No matter what you think of first impressions when it comes to people and everyday life, one thing’s for sure, they are everything when it comes to real estate. And since the majority of property searches are initiated online, the importance of good photography of your property cannot be overstated. Sure, descriptions and floor plans are also vital elements to take into consideration, but potential buyers are all about eye candy. 

Professional real estate photographers know all the tricks to make your listing pop, and while you could hire the services of one and still save money on commission fees, there’s no reason you can’t give it a go yourself and save even more. You only get one chance at a first impression, so make it count.

Allow us to share some tips on how to take the best photos of your listing…

Declutter

You know how you’ve been telling yourself you should really tidy up the place good and proper – the entire time you’ve lived there? Well, it’s ironic that now that you’re on the verge of selling your property, you simply have no choice but to declutter if you want to have any success! 

Clear all your surfaces and give them a good wipe down, while making sure that your floors (whether they’re carpet, wood or tiles) are spotless. Then try your best to empty the living spaces of everything except big furniture and table lamps. The idea is to show the place in its neatest, most simplistic state. Not only does this elevate the look of the space, but it may also contribute to the illusion of extra space, in the case of smaller homes. You are trying to stage your property, think of it like a shop window display or a show home. 

A useful trick here if you do have a lot of smaller items on shelves and surfaces and don't want to box it all up yet, or dont have the space to store it, is to declutter just for the photo.   

Get yourself a box to empty items into, take your photo, return the items to their home and move onto the next room or angle. Remember you might have to remove the items again for viewings so your property looks just as good in person as it does online. A good way to think about decluttering is that it is just advanced packing, the more you pack or get rid of now the less there will be to do when you have sold. 

Lighting

We’ve seen detrimental lighting blunders in real estate photos one too many times. If you’re able to, take your photos using natural light with curtains and blinds open for maximum effect. For east-facing rooms, the light will be best early in the morning, while west-facing rooms will get the most light in the afternoons. Important to note here too is to avoid overly bright situations where the sunlight could be too harsh and distort images. 

Making the most of the natural daylight will also mitigate any need for the use of a flash, which can cause deep shadows and not-so-great looking reflections of windows, screens, and mirrors. 

If the listing has some genuinely badly lit rooms, add a lamp or two with "warm” or "bright white” light bulbs. These should do a good job of brightening the space while still appearing soft in photos.

Angles

You may want to enhance certain features of your property, chief among them being the size of some spaces, but we caution against being deliberately deceptive with the use of wide angles, though a wide angle shot can sometimes show off an entire space better than closeups. The important thing here is to take 1 wide angle shot of the space, and then normal angle shots from the same spot to show the same area with normal proportions. Similarly, this is not the project to be experimenting with unconventional shots and angles, like a fisheye lens for example. A dead give away that a space is small is a rectangular painting that is actually square or a really elongated toilet. 

It’s important to keep in mind that while potential buyers begin their property search online, if their interest is piqued, they will follow through with a physical viewing, and you want to ensure that your photos are not too far off from reality – lest you have a very disappointed potential buyer on your hands!

Composition

Don’t lose sight of the main objective: portraying your property in the best, most accurate way possible. That said, when you’re photographing interior spaces, make sure that you get a floor-to-ceiling shot, preferably from average eye level. What would the view look like on walking in? 

It might go without saying, but you need to also ensure that your camera is always level. Investing in, or hiring, a tripod of sorts should do the trick here. You’re going to want to capture straight lines, which will be hard to achieve with a tilted camera. Have a look to see if the camera you are using has a grid lines function, this will place a grid on your screen making it easier to see if you are level. 

Editing Photos

Use caution when editing photos, just like using experimental lenses you don't want your photos to look like something out of a cartoon. Some light editing is fine and there are some really simple but effective apps out there to help this, if you're using your phone you probably already have some basic editing functions. 

Using things like the cropping tool to remove an odd looking edge to your photo, or the rotate tool to straighten up an image, are simple ways to make an image look more professional without distorting the image. A lot of phones and apps have an auto edit function that will sort out your image for you by changing things like the brightness and contrast to brighten up the image.  

Using filters is a bit like the auto function mentioned above, again these can be added after so shoot your pictures without a filter and add one after, but be careful what one you use some of them can adjust colours making you white tiles look grey or green. 

Video Tours

 Video tours can be a great way to show off your property and give a potential buyer a better feel for the space, however be careful about how you film these. You are trying to give an overview of the property and bring the space to life, not make a feature length movie, so keep it as short as you can but don't rush so the viewer misses details. Avoid fast movements and pointing the camera at the floor or ceiling. 

Sound, when recording a video tour there are 2 approaches you can take with regards to audio. First you can choose to not record audio at all or remove it after, this is quite simple to do on a phone or using software, this will give the viewer a sense of the space and flow of your property but no further information or explanation. 

The second approach is to record audio and give a commentary on what’s happening, maybe pointing out the appliances or spec of your kitchen and what room you are in or moving to. If you have an older historic property this is a great time to talk about any history. But be careful not to waffle and make sure you listen to the audio before you upload it, there are too many video tours out there that have picked up the breathing of the person filming and nothing else. More advanced users may wish to record the video and then comment over it later using video editing software to avoid this issue.      

It turns out that first impressions take some work and thought. Trust us, it won’t be wasted once you have a string of enquiries after your listing. And who knows, you may even have some fun shooting while you’re at it, or at least think about what you will spend all your savings on, perhaps a new phone for your holiday pics?