Architectural Photography Technique Tutorial

Be sure to watch full screen to see the details!
In this video I show you everything that goes into an architectural exterior, from setup, taking each individual exposure, and combining all of them together in Photoshop to make the final image.
For bookings, questions, or comments, feel free to email [e-mail].
To see the finished photos that haven't been murdered by video compression, head to mpkelley.com or check them out on flickr:
www.flickr.com/...
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Thanks to Peter Don for helping me with the technical side of things. Check him out at vimeo.com/peter...

[@JakePerryFilms]

You are an artist.... This is painting with light at it's finest! Breathtaking...

[@xplicitlyrix187]

@mikekelley fair enough. just seemed like a ton of work. I figured you can just spot meter you dark, mid, and highlights... then blend them in photoshop ... similar to what you are doing now without having to light everything by hand... but whatever yields the results you desire... you obviously got this technique down.. good job!

[@someisaneperson]

Wow this is really cool thanks for uploading this mike.

[@mikekelley]

@oceandrew Hi Drew, Yes, they are all raw (cr2) files. .psd file size sometimes approaches 1.5-2gb per image. The most important thing I've learned is to be sure to name ALL your layers specifically, that really helps keep it easy to work and 'maneuver' around the file, so to say.

[@reactortwotv3782]

Idol Mike Kelley.. You've grown a love comparef to 8 years ago.. But all images you produced are excellent.. Thank you for inspiring..

[@snwbrdrnl]

Thank you very much for sharing. I love your photos, the work you put in them really pays off. I'll definately give your technique a try, waááy better than those HDR shots you see everywhere. (Actually, not at all comparable...)

[@8bitdigitaltv]

Such greatness...real inspirational!

[@2FoG2]

That is imply amazing very imformative thank you for a taking the time to do it and b not charging to see it learnt loads from a simple yet skillfully shot vid with no actual technique shown....brill =)

[@mer0ck]

@mikekelley Going to have to agree with you on this. At this point in HDR software, it will not come anywhere close to being this clean. I too have tried. A few times, and you can't get away from that "HDR look" that I personally can't stand. You and I share a lot of the same techniques MIke, but you've gone a step further with the strobes out doors... I might have to try this someday. Thanks!

[@kryznic1]

holy crap that was some crazy shiz! I just started doing photography for real estate you just blew my mind. That is A LOT of work though and what I currently get paid is not worth the trouble. Although I might experiment with it to improve the portfolio. Good stuff!

[@Brittow]

Curious to know where you are at with your photography right now

[@rockjano]

Beautiful video and great Photo technique. Congratulation, I will try this with my own house sometimes. The original shot was made at sunset if I see it clearly, and the outer of the building was lightened with small strobes, but the lightening of the inside was done with the house own lights and long exposure Am I right?

[@mikekelley]

@harriskw Thanks for the kind words! I'm using a Canon 430exII on a Pocketwizard Flex and Mini setup, with or without gels, depending on my mood :)

[@alexorrow]

Mike, Thanks for sharing this. You dusk dawn exterior shots are really great! I hope you don't mind me asking how you are making the exposures. I am curious to know how you fired the strobe and shutter at the same time. Are you using remotes with an assistant holding the strobe, aimed at different locations as you press the shutter for each exposure. Or can you trigger the shutter as you walk around firing off your strobe? Many thanks.

[@mikekelley]

@sanjoy87 In both of these cases they were houses for sale, so making them attractive as possible was the main priority. I also don't use this technique for all of my shots :) Check out my portfolio to see what I mean. Depends on the client, as you said.

[@aaronc608]

awesome ! i'm going to try some of this @ home :)

[@yokes]

Fantastic work. How are you triggering the camera from so far away?

[@oceandrew]

Fantastic work. With some 30+ layers how are you keeping your files manageable in Photoshop? You can't be importing RAW files, are you?

[@mikekelley]

@guidlines 2009 17" Macbook Pro with 2.93ghz processor and 8gb of RAM. Handles them fine, surprisingly - I run it connected to a 27" cinema display. I also make sure there's nothing running in the background.

[@aparmley]

Awesome work Mike (David Hobby sent me).

[@Tenebrius1963]

Thanks for sharing your technique, when you use your flash it is at full power?

[@ajschroetlin2196]

Very nice work, Mike. I do a lot of light painting myself. My question is this....Even on high end real estate shoots, how do you get paid enough to spend 5-8 hours on one image? From my experience real estate agents do not/will not pay that well...even a company like Sotheby's...because the images have a finite life span. When the house is sold, the images are no longer needed. Just curious. :)

[@CarolBastings]

I have the same question> Ho is paying your workinghours?

[@patio87]

It was probably for his portfolio. In that case, it's worth it, easily.

[@5600block]

@@patio87 exactly , all about the portfolio

[@mikekelley]

@xplicitlyrix187 Haha, that's cute, but an HDR will never look at good as this :) Believe me, I've tried. There is simply not enough depth, texture or contrast in an unlit HDR shot.

[@xplicitlyrix187]

very cool.. not really efficient tho. You could save yourself a whole lot of time and shutter actuations with 2-9 shot depending on the look you are trying to achieve. 1 exposure for the sky you want. Then 1 or 2 for the house and surroundings.. then tone map them together in photoshop... or make a realistic HDR and it will look exactly like that

[@soulbrown7838]

ohhh this is the guy who was featured on the strobist.com website a few years back, i remember this video

[@eurosamsam]

BRAVO!!!

[@Biffbradford]

Very interesting technique. However, it seems to me that the final image #2 is deceiving. It makes it appear that there is exterior lighting that doesn't really exist. Not that it couldn't be added, but I would think some disclaimer would be in order. :^)

[@NicklasHolmqvist]

Inspiring ☺️

[@guidlines]

@mikekelley if you don't mind me asking, what are your computer specs to be able to handle such large files?

[@jo160138]

Mike, Greetings from Brazil, how many clicks?, How do you measure the light? You equalizes the images one by one?

[@mikekelley]

@rockjano Correct.

[@sanjoy87]

@mikekelley aha, yeah I thought so -and for that type of use I can see why one would want to use that teqhnique -especially if the architect didnt do his job properly in the first place ;-)

[@trimotionmedia5487]

I know this is yearssss later, but mannnn. the first photo is way too pink and dark and contrasty. I am not a fan at all. The single exposure SOOC was much better for my taste. Maybe the pink and dark and contrasty was the style back in 2011? Edit: The second photo looks AMAZING!!!! Awesome work

[@2FoG2]

great vid but a decent tog wit a polariser and nd's would get sooo close sooc

[@sanjoy87]

nice and interesting video, but very orientated towards commercial architecture photo it seems.. I wouldnt adopt the flash-"lightpaint"-technique for serious architecture photography.. lighting is something that the architects should have taken care of in the first place, so adding more lights with a flash like that is a no-go imo.. there's a huge difference between making cool pics of buildings and pics where the architecture itself is the main focus...

[@Dkocherkov]

Круто!!!

[@umerzafar]

dude show us the airplanes tutorial

[@oceandrew]

Fantastic work. With some 30+ layers how are you keeping your files manageable in Photoshop? You can't be importing RAW files, are you?