Lessons in photography for realtors and people selling houses

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Lessons in photography for realtors and people selling houses. A few lessons from this weekend.

1. Use a tripod, always.

Using a tripod will guarantee blur-free photos. My photos are NOT blur-free because I did not use a tripod.

2. Learn to use white balance, and turn OFF your flash.

Here’s the thing about most realtor photos. Most photos are bad, and the number one thing about them is that the lighting is wrong, wrong, wrong. Compare these two photos of the kitchen:

Why realtors need photographers

This is with no white balance and a flash. See how dark the cabinets look?

Why realtors need photographers

This is with white balance and NO flash.

White balance is easy – point the lens at a white object in the room (a wall) and use it to set the lighting levels.

If you use a tripod, you can avoid using a flash, and that’s a HUGE benefit because it shows the rooms as they’re actually lit, if not a little brighter. Using a flash also tends to throw photos towards the blue end of the lighting spectrum, which feels cold. Most of the time, in most house photos, you want to go for warm, and that means tripod, no flash.

3. Learn the rule of thirds.

Why realtors need photographers

Simply put, if you shoot a room square on, you end up with flat, dimensionless photos that don’t give a feel or sense of space.

The rule of thirds is well explained in this wikipedia article.

Why realtors need photographers

4. Shoot from hip level or non-traditional angles.

Why realtors need photographers

Nothing will make a house feel smaller than shooting from eye level, or higher. Shoot from hip level, low level, or unusual angles to capture more of a sense of space in the house. Sure, you’ll have to adjust your tripod and bend over to take the shot, but the result is WORTH it.

Bottom line: more and more people are browsing on the Internet. Those few digital snaps you take can either entice a prospective buyer, or turn them off entirely. How many sales are you losing with bad photos and you don’t even know about it?


Comments

9 responses to “Lessons in photography for realtors and people selling houses”

  1. ok, I’ll bite, how much for the house?

  2. ok, I’ll bite, how much for the house?

  3. I believe it’s $599,990K right now on MLS.

  4. I believe it’s $599,990K right now on MLS.

  5. Good post Chris – you packed a lot of tips into just a few paragraphs.

    I would also suggest that if possible, use a fairly wide angle lens for tight spots INSTEAD of backing up so far that the objects in those shots look teeny.

    Of course most people won’t have a wide angle lens (on a decent SLR camera) – so rent one. Let’s face it we are talking about a 600 grand house. To rent a wide angle lens for a digital or traditional SLR should be around 50 bucks a day. A picture is worth a thousand words or in this case 600 grand. It’s the pictures that get people to visit the house. Great pictures = more visits.

  6. Good post Chris – you packed a lot of tips into just a few paragraphs.

    I would also suggest that if possible, use a fairly wide angle lens for tight spots INSTEAD of backing up so far that the objects in those shots look teeny.

    Of course most people won’t have a wide angle lens (on a decent SLR camera) – so rent one. Let’s face it we are talking about a 600 grand house. To rent a wide angle lens for a digital or traditional SLR should be around 50 bucks a day. A picture is worth a thousand words or in this case 600 grand. It’s the pictures that get people to visit the house. Great pictures = more visits.

  7. Nice advice for people selling homes. To be fair, most pros shoot with something like a Cannon Eos 5D with a wide-angle, L-glass lense. This combo costs around 5 grand or so. It is right now, the standard for pro photographers shooting for Realtors. By taking Chris’ advice, you can save some serious cash.

    With this combo, you can shoot even in low light with no flash. Excepting the December 2008 pix, the pictures on my site were shot with the Eos 5D with a 24-105 f/4L lens.

    By contrast, Decemebr 2008 was shot with a tiny, Casio exilim digital.

  8. Nice advice for people selling homes. To be fair, most pros shoot with something like a Cannon Eos 5D with a wide-angle, L-glass lense. This combo costs around 5 grand or so. It is right now, the standard for pro photographers shooting for Realtors. By taking Chris’ advice, you can save some serious cash.

    With this combo, you can shoot even in low light with no flash. Excepting the December 2008 pix, the pictures on my site were shot with the Eos 5D with a 24-105 f/4L lens.

    By contrast, Decemebr 2008 was shot with a tiny, Casio exilim digital.

  9. Excellent post. I use a tripod whenever possible because no matter how still you think you are, as soon as you enlarge your images you’ll see the blur. I must check out the white balance on my camera, I’ve never changed it yet 🙁

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