Real Estate Photography Tips For Better Home Selling

In this technology-driven era, people’s lives are attached to their mobile phones.Through some clicks, people can search and buy almost any products they need quickly. Eye-catching visuals and online content marketing can be seen as the strongest tools to stimulate the buying decision of customers. As for real estate business, a picture might be worth a thousand words. It creates the best visual flow for buyers to imagine their potential homes easily. Visually striking photographs make people want to take out their phone to call you and see your home in person. So, how do you make a good impression with your real estate photos? To help get you started, here are a few useful tips to take better photos of your home.

Before your photograph

- Declutter and stage your home: Please make sure your house is clean and refurbished. Clutters in all rooms and the yard should be removed. Personal belongings and kitchen utensils should be also out of sight. You can set up a vase of fresh flowers, a bottle of wine with some glasses on the table or hang nice pictures on the walls to light up the photos. By doing this, your rooms finally look more spacious and appealing.

- Invest in equipment: A digital SLR camera with a large sensor for a wilder field of view and high quality is worth investing. Furthermore, a wide-angle lens, a tripod and flash should be added on, which lets you capture more of each room with a high level of detail and depth.

- Walk around the house to find the best angles to shoot the photos: Getting a feel for the space before picking up the camera will give you an idea of how you want to shoot it. Additionally, it lets you know which spaces are ready for you and which room may need a few more minutes of tidying up.

While you photograph

- Pick the time of the day most suited to your property: Ideally, sunny days are much preferred and beneficial for shooting. Furthermore, which direction your house faces helps to point out the best time to capture your house:

 A home site facing east is best to be captured in the morning.

 A home in the west orientation is best captured in the afternoon.

 A home facing north can be ideally captured from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

 A house oriented south is best shot in the morning and at sunset.

- Lighting: Natural light window and interior lights should be used wisely in order to reduce contrast between the interior and exterior. Exterior shots should be captured in the morning, when the sun is shining in front of the house. As for interior shots, we take advantage of light window. However, too much natural light coming from windows creates contrast between the interior and exterior. In such case, please close your windows at least partially.

As for a large room or dark room, where natural light and the lighting fixtures aren’t enough to brighten up the entire space, using a flash to light up the interiors is recommended. Bounce the flash against your light on the ceiling or on walls, if there are darker areas in the space. Bouncing your flash makes the light softer and reduces harsh shadows.

Although a flash adjusts brightness and contrast, it can’t entirely make the lighting of your picture perfect. In such case, HDR techniques will help remedy shadowy corners and bright windows, properly exposing all parts of the space.

- Angles and the position of camera: The wider the shot the better. A wide angle to shoot the exterior of your house is much preferred because it shows the depth and a comprehensive overview of your house’s architecture. For smaller houses and rooms, the doorway is likely to be the only spot to capture the whole room. Capturing three walls into the shot helps your potential home buyers easily visualize the height and space of the room. For a large room with windows, a spot in which bright windows are angled more than 45-degrees away from center of the camera lens’ field of view is highly recommended.

The highlight of the room or interesting architectural details like a corridor/ceiling that add to the value of your property should be shot. The height of camera is also important. Capturing photos at chest height gives viewers the most accurate perspective as it makes them feel like they are in the house. Additionally, at chest height, you can capture the right amount of details in a room. We have balance in room details between the ceiling and floor.

- Number of photos: 1-2 pieces of photos with different angles showing the beauty of architecture and entire view of the rooms are more appealing to viewers. 2 wide-angle shots of each bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room are sufficient. 1 photo of the bathroom is enough unless it’s incredibly beautiful or spacious. For the backyard or front of your house, we could take 2-3 photos to show off the splendor of facades.

After you photograph

Reviewing the taken photos is as important as the steps above. The final result should always be a selection of the highest-quality photographs. Through this process, we also find out errors in each photo. Retouching is the final step to get all chosen pictures perfect. Editing soft-wares and online photo editing services give your photos a more professional touch. Most importantly, it saves time in shooting again or re-decorating your house for another shoot.

A good impression through photos realistically taken and carefully edited can make an impact on the buying process and could set the selling price higher. Investing in a value-added photo shoot can also help quicken the buying process. These tips along with careful preparation before photographing is very useful in better portraying and helping your home sell more successfully.