Real estate photography involves taking pictures of properties like houses, land or building, for the purpose of listing them out on a housing market to be sold by an agent or landlord. Photographs are one of the most important determining factors as to whether the prospective buyer would be interested in your property or not. In fact, it is the basis for all the marketing – online ads, print ads, flyers, postcards and window ads. With more than 80% of home searches starting online, it is really important that you make a good first impression and that impression is really in the photos that people are looking at. When people are scrolling through the housing websites, all they see is that the first photo which is the main reasons why they might click on one home versus the other.
The main objective of the real estate photo is to create a realistic picture of what the property actually looks like. The purpose is to create a welcoming and inviting appearance for people when they are looking at the property, as purchasing a home is usually an emotional decision. Estimates suggest that 80% of the buyer site that images are very important when it comes to an initial decision. Hence, incredible photography can provoke the interest of the buyer and prompt him/her to make an enquiry. High-quality photographs help you sell your home faster and for more money. Real estate listings with good, professional photography get 61% more views on their ads and even sell 32% faster.
Taking amateur photos can ruin the aesthetic of your property. People generally tend to look at the photos before they go through the text associated with them. Most people would not even bother reading the ad if they do not find the images to be appealing. Hence, bad photography can absolutely ruin your ad campaign. This way you will be missing out on a lot of people who may have actually liked your property in person. Hence, the use of professional equipment is also really important for taking great quality photos in order to intrigue the buyers. However, unlike other fields in photography, you do not need to spend a lot of money on the setup, a good DSLR Camera along with a 24mm Wide Angle Lens and a Tripod would do the job. Additionally, a drone camera could also be used to create stellar photographs in case of larger property listings or displaying surrounding areas.
There are some ways in which photography with the use of proper equipment can make real estate look more inviting and appealing:
Use of HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography:
It is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range between the highlights (bright areas) and shadows (dark areas) in an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. The wide dynamic range allows HDR images to represent more accurately the range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to areas of faint lighting. HDR allows you to reduce the highlights in an image, that way you can get a nice, clean and consistent appearance with the photos.
Lighting:
When you are taking the photographs, it is recommended to use plenty of natural light and also the lights inside the room as long as they do not create a lot of highlights. This way you can get a bright welcoming appearance for the photos as you do not have as many shadows in the picture. Dark images tend to make people uncomfortable hence it does not give the right appearance that buyers want to see.
Angles:
In order to make the interior of a room look more interesting try shooting for different angles. Instead of takes images from the same boring angles try experimenting with a variety of shots. So, work with new angles to make pictures more attractive and engaging.
You may also choose to shoot straight by aligning the camera with one of the walls in the room. Use the camera’s viewfinder grid to make sure that the horizontal and vertical lines in the image are lining up perfectly. This gives you a more coordinated composition to work with post-production.
Wide Angle Lens:
Wide-angle lenses can make a world of difference because it captures significantly more than what is possible with a standard width lens. Not only larger areas can be photographed, but it is also a necessity for capturing images of smaller rooms where there is not much space to shoot. Buyers usually want to see the environment and surroundings of each room and using a wide-angle lens allows you to do this.
Drone Photography:
Ariel photography can showcase unique aspect of a property that you cannot achieve from the ground level. This might include capturing that stunning location or proximity to major landmarks. You can use the drone to shoot images from various different angles to give buyers a good idea of what the home looks like. It can be used to highlight some features of the property like the home’s landscaping, swimming pool and natural surroundings. A shot from above the property is crucial when giving the prospective buyer a feel from the space in offer, that is the property’s size and layout. With drone photography, you can also capture the local landmarks to give the buyer an idea of the nearby sites within easy reach like schools, stores, beaches, parks etc.
Image Editing Software:
After you have taken that wide-angle HDR photo with your DSLR and aerial photos with the Drone camera, it can be exported to an image editing software like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. This is where you can adjust the colour, contrast, highlights, shadows and other aspects such as imbalances caused during the shoot, that way you can get a much better result with the photographs. However, you would also not want to go overboard with the editing to the point that it just looks unrealistic. In that case, when the buyers come in to visit the property, they would just be disappointed.
Conclusion
When selling a home or property, it is necessary that you must do everything to enhance its appeal. Great photos can make ordinary homes look extraordinary. Getting the best images of a property listing should be a top priority to enhance the possibility of engagement with the buyers. Capturing an image with warm lighting and aesthetically pleasing angles can result in increased click-through rates and home interest.
