5070 Alpine Road, Portola Valley, CA

Here are some photos I shot recently for a real estate listing for Matt Zampella (RE/MAX). This property is a Georgian-style estate located in the upscale town of Portola Valley.

Residential Entrance-Twilight

A twilight photo of the entrance of a newly constructed home in Atherton, CA.

Palo Alto Twilight

Here is another twilight exterior of a Spanish Colonial style home in Palo Alto that I shot a couple of days ago. Spring is a great time for shooting homes.

Twilight Photo-1321 Harker Avenue, Palo Alto, CA

Here is another in my series of residential twilight photos, a craftsman style house located in the Community Center area of Palo Alto, CA.

This is from a recent listing by one of my real estate clients: Ken DeLeon, DeLeon Realty.

Recent Work-Residential Twilight Photo

Another in my ongoing series of residential twilight photos.

Photo used to market a real estate listing of a home in Monte Sereno, CA.

Client: Matt Zampella, Zampella and Assoc.

Architectural Exterior Twilight Photo

Here is a recent twilight photo of a beautiful villa-style home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Double Page Ad in the December, 2011 Issue of Gentry Magazine

One of the photos I shot for a recent real estate listing was used in a double page ad in  the December, 2011 issue of Gentry Magazine. You can see it in the DigiMag version here.

The ad design was by Marketing Designs.

A Day at the Beach in Castroville

Here are some photos from a recent shoot of a townhouse located in Monterey Dunes Colony, in Castroville, California. The clients were Alan Dunckel and Derk Brill, Alain Pinel Realtors, Palo Alto. Wish I had more time to hang around and enjoy the beach, but I had to get my work done.

Rancho del Eliseo-a Very Unique Residence in Bonny Doon

I recently had the opportunity to shoot a very unusual real estate listing: a lovely house located in the mountains near Santa Cruz, CA. The house is situated in the middle of approximately 150 acres, about half forest and half ranch land. In addition to the house, there were llamas and barns, 2 guest houses, and a small lumber mill, as well as hiking trails through the forest. I shot the property over 4.5 days. One of the challenges of this shoot was fog, which is common on the California coast from around Santa Barbara on up. While the fog tends to recede out to sea during the middle of the day, it can remain within view out over the ocean, and even over the shoreline, throughout the day. For this property, views of the shoreline and the ocean were essential, and the fog can be unpredictable, which necessitated more trips to the property than might otherwise have been necessary. I was never able to get a completely fog-free view when the light was right for a westward looking shot, but fortunately the property owner had a nice shot which met this criteria (taken from the ranch portion of the property above the house, showing open fields and grazing llamas, with the ocean in the background). Also, the fog provided some nice atmospheric views as it rolled in or receded. Here is the website for the listing: www.ranchodeleliseo.com. Wouldn't it be nice if all shoots could be like this? I wish I had more time to enjoy just being there, but I was shooting pretty constantly. My clients wanted a large number of shots to cover the breadth of the property's features, as well as to convey the ambiance of the location, which included showing the nearby beach.

The listing is a group effort of the Zane MacGregor brokerage in Palo Alto, CA.

Menlo Park Twilight

250 Gloria Circle, Menlo Park, CA. Listed by Ken DeLeon, Keller Williams-Palo Alto.

This image was used as the lead photo in the ads.

More and more real estate agents are discovering what architects and lighting designers have known for a long time: twilight images can really make a building stand out, even with low budget printing.  And agents are requesting these kinds of shots more frequently, and not only for their higher-end listings, but for solidly mainstream ones as well.

Technical note: the lighting inside the garage was primarily fluorescent, which looks green to the camera when using a daylight color balance setting; therefore, I selectively balance the color in the garage windows to match the tungsten lighting inside the rest of the house.