Photographs are a central component of marketing a property.
The primary function that photos perform is to get
prospective buyers to come look at the property.
In today’s market where 87% or more home buyers start
their home search online a little thumbnail of the front of the
property becomes the first reason buyers choose to look at
more photos of your listing over the 20 other properties at
the same price in the same area. Great interior photos in turn
become the reason a buyer chooses to physically come look at
your listing instead of the others. As pointed out by Vivian Toy,
in her classic February, 2007 New York Times article, Making
Every Pixel Count, “a picture can be worth more than a
But there are even more compelling reasons for using great
photography to present your listing:
•
Your home seller client will be pleased how you are
presenting their property.
•
It’s a well established fact that great photos and marketing
materials are a way to get more listings. Neighbors of
the listing property watch carefully how a property is
marketed. If they like what the see, they will ask you to list
their property when the time comes to sell.
•
If you are competing for a listing, the commitment of
professionally done photography and marketing materialscan help you win the listing.
As the marketing expert in charge of selling your client’s
property it is all important these days to understand the
way marketing photos work so you can use photography tomaximum benefit whether you are shooting your own photosor hiring a professional photographer.
Here are 10 essential principles that you can use to give your
marketing photos maximum effectiveness:
1.
Keep in mind that the primary purpose of a real estate
marketing photo is present the features of the property.
Make sure that each photo visually supports this purpose.
Any visual distractions that distract the viewer’s attention
from this purpose need to be eliminated. Items 3 through
9 below are the most common distractions that pull the
viewers attention away from the purpose of the photo.
Also, photo composition is all important because it
controls the photo viewers attention and focuses attention
on the purpose of the photo.
The two photos above illustrate how the angle the photo
is taken from can focus attention on the most important
features of a room. In the photo on the left it is not clear
what the most important features of the room are. In the
one on the right, attention is focused on the fireplace and
the large window.
2.
Use a wide-angle lens to shoot interiors. Wide-angle
lenses increase the feeling of space in interiors. What’s a
wide-angle lens? Lenses with a wide enough angle of view
to shoot interior don’t usually come with off the shelf-
cameras. For interiors a lens should be between 16mm and
24mm effective focal length.
3.
Remove clutter and stage interiors for best results. It’s
a well known fact that staging homes pays off. Homes sell
faster and for a higher price when they are staged. Most
lived in homes have too much clutter. Photos will look
better and show more of the home if clutter is reduced and
furniture is staged by a trained home stager.
4.
The primary exterior shot is THE most important
photo. Spend extra time, money and effort to get a
“knock-out” front photo because this is the photo that
will be seen most and first by prospective home buyers.
Online thumbnails of this photo must entice the buyer to
look closer at the property. Many homes benefit from an
elevated front shot where the camera is 10’ to 20’ above
the street level. Find a photographer that does elevated
shots.
5.Render interiors light and bright. Bright interiors areup-beat and make a more positive impression on the
prospective buyer so you want light and bright photos.
Amateur cameras often under expose. Special lighting
or photo editing techniques must be used to get interior
photos to come across light and bright.
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Realtor’s Guide to Using Photos In Real Estate Marketing Realtor’s Guide to Using Photos In Real Estate Marketing
6. Vertical lines (walls etc) must look perfectly straight.
We live in a world where we unconsciously know that allwalls are perfectly vertical. When a viewer sees a roomwhere the walls are not parallel with the side of the photo
the viewer is visually distracted and disoriented. A voice in
their head is saying, “this is not right”.
7.Vertical and horizontal lines must be straight. Wide-
angle lenses cause lines near the edges of photos to curve
so special efforts and software must be used to remove
distortion.
8.
Don’t let bright windows distract. Unless special lighting
or photo editing software is used interior windows will
tend to look too bright so the view out the window is
not visible. It is always possible to show the view out the
window if the view is an important selling point of theproperty. However, special work by the photographer maybe required to make sure the exterior view is clearly visible.
9.
Don’t let color casts distract. Strong color casts
(typically a strong orange color) distract the viewers
attention.
x 600 pixels or larger) and in a smooth easily controllable
slide show. Real estate sites typically do not present photos
in the most effective way possible. One of the purposes
of a virtual tour or slide show is maximize the impact of
marketing photos.
You can hire a photographer that uses these principles or
you can use these principles to shoot photos yourself if you
are technically inclined or have support staff that shoot your
photos. But either way, you are listing agent in charge of
marketing a property, so use these principles to produce, select
and present your marketing photos for maximum effectiveness.
Since these are well accepted photographic principles, most
experienced real estate photographers will follow theseprinciples without being told, but there are some that won’t.
It’s easy to think because you have a digital camera that you can
be a professional. Remember, you are the marketing expert, it’syour job to make sure the marketing is effective if it isn’t askquestions.
Creating great interior photos will require:
1.
A wide-angle lens that is typically not standard on off-
the-shelf cameras. A wide-angle for this purpose is onethat is between 16mm and 24mm.
2.
Photo-editing software to straighten verticals and
remove lens distortion. Great photos require adjustmentafter they come out of the camera.
3.
Lighting equipment or special software to enhance the
natural light.
4.
The way photos are presented online has a huge impact on the overall effectiveness of marketing a property.
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