How To Take Beautiful Exterior and Interior Photos Of A Property

I often receive compliments from the public and other agents on the photos I take of my listings. I even receive emails from my website from people just wanting to tell me how beautiful I showcase my listings. I am also often asked, "how do you take such good photos of your listings"? So I decided to blog about this subject since "great photos" are so crucial in my profession and are so important for sellers, buyers, and Realtors alike. Let’s face it, clients want to see photos on listings, whether it is a house they’re looking to buy or the one they’re selling. Since most people are visual, a photo, good or bad speaks volumes about a property and marketing is all about turning perception into reality.

To prove by point, once I received a phone call from a seller whose home had just expired from a nine month listing agreement with another brokerage.  The seller said they only had 3 showings during the whole nine months. When I toured the home, I couldn't believe it! This home was beautiful but the photos in the previous marketing campaign did not show the many stunning features of the home at all. I listed the property and took many angle shots of each room and the exterior. As soon as the photos were entered into my marketing campaign the activity began, even though it was around Thanksgiving. The first week I had a couple who fell in love with the home but needed to sell theirs first. A few days later another couple put an offer in and we closed in thirty days. The seller couldn't believe how "just" taking good photos made a huge difference in selling or not selling.

So below are some tips on how to take good photos of a property.

• Avoid taking exterior photos at high-noon, as the direct sunlight othen causes harsh dark shadows that conceal property details. Instead try taking photos early in the morning or late afternoon, depending on which direction the property is facing. Remember, you want to have the sun behind you and shining on the property.  You don't want the sun behind the property, it will cause the front of the property to be very dark.
• Have any distracting items removed, such as, vehicles in the driveway, trash cans and any real estate signs from the front yard.  You do not want these things to be block the view of the property in the photo.
• Instead of taking straight on shots of the exterior, try taking the photo from the left or right of the house at an angle. Often, this will give more dimension and depth to a property and allow the viewer to see more than just the front of the property.  I like to stand looking at the front door and move as far to the left or right as I can and still be able to see the front door.
• Before taking photos of a room, remove extra furnishings and other items to make it more spacious.  A photo of a cluttered room may be enough to turn off a perspective buyer and pass on seeing it in person.
• Remember, light and bright is best!  For best results combine both natural and artificial lighting.  Open all drapes and blinds and adjust the white balance setting on your camera as needed. For extra large rooms, I use an external flash.  Also turn on ALL lights in the adjoining rooms as well.  You don't want a light and bright photo of a kitchen with a dark cave like living room in the background.  When taking a photo toward a window and the light coming from the window is very bright, the camera's setting will adjust for that bright spot, darkening the rest of the room.  To help avoid this, turn your camera away from the window and push your button half down then turn back toward the window and take the picture.  This will trick your camera's exposure. 
• Instead of taking straight on shots of a room, take the photo from the corner of the room and shoot across to the opposite corner.   This approach will allow the prospective buyer to see more of the room instead of just a wall.  Using a wide angle lens will usually capture the entire room.
• For best results, use a tripod to keep the horizontal and vertical planes perpendicular and to avoid camera shake. You don’t want the photo to be blurred or look like it is crooked.  You can get a tripod at Wal-mart for about $25.00 bucks.
• After your photo shoot, take the time to edit your photos in a photo editing software.  I use photoshop.  I don't ever use the automatic editing option because it just doesn't enhance as well as doing it manually.  If a room isn't as bright as you would like, use the brightness and contrast adjustments.  I like turning up the contrast on photos because the colors are enhanced nicely.
• Remember for print advertisements you want large size files and for internet marketing you want small file sizes.  640 x 480 pixels are perfect for the internet but too small for print.  When I'm editing my photos I save a large file of the picture then a small for internet.

Yes, taking a good photo shoot and then editing the photos are both time consuming.  However good photos vs. bad photos could mean the difference between selling your home or listing.  Therefore the time spent is well worth the benefits and you only have to do it once. 

 

Hope this helps!