Real Estate Photography

It amazes me how many agents and home owners use horrible photographs to market their Central Oregon listings. 

Most buyers search the internet before buying a home these days.   You’ve heard the saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words”.  Its true, especially in real estate.  Pictures tell the buyers a lot about the properties, and many buyers pick out homes that they want to see purely by the pictures.  It’s important for agents/owners to invest in a good camera, or pay a professional photographer to take quality photos that represent properties accurately.

In a college photography class that I attended at Central Oregon Community College in Bend, Oregon, the professor used real estate magazines to show us what “bad photographs” look like.  Many of the photographs in these magazines are blurred, and dark.  And I love the photos that agents use of hallways!  I don’t know what a photo of a dark, dungeon like hallway does for the marketing of a home!  Those ads with quality photos will attract more home buyers.

I’ve compiled a list of tips for Realtors and Home Owners for photographing real estate.

1) Invest in a quality digital camera

        Digital cameras have come a long way in the last few years.  If possible get a camera  that allows the user to control white balance, shutter speed, and aperture settings.  A digital SLR is preferred, but not necessary.

2) If you have a digital SLR, invest in a wide-angle lens and a flash unit

        A wide angle lens allows you to cover more area in a single frame.  A 15mm lens is perfect for shooting interior real estate shots. There are some point and shoot cameras that have wide angle lenses as well.  Some wide angle lenses will distort vertical and horizontal lines.  This will need to be fixed in a program such as Adobe Photoshop.
       

        A flash unit can help light a room properly.  When shooting interiors, I typically use a flash with a diffuser on it to soften the light.  Bouncing the flash off of a wall or ceiling will help distribute light evenly throughout a room.

3) Turn on all of the lights in the house!

        Use all of the available lighting to brighten rooms. 

4) Use a tripod

        Using a tripod will eliminate “camera shake”, which results in blurry pictures.        While your camera is on a tripod, use the self-timer or a remote trigger.  Pressing the shutter release button causes the camera to shake enough to blur pictures.

5) Compose your shots

        Think about how you want to represent a room in the photograph.  Pick the best possible angle to show the rooms best features.

6) Camera settings

        Control your camera; don’t just shoot on the automatic setting!  Play around with different shutter speeds and/or aperture settings.  I usually set my aperture at f8-f11.  This is a medium setting for light and depth.  Shoot many exposures of the same shot.  I always shoot 3 or more exposures of the same room then pick the best.

7) Buy and use post-processing software

        I use Adobe Photohop CS3, but there are many to choose from.  Learn the program and use it to adjust exposure, brightness/contrast, and saturation of your images.

Why spend money on advertising when the pictures used in the advertisements don’t give the home the representation that it deserves.  PICTURES HELP SELL LISTINGS!
 

Dylan Darling is a photographer and Bend Oregon Real Estate agent.

 

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