High-tech Lighting Techniques Bring Incredible Sharpness And Clarity To Images

Many people ask us just how we get our photos so incredibly sharp and lifelike. We use a system called "Enhanced Lighting Compression" or ELC, which is a group of technologies that we've developed over the last 5 years here at PrimeImage. Part of the system involves a process called HDR, a technique that has been in use for over 150 years.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, specifically High Dynamic Range Imagery. Basically, it's a digital technique that allows you to bring out the brightest brights and darkest darks in an image to accurately represent the intensity of light.

By capturing multiple images of varying exposures almost simultaneously, the entire light spectrum is captured. Then, using special software, the images are combined into one seamlessly developed picture.

What makes it even more interesting is that this technology was actually used back in the mid-19th century when Gustave Le Gray famously made seascapes showing the sky and the sea. Because the range of light was too great to capture with standard techniques at the time, Le Gray actually used two different negatives, one of the sky and one of the sea, and then combined them together to create the single picture.

However, it wasn’t until the early 1990’s that HDR took off among amateur and professional photographers. Thanks to the constant fall in price and rise in demand of consumer and prosumer level cameras, HDR is now something that almost anyone with a camera can achieve.

Although HDR video has been researched since the late 1980’s, it wasn’t until the early 2000’s that true attempts at it were made. In 2010, the independent film studio Soviet Montage released footage of HDR video created using a beam-splitter and two cameras. The effects are almost haunting, with the result resting in the uncanny valley of reality.

At PrimeImage, we took the basis of HDR and pioneered a type of imaging called Enhanced Lighting Compression (ELC) photography. Like HDR, ELC uses shots of multiple exposures to capture the varying light intensities of a scene. However, ELC also uses custom software algorithms and special techniques to bring incredible sharpness and clarity to images that can’t be attained with standard HDR. This custom technology helps to bring out the details that the human eye sees that are unable to be captured with other methods. Although ELC has been formerly used in both the medical and military fields, PrimeImage is one of the first companies to use ELC for real estate.

It will be interesting to see where HDR goes in the future. As technology progresses, what new forms of lighting compression will we see researched and developed? If you’d like to use ELC images for your business, drop us a line at 480.240.9270

Discover Real Estate Secrets with the Top Women in Real Estate

We recently had a shoot in Phoenix for the up-coming Real Estate site, TopWomenInRealEstate.com.

Created by Carrie Love and Tara Revel, the website discusses industry and trade secrets for all members of the real estate community, from people just getting their feet wet to experienced brokers.

The women were having a photo shoot, and they wanted us to film a "behind-the-scenes" video for their website.

Because we're used to being the ones with all the equipment, it was definitely an experience working around another photography crew. It’s always great to work with other crews though to exchange ideas and thoughts.

Using our trusty tripod and dolly, we were able to set up great shots while keeping the camera moving smoothly. On the dolly, you’re able to lock the wheels in a certain direction so that when moving it, you can lock it to keep it turning at a set angle. This is particularly helpful when rotating the camera around a steady subject.

When we wanted to get mobile, we used our hand-held steadicam, the GlideCam. Amazingly, it gets some very smooth shots for being hand-held. It’s definitely been a great acquisition for our company.

Besides getting those shots, they also wanted to do a short video of them speaking about the service. This will go on their website when they get it up and running.

If you’d like to make a video for your website, drop us a line at 480.240.9270