Firstly please don’t confuse this blog post name with the quality of the house in the video which was beautiful. You will see what I mean below.
The Client Brief
The client was actually the home owner who was referred to me by a Realty agent I have done a lot of work for. The home owner also happens to be a Realty agent for the local Ray White agency. He was also listing with the Sothebys Realty firm, which is where the toilet issue appeared, more on that below.
The Gear used
Panasonic GH5 – Panasonic/Lecia 8-18mm lens, Panasonic 12-35mm lens
DJI Inspire 2 with Olympus 12mm lens
Syrp Camera slider and Moza Air gimbal
Total shoot time approximately one and three quarter hours, editing time about an hour and a half. Total time on the job, emails, phone calls, site visit and invoicing I would say was 5 hours.
The Result
It makes your job a lot easier when you have a beautifully presented house in a beautiful location, it’s then just a matter of you capturing it as best as you can. I liked the way the video came out but more importantly the client and his wife were very happy with the result. The wife (who is an artist) actually rang me personally to thank me as she said the video was the first lot of imagery they have had done that actually captured the style and feel of the house which she had a hand in designing. A great testimonial which I really should get written down for my website!
The Issue!
As I mentioned above the home owner also gave the video to the Sothebys Realty firm here for listing. They have a quite a few rules regarding what you can not show in the video, one of these being toilets. They then came back to me asking to remove the shots of the two bathrooms with the toilets which you get a glimpse of at 01:21 and 01:33 in the video. I quoted them a small re-edit fee and removed them.
I have to admit to being mildly annoyed at this and losing the only good shot of the master ensuite bathroom.
What I’d do differently
I was aware of the Sothebys limitations but was shooting for Ray White so in hind sight I should have given myself some other shooting options with the bathrooms avoiding having the toilets in shot.
I wasn’t very happy with the Moire happening on the roof of the back of the house in the start and end wide drone shots. Its one of those things you generally won’t see in your monitor when shooting and catches you out when editing. From what I understand this often occurs when you down sample footage. I was shooting the drone in 2.7k and editing it on a 1080 timeline. In my footage it was the fine vertical pattern that the roofing iron made that was causing the problem.
I could have spent some more time in editing and applied a un-sharpen effect to the image but like a lot of jobs was in a hurry to get the finished video out. Its one of those things you need to be mindful of when shooting roofs with fine patterns on.
Overall thou I was happy with the end result and the client paid his invoice within 5 days.
Great video, I can see why they were pleased, amazing work Grant and editing so quickly as well.
Thanks.
Hi Grant
Do you shoot a higher shutter speed on your aerial shots? I am guessing double the frame rate and then some. Thanks
I try and keep the shutter speed to approx double my frame rate (25fps) but you can’t always. I think in this video even thou I’m using a ND8 filter on my drone I often have bright mountains and snow so my shutter speed sometimes may vary from 1/80th to 1/160th. I find as long as you don’t have fast movement or things moving fast in your shot its not noticeable. Cheers
And color from your Gh5 is straight out of the camera? Thanks sir
Yes pretty much – I add a little saturation in post and sometimes lesson or de-saturate the blacks.
Nice video Grant. I’m currently shooting my listings on a Sony AX53 “floating lens” stabilized camcorder and trying to replicate slider and gimbal shots handheld but not having a lot of success. I may be going back to a DSLR soon so that I can use my slider and get some better depth of field from the ability to use different lenses.
Thanks, Grant. When shooting roofs like this, what are some things you can do to prevent the moire issue in camera, rather than in post? Is it about the movement, settings, lens, or what? Thanks!
I believe its one of those factors that just being aware of possible moire situations in your frame is the best defense. The drone is where I see it the most so either trying to frame it out, or go wider or tighter with your shot. I have shot interviews with people before who turned up with shirts on with fine patterns and have had to ask them to change shirts or put a jacket on as you will sometimes see it in your cameras viewfinder as well! Cheers
Thanks. Yeah, my main question was for future interviews. I was hoping there was a trick besides changing shirts 🙂
Not that I know of unfortunately – I haven’t tried it but you could experiment with shooting in 4K as opposed to shooting in 1080 to see if that has an effect.
Gorgeous home and an excellent video to show off its features! Love the sprinkling of detail shots. As always, great work and thanks for the inspiration!
No wonder the client is happy – what a beautiful video of a wonderful home and landscape.
I watched the video carefully looking for problems straight from the email newsletter & wondered what you were on about. Didn’t even notice the moire until the second watch, and was half expecting a hideous public toilet block in the background you were trying to cut out of frame! (Please remember I watched before I read this page OK !).
After I read the story & re-watched – it was obvious BECAUSE I WAS LOOKING FOR IT and knew where to look.
I think sometimes pros are too hard on themselves, and to miss that roof on a super tight deadline is completely forgivable.
This level of attention to detail is something that sets working professionals apart from enthusiasts.
Thank you for the lesson.
Like the above viewer, I viewed the video before reading the article. I saw no issues with the toilets, and I didn’t notice the moire the first go round. Since I was LOOKING for issues, here’s what I found: I see you, Grant (00:57)! And some of the shots were quite noisey (especially 1:05). Too dark of an ND? But seriously, beautifully done. I agree that we are too hard on ourselves and each other. You deserve this job, Grant. Always top notch.
Thanks – it always the little mirrored surfaces that are my un-doing! Cheers
At :57 I could see you in that silver jug but it looked like you had someone holding some kind of lighting rig behind you. True?…
Hey Dean – nope no lights, that may have been the stills photographer behind me who was shooting at the same time. Cheers
I too am captivated by the video and the subject matter. So much of the time, I am having to do the sow’s ear, silk purse routine and am always delighted with a lovely house and beautiful surroundings, which I almost never get. So not only is the setting lovely but your interpretation of it is immaculate. You have so seamlessly blended the slider with the stabilizer shots and the different focal length lenses that we never get bored with any repetition of technique; as a viewer it all just flows perfectly. Honestly, I think Sotheby’s needs their heads examined, at least the people there who have such a hard and fast rule about toilets. Sure, perhaps if it is was a blocky old WC with wobbly toilet tank, leak stains and bottom of the line design, missing bits and hard up for a cleaning, I might agree. But these are designer items all in keeping with the rest of the interior design of the bathroom and barely noticeable as being WC’s since there are no toilet tanks. The eye is not drawn to them but to the whole designer imagery of the bathrooms. And the lids are blessedly down.
I did notice the moire problem. Looks like a metal roof with very tight ridges close together. Perhaps that coupled with the lovely low light that created contrasting shadows and sunlit surfaces along with the ridges conspired to produce that damn moire. I would think only a very soft over cast light would minimize that effect. Or they could just change out the roof for something else that would work better. A snow ball’s chance of surviving in hell of that happening of course.
But it can also be the size at which you view the video since the pixels per inch of the monitor also makes a difference. I watched it first on my 15″ MacBook at the published size and the moire was very evident. Then I watched it full screen on my 27″ iMac and it was markedly diminished so much so that I did not really notice it at all. So I think part of the issue is the pixel pattern on the viewing device. Have not tried viewing it on my tablet or iPhone yet but will do so. Any excuse to watch it again!
But I notice moire happening all the time on news shows where the news readers are wearing clothing with fine lines or fine weaves and designs. Even some experienced talking heads don’t realize the problem along with wearing 100% magenta, yellow, orange garments. In the US we have a lot of fly screens and those can produce the same effect. I always insist, where I can, on solid colors, no prints and no fine filagree jewelry for my portrait shootings all for the same reason. Plus busy designs take the eye away from the face. Although sometimes that might be desirable.
So I think it a magnificent video. I don’t know that it is possible to do a production that does not have a few loose ends you would want to be able to solve but were either not in evidence as the shoot took place or even if you did notice it, there was nothing you could actually do to avoid it without actual structural changes to the structure itself. Great job as always Grant.
But I agree we are caring photographers who want to do the best work possible even if no one else sees or cares about what we see as faults. We see them and it is that process of self criticism that keeps us on our toes always seeking to do better work no matter where on the competency curve we are sitting.
Thanks Peter – I think the Sothebys rules are coming down from Sothebys International, I might try and have a gentle word with the powers that be here in their head office. I too notice Moire happening more as well on TV and online video and its one of those things you need to put in your mental shot checklist. I also think that especially with drone it will sometimes be un-avoidable when getting the shot, we have a lot of corrugated iron roofing here which from certain distances is going to present moire. It would be no fun if everything went perfect every time! Cheers
I’m curious how you deal with WB and lighting situations from one shoot to the next? Do you shoot auto WB or set per room? Do you just increase your ISO to lighten your rooms up. In photography you can blend multiple images and or use flash but in video…..? Curious about how you deal with getting that perfect lighting and do you do much post editing with your lighting or do your best to get it right while filming? Thanks and great work!
I always shoot manual white balance and I like to keep things simple. If I am shooting a property in daylight, which is most of the time, I just about always set a manual 5800k white balance and leave it at that for the whole shoot. If the bathroom is completely lit only by tungsten then I will change it down to something around the 3500k area.
With regards to ISO, yes I do adjust it a bit and try and keep it as low as possible. I usually end up around the ISO 200-400 mark. Then in post I usually bring the mid-tones up, add a little saturation and I’m done. Cheers