Attract web-savvy homebuyers with quality shots.
By Shannon Petrie, FrontDoor.com
When photographing a room, take a step back and show off as much of the room as possible.
Home sellers used to count on curb appeal to make a good first impression on potential buyers. Now, with 80 percent of homebuyers starting their house hunt online, a home's "pix appeal," or how good it looks in photos posted on the Internet, is taking over as the top way to impress buyers off the bat.
In a survey by the National Association of Realtors, homebuyers rated photos as the feature they use most when searching for a home on the web. Online listings with bad pictures -- or worse, no pictures at all -- can cause buyers to overlook your home from the get-go.
So how do you make a good impression with your real estate photos? Find a professional photographer. Some agents opt to hire professional photographers to get the best shots possible, while others choose to take photos themselves. If not utilizing a photographer, use these tips to take better real estate photos:
Before You Photograph
Invest in a decent camera. Sure, most cell-phone camera are averaging 3 - 5 megapixels, however you are still limited by photographic features real camera's have, such as Flash or true Optical Zoom. Any point-and-shoot digital camera with 12 megapixels or more will produce great photos. If you're willing to fork over more cash, a digital SLR (DSLR) offers more settings and allows you to use a variety of lenses.Stage the home.
You want to show off the space, not what's in it. Make sure your home is clean, and clear out distracting items like toys, refrigerator magnets and the like before taking photos. If this leaves your home looking a little dull, accents like a vase of fresh flowers can spice it up. Get staging tips from Debra Gould, the Staging Diva.While You Photograph
Use as much natural lighting as possible. Open the curtains and turn on all the lights to make a room look bright and open. Rely on the camera's built-in flash as little as possible; it creates unattractive shadows and reflects off mirrors and windows. You should also avoid taking photos on rainy days or at night, as this will produce gloomy photos. For exterior shots, take pictures on an overcast day so the sun doesn't cast dark shadows on your home.Choose the best angles and compositions. The best way to show off a room is to shoot from a corner or doorway to include as much of the room as possible. This provides context and makes the room look more spacious than a tight shot does. When photographing your home's exterior, stand at an angle to the home rather than straight-on, allowing buyers to see the home's depth. As much as possible, avoid photographing objects that obscure your home, like poles and wires.
Don't make your home look like something it's not. While you want to make your house look as good as possible, don't mislead buyers. For instance, a photo taken with a wide-angle lens can make a room look deceptively large. Buyers will be disappointed and irritated when they view your home and see that your seemingly huge bedrooms are actually quite small.
Take lots of photos. Digital cameras give you the freedom to take as many photos as you want, so experiment with lots of angles and camera settings. Review the photos later and choose the ones that best represent your house.
After You Photograph
Touch up the photos. After you've chosen your best photos, you'll probably find that they need a bit of tweaking. Maybe your living room looks too dark, or your home's exterior is framed by distracting telephone wires. Utilize your marketing department for minor photo touch ups. ALWAYS keep the original photos, and copy the tweaked images in a newer location or folder. You never know when you may need the raw images.Extra Tips
You can utilize your images for other marketing materials so it is best to keep the full sized raw images for high res print outs such as bruchures and listing flyers. Using your images stored on the MLS will result in undesirable blurring and pixelation of your images.If resizing or cropping, always save-as a newer copy so you do not overwrite the original image. It is best to keep all of your tweaked images in a different location or folder.
