa lighting, and repair broken fixtures and replace bulbs
• Check hard surfaces and power-wash stained areas
• Note and address landscape issues (shabby shrubs, sparse flower beds, dead trees, etc.)
• Watch for resident balconies that include visual clutter and ask residents to remove the clutter—at least during the day of the shoot
• Replace damaged window screens and broken glass
• If residents’ blinds are out of place, contact the residents and request that they correct them
• Make sure all signage shows at its best, and only display flags that are in good condition
• If there is a pool or multiple pools to be photographed, make sure that the pool area amenities (tables, chairs, umbrellas, etc.) are clean and in good condition
• Make sure the day scheduled for production does not conflict with your landscape maintenance schedule or trash pick-up.

One day prior to exterior production:

• Remove all bandit signs and non-permanent banners
• Remove all balloons or streamers—and don’t replace them until production day ends
• Assign a staff member to be onsite and available when the photographer arrives and make sure they have each other’s contact information in case problems arise
• Ensure the photographer has access to the property
• Turn on interior lights facing pool areas for “nighttime” photographs, whether they are produced in pre-dawn hours or after sunset
• Close the pool to residents the night prior to production

If all goes according to plan, the day of the shoot should move smoothly.

On the day of the shoot:

• Neaten exterior community amenities
• Skim leaf debris off the pool surface and sweep the pool deck
• Make sure sprinkler systems are not timed to turn on during production
• Turn lights on and make the property look alive for nighttime and twilight shots

Lifestyle Production
Some companies are incorporating lifestyle photography into their marketing and advertising materials. While stock images can be found for next to no cost, companies aiming to set themselves apart are creating proprietary libraries of images that specifically reinforce their branding strategies—and that won’t also turn up in the advertisements of their competition.

Companies contemplating lifestyle advertising photography for their marketing materails should plan ahead and:

• Identify and articulate the key branding messages that the lifestyle photography should express.
• Collaborate with the photographer and advertising agency to develop narratives that reveal specific branding messages, and work together to create a lifestyle-photography shot list. Working together on the list tends to create more effective ideas compared to individual efforts.
• If working with models, agree on who will handle casting for the lifestyle production and allow ample time to identify the models to be used. Consider the additional costs if professional models are needed.
• Whether staff, residents, aspirants or professionals are used, make sure each model signs a release form.
• As with all things in creative fields, remember it’s a process and some of the best results arrive from left field.

Things To Consider:

Color Temperature and Cast. Light sources should be consistent, and this is most critical in interior areas. Each type of fluorescent, incandescent, halogen and LED lamp produces light of a different color temperature and produces a different cast.

When mixed inappropriately, the results can be unpleasant. Select light sources for interior fixtures carefully, and don’t mix different types of light bulbs in the same light fixture. (Search “color temperature” and “color cast” on Wikipedia for more details.)

Why not just fix it in PhotoShop? No matter how well prepared a community may be, it’s likely that there will still be post-production work necessary to remove minor blemishes. The more post-production work required, the greater the project’s overall cost. It’s more cost-effective to properly prepare the community to be photographed.

Film is better than digital, right? Luddites may think so, but in reality, contemporary digital camera systems produce photographs that are at least equal to that of their film counterparts in terms of quality. While there may be exceptions (for instance, an 8-by-10 inch view camera), photographers shooting with professional equipment produce images that are more than adequate for even large-scale marketing materials.

Digitally speaking, more pixels are better, right? Digital photographs are measured by pixels (width x height). An images 4,256 pixels x 2,832 pixels is 12,052,992 pixels—12 megapixels—spread across a sensor array.

However, the physical size of the sensor array is more important than the number of pixels. The more tightly the pixels are packed, the more likely there will be interference (noise) between pixels. Image sensors on most consumer point-and-shoot digital cameras are not as large as the fingernail on the average person’s pinky.

In contrast, most professional cameras have image sensors the size of 35-milimeter film negatives (and most digital SLRs have sensors approaching the size of film negatives). More isn’t necessarily better, but better quality is better.

Why should I pay a professional when the guy in Unit 308 will do it for next to nothing? Why do you pay a professional plumber or electrician to work on your infrastructure? Why do you hire an accountant to handle your accounting? There are many good—even great—amateur photographers, but professionals stand apart from the crowd for the quality of their work, for their experience, for the processes they employ to produce and maintain the art they develop for you, for their ability to work with your graphic design and advertising service providers and for the integrity that says they will stand behind what they produce.The guy in Unit 308 may be there today, but in six months or two years when you need those files again he may be nowhere to be found.

The other guy does it for less money. Commercial photographic art is like anything else: You get what you pay for. Sometimes you get a bargain, but it’s more common that when you buy something cheap, you get something that looks cheap.

Mark Hiebert is owner of Hiebert Photography & Professional Imaging, a commercial studio based in Houston that specializes in advertising, public relations and editorial photography. Hiebert’s photography has appeared in units magazine. Visit www.hiebertphotography.com or e-mail mhiebert@hiebertphotography.com.

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