Towards the Holy Grail of HDR 3D Video
The later part of 2011 could see ‘real estate video’ surpass ‘real estate photography’ in it’s one area of weakness.
That of Dynamic Range. The technology isn’t available to ‘commercialise’ it for property just yet – the operative term being ‘yet’.
What we’re talking about here is HDR. It stands for High Dynamic Range – the ability to grade interior and exterior exposures – and blend these layers (or shots) together. It has been doable in still photography for some years.
These days, most still photography suppliers use some form of HDR in their post processing. Video is another thing altogether.
The closest we’ve come is in our increasing use of matte work; shooting interior and exterior exposures and blending the layers together.
On the Sunshine Coast, Christian Fitzpatrick has been experimenting with HDR video with multi-passes on a remote-controlled slider – one pass is done exposing for the interior, and a second pass for the exterior.
The two pieces of footage are then blended in AfterEffects. Early trials have been encouraging, albeit time-consuming, both on location and in post.
The problem we are wrestling with at the moment is time v $ – to fit the highly competitive real estate business model in Australia.
The RED digital cinema camera will deliver an HDRx mode but the price point and time-consuming set-up complexity of these cameras would have to see a marked increase in the price point of high-end real estate videos to be viable.
Perhaps, as high-quality online video takes its rightful place alongside professional high-end photography as a ‘MUST HAVE’ component of every campaign, we’ll see bigger production budgets.
This will allow for the critical time needed on location and in the post suites.
The spend on video maybe increased by some dollars being diverted from print to online. In this case, we’ll be going at an option like RED, like a red rag to a bull. Equally, this HDR capacity will be included in the next release of HDSLR cameras, like the much anticipated Canon 5DMIII.
Rumours point to this camera being able to record 5k video to an external recorder. Either/OR, we’ve ramped up our post production chain on the GC with a new 12-core and other firepower.
As for 3D, we can see a day when properties will be presented online and in-room in 3D – and shot in HDR.
The future’s so bright for online video marketing, you’re going to need shades. Change it UP!