Lumia Gets REAL…estate

I have to tell you that the Nokia Lumia 1020 puts in work.  I’ve used it on paid video jobs and paid event photography jobs.  Now, it just got REAL.  My friend asked me to do a shoot of his new real estate listing.  I brought along my trusty DSLR because  “size matters”, when people are paying for pictures.

I took about half of the photos with the DSLR and half with the Lumia 1020.  The Lumia had a wider angle, which is great for capturing smaller rooms where I couldn’t back up any further to frame it properly with the DSLR.  That wider view was also great for capturing the totality of the yard spaces.

I’m only going to post pictures taken with the Lumia in this posting.  If you are interested in the house, please check out the listing here: 10521 Northvale Rd – Represented by Cory Holtzman.

As I sit here thinking what to type, it feels like I’m channeling a real estate agent using words like: charming, location, bright, exquisite detail, breathtaking views, etc.   That’s OK, let’s start with the front yard.

I never thought this picture would be selected, but I love how it gives the appearance of the house being set in a garden setting. The truth is that this is kind of true. There is a massive tree proudly positioned in front of the house and there is color and green all around.

The camera on this phone shows brings the flowers into focus by employing a shallow depth of field here.  I could have went into a macro mode to to make it even more pronounced, but the house is what’s for sale and it needed to be recognizable.

This is a wider view of the front yard. Fun fact: I edited this one with an HDR process on the phone, itself. I used the Fantasia app for Windows Phone.  I used the HDR post-process to help with a lighting/exposure issue.  It was a bright, beautiful day, but where the sun was located put the house in the shadow of the tree.  That’s great if you live there, but presents a challenge for the photography since it was really bright all around.  The HDR process levels out those lighting differences.

You can see that attention commanding tree in the front there.  There’s green grass and flower all around.  This is a great welcome home scene for someone.

OK, let’s go inside. There’s lots to see.  I’m going to type less and let you enjoy the photos.

These six rooms pictured above are all great spaces, but I just couldn’t get the angle that I was looking for with the bigger equipment, without using a wide angle lens.  The Lumia helped out a lot.  I think the the 16×9 shows off the space.  I’m also able to show off the room while having room in the frame to show off the source of the lighting.

Let’s get cookin! Sorry, I mean “Let’s have a look at kitchen”.

Side note: I wish my kitchen was both this modern and this CLEAN!

Speaking of clean.  Let’s go where the people wash up.  Bathrooms are always a challenge. They are usually the smallest spaces in the house.  So, I like to try to capture “zones” as well as details.

So we’ve been welcomed home, been into the living room, checked out the bedroom, cooked and washed up.  I think it’s time we relax in a bit of Eden in the backyard.

First is an addition to the  house.  This room carries you from the warm, cozy experience of the house into the bright, open experience, outside.  You can see the light pouring in while begging you to come out to play.

We’d be rude not to join in the fun, right?  Let’s go outside!!

This is the reverse angle looking back at the house.  Nice, right?

Now that we’ve seen everything from this perspective, I feel like to really appreciate some views, you need a panoramic look.  It so happens that I used the Nokia Panorama app to capture a couple for you.

This is a great view of the backyard.  I love how it’s framed with fruit trees and vegetables around the perimeter with a lush, open, green space in the center for play.

This is a panoramic shot of one of the bedrooms.  I think this more adequately shows the nice size of the room, how bright it is and the details like the wood flooring, the cubby spacing and the how the window brings in natural light.

So, there’s a short PureView tour of this property.  Seeing real estate like this makes me want to get a proper job so I can afford to buy one!

I want to give one more shout out to Cory Holtzman (www.coryholtzman.com) for giving me the opportunity to shoot this for him.  If you are in the market to buy or lease in Los Angeles, he’s a great resource and will be glad to help you out. If you are in the market to sell, he will guide you through that process will equal expertise.  You might also get me taking pictures with both the DSLR and the Nokia Lumia.

More of Lumia “workin”:
Wonderland School – Cooking Video