Scott Hargis Interview

[Scott Hargis]

Oy vay, I hate post-processing!
But we have to do it. Yes, I use Adobe CS3, and I also have Lightroom. I prefer CS3 for architectural work because Lightroom doesn't have the perspective control that CS3 has, and its cloning and repair options are more limited.

OK, here's my basic workflow:
1) Ingest images from the card into Adobe Bridge
2) Apply keywords, copyright etc. to the IPTC
3) Rank images and identify my "winners" that I want to tweak and deliver.
4) Bring them into Photoshop where I:
a) Do any obvious big cloning of reflections or cat faces or whatever
b) Perform any perspective control, if needed (usually isn't much of this, see "expensive
lens" above)
c) Run a Shadow/Highlight as needed
d) Color-correction
e) Levels. Curves is probably better, but I find Levels to be faster.
f) Last-minute cloning or tiny little adjustments

[peterst6906]

Seems like the sort of thing that anyone with a mind for it, could do and produce great results from. Thanks for outlining it. It's good to know that you use the basic set of tools that we all pretty much have available. At least we know we can produce similar results if we apply ourselves.

Final question and thanks again, HDR is an area where Digital has introduced something totally new.

Have you used it in any of your own work and do you see application for it when people don't have the same lighting equipment, but want to control various aspects of the scene?

[Scott Hargis]

I've done it once. I think done well it produces some very cool photos. Done badly it's quite awful. Again, I'd refer people who are interested in this to the PFRE (that's Photography For Real Estate) Flicker forum, and to Larry Lohrman's blog, where there's a lot of discussion about HDR and other technique, as well.

The biggest problem I see with (most) HDR images is the "muddiness" in the midtones. It's hard to describe, but something is slightly wrong in there. And of course, outdoors, if you have moving clouds, or leaves trembling in the breeze, then you get weird blurry effects.
So I'm not terrifically interested in it, but I do think it's going to be a big thing, and as people get better at managing the process, and the software evolves, I think we're going to see a lot of it.

[Scott Hargis]

Good grief, was that even your question?

[edit] ok, I guess I was more or less on track!

[Scott Hargis]

Almost forgot -- it's not specifically HDR related, but there's a good e-book that covers post-production in good detail.

[peterst6906]

I agree on the muddiness of the mid-tones'at the moment. It looks great for some images (our HDR forum has some fanstastic examples), but for interiors, walls that look like they have coal dust on them aren't as appealing as what you produce.

Well, I must say that this has been fantastic. Since the start of the interview we've had approaching 3500 views of this thread and we've been averaging around 250 people in the forum at any one time.

So I'm sure there is some interest for some questions and if you don't mind, I'll unlock the thread and allow people to post in.

Once again Scott. Thanks very much.

I think if we take a few questions, I don't want to take up too much more of Scott's time (it is Friday night after all), but please feel free to post.

Regards,

Peter

[Scott Hargis]

I'm doing fine, tomorrow is a "sleep-in" day, so bring 'em on!

[Rense]

Scott,
I have a question for you: how do you get your creative juices flowing?
Once in a while I need something to refresh it. Does the same happen to you?

[bse2750]

Hi Scott,
Great work, your an inspiration.
What kind of a deliverable do you provide your clients, ie: full size jpegs, tiff,etc. and what restrictions if an do they have on the use of the images.

[Scott Hargis]

Good one. Yes, it can get to be a grind sometimes, and I think "Oh, god, not another bedroom".

When that happens I try to experiment with a completely different technique. As recently as this week, I started trying out some lighting setups that MJ Northen has been describing in his Flicker stream. It's really fun because suddenly my shots suck, and I have to problem-solve and before I know it I'm all fired up. And I can always fall back on my tried and true if I have to!

[peterst6906]

We'll get answers on those two and then open it again.

[Scott Hargis]

Mmm. deliverables, good question.

I deliver JPEGS, via my website. I output (using Bridge's Image Processer) high-res AdobeRGB images that are about 3000 x 2000 pixels, and then low-res versions, sRGB, about 900 pixels on the long side. I zip these up and upload them to client folders on my website, where they can download.

[Rense]

Scott,

Thanks for answering the question and the inspirational interview you've given here.
It made me realize that I want to experiment with lighting this year.

[dansana]

How often do you gel your flash guns?

[keepright]

Scott, one of the biggest restrictions that I run into with RE photography is simply having enough time. Some of the lighting you do, such as the lights in the other rooms, is quite sophisticated and must be time-consuming to set up and adjust. How do you handle the "guerilla architectural photography" time crunch?

[jaxsond]

I just started a architectural and interior photo business this week so it was quite fortuitous that I stumbled on this tonight. Thanks for all the info and great shots!

I know all markets are different but how do you set your prices....I feel my current ones are much too low ....

[Scott Hargis]

Usage -- GREAT question!
For RE work, the license is for the life of the listing with that agent. The agent, and their parent office, can use the images unrestricted until the property sells or the listing is pulled.

No other parties get pictures! I do secondary licenses for builders, stagers, architects, etc.
Thanks for asking this - it's very important.

[Scott Hargis]

OK, Gels first.

I use gels sparingly. I sometimes gel a flash in a distant room to warm it up and help separate it visually from the rest of the scene. And sometimes I have situation where I'm shooting with almost all ambient in one room, but lighting the other (darker) room with flash - so I gel the flash to match the ambient color that I'm setting the camera for.

Crap, I had a great example of this all ready and now I can't find it. Email me and I'll get it to you.

[Scott Hargis]

OK, Pricing. I'm not going to lay out my whole schedule here, but I will say that for RE work I have set levels, or packages, that I fit shoots into.
Basic: they get up to 15 images (no more!)
Mid: 22 images
Estate: 30 images.

The prices go according to the levels, and I have guidelines as to square footage to help agents figure out what they should do.
I figure I will travel 30 minutes or more round-trip to do the shoot, spend an hour to an hour and a half on location, and then put in an hour of post. So I calculate what I want to earn in an 8-hour day, divide by 3 hours, and that's my rate for a basic shoot.

[Rense]

Scott,
What is your favourite shooting time?
I've read about the twilight time as an add to overcome the burn-in window situation we've discussed in this interview?