#teamwhiteandgold

[soldwithstyle-blog]

If you're in real estate, you need to understand #thedress

It's 2am and my wife and I are woken by our newborn. As we drift back to sleep, she turns to me with her mobile and says, "What color is this dress?"  Half awake, I mumble "Black and blue" and fall asleep.  The next morning, I knew why she asked me.  Social media and traditional media were ablaze with discussions of #thedress.

#Thedress, viewed by some as black and blue, others as white and gold, is an example of color constancy.  Color Constancy is the method by which our brains doesn't simply pass on what our eyes take in, but rather, interpret it and then present it to our consciousness.  All without our knowing.  The image, captured by a cell phone, contains too little information for our brains to process the colors.  So our brain is forced to make an educated guess, and for some of us, guesses wrong (the dress is actually black and blue).  Sorry #TeamWhiteandGold

Still with me?  Color constancy is also at play in image below.  

Our eyes see the squares as A and B as identical in shade.  IDENTICAL, which is what they actually are.  But our brain recognizes that B stands in the shadow of the cylinder so it 'presents" the B square as lighter.  It's not.  

So what does this have to do with real estate?  Quite a lot, actually.  Not only do our brains interpret colors before presenting them to us, but they also interpret size.  Here's an example of that:

Intuitively you may know that the circles are the same size.  But our brains tell us otherwise.  The same thing happens with properties.  Rooms can present small, or large, depending on furniture (or the absence of furniture), layout, colors, textures, and light.  In some cases, your buyers' brains are presenting them as small. Your 1700 square foot property may only be 1400 as their brains are concerned. Poof, just like that, they've discounted several hundred feet of square footage, and with it, the rest of their brain is discounting their offer on the property (if they even make one).  

So if you're in real estate, you realize the very real problem that size perception can have.  Size perception can cost a seller a LOT of money.  Since buyers spend more on larger properties, that means they'd spending less on theirs.  Savvy sellers need to optimize their square footage; ensure that it presents as large as it possibly can.  They need to use layouts, colors and light to their advantage.  

They need to have their buyer's brains working for them, not against them. 

[jerrymphoto-blog]

The Importance of White Balance....or....THAT STUPID DRESS!

That dress!  Unless you have been under a rock for the past several days, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  That viral image of "the dress" has completely taken over social media and divided office relationships, friendships and families.  The question is simple, is the dress (pictured above) White/Gold or Blue/Black?

There have been many articles written on the science of how our eyes and brains process color and what could affect how we see the image (Wired.com has a very good article here: http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/).  But I'm not going to add to the 'why' we see it differently.  I want to talk about the lesson that it teaches us about photography.  And that is the importance of White Balance.

White Balance is a setting that most all cameras possess, from high-end DSLR's, to point and shoots (even a camera phone will deal with WB, you just don't always have control over it).  Understanding WB can get very complicated and "sciencey", but it can be easily understood.  Every light source, whether a household lightbulb or the Sun, can cause what's known as a color cast to what we see.  For example, candlelight will put warm hues of reds and oranges into everything we see, whereas going outside on a heavily overcast day at noon can make things look cooler with a slight blue tint.

Our eyes and brains are exceptional at dealing with this.  They work to neutralize the color cast (to an extent), so in the above situations, we're able to still discern the overall color of objects, and white still looks white to us.  Digital cameras on the other hand are TERRIBLE at this.  They tend to see things as they really are.  So if we are taking shots in candlelight, white will look red.  Or if taking shots on a cloudy day, white will look blue.

But that is where the white balance setting comes in.  By choosing the proper white balance setting, the camera will account the color cast, and our images will look more natural.  If you are in a warm light situation, such as under an incandescent light bulb, it will cool everything down to make white look white.  Conversely, it will warm up a cool situation, such as outside on a shady day, to get white closer to white. (Understand why it's called WHITE Balance now?)

So back to the dress......two things are going on here with original shot.  First, the shot is VERY overexposed.  You can tell by seeing how blown out the light is coming from the window in the background.  But more importantly, the White Balance is WAY off.  It was set, probably automatically by the camera, to remove quite a bit of blue in the shot, leaving something that is in real life blue and black, actually looking (to some) white and gold.

In the shots below, I took an image of the actual dress and brought it into a photo editing software and played with the white balance.  You can see by setting blue to be the neutral color (moving blue to be white) we are left with a dress that looks white and gold.

Now lets look at a more common situation.  Here is a portrait I shot of my friend and co-worker Anna.  It was outside on a very gloomy, overcast day.  Without White Balance, the camera would produce a very blue, cold looking shot.  But assigning the incorrect White Balance will make the shot even more cold and blue, or too warmer and the skin tones looking more orange.  But once the correct balance is found, the shot looks natural.

With all that being said, White Balance is an important consideration for pros and amateurs alike. Setting your White Balance to Auto is getting more and more reliable.  But it may not always work.  Pay attention to the overall color or "feel" to the shot.  Do the skin tones look a bit blue or purplish, or are they glowing orange like Snooki? If so, shifting your White Balance my be the answer.

Have you ever had any White Balance disasters?  Did you try and take a picture of that freshly painted room to share on Facebook at it just doesn't look right?  Or did that selfie look a bit "smurfy"?  I would love to hear about it.  Leave a comment blow.

[thrive319]

He's going to be black and blue! #teamblackandblue #teamwhiteandgold #antiochchurchkc

[brugia91]

Ahah la gente è pazza #thedress #nonsietenormali #thisneedstostop #nosense #blackandblue #goldandwhite #MoreImportantThingsInLife #teamblackandblue #teamwhiteandgold #nowshutup