Taking Great Photos - Bring Your Own Lights

A $60 investment is all that is needed to make your listings shine. For the last year or so I have struggled with how to improve the photos that I take for my listings and to be honest, I always considered it one of my weaker points. Unfortunately, it's one of, if not the most important aspect in marketing a listing. After all, no matter how many eyeballs you get to view a home online, if the photos are terrible or even average, it's difficult to get a buyer excited about the home. I went through several cameras, fooled with all of the settings and still there was no good solution.

As I was organizing my basement one day, I stumbled across an old halogen lamp like the ones you see at construction sites that I used to use when I rehabbed homes so I decided to run upstairs and do a few test shots in my own home to see if it would make a difference. Unbelievable was really the only thing I can say to describe the difference.

Well, I can't leave a good idea like that alone without taking it another step to improve upon it so I headed out to Lowe's to pick up some additional halogens. The photo above are the lights that now accompany me whenever I shoot photos for a new listing and the lights make all the difference in the photos.

Since I run a growing team that specializes in using technology to leverage our marketing of Atlanta real estate, it's essential that we produce superior copy and photos for our listings. These lights help give us another edge in a listing presentation because we can demonstrate to a potential client that we are serious about making their home look better than the competition. Real estate is an extremely competitive field and we need every advantage available. These lights are but one more way we can add value to a seller. Below is an example of the difference proper lighting can make in your photos. These are unedited examples:

Old:

New, with additional lighting:

Make no mistake about it. The first photo is really not even suitable for listing while the second photo shows off the full depth of this room. Subtleties make a big difference in shots like this as well. Take a look at the back left of the photo at the arched hallway leading to another room. This adds so much depth to a photo that is almost completely washed out in the darker photo.

It's these subtle attributes along with more vivid colors that make the difference and can help to get a buyer excited about a home that otherwise would just be average. In a tough market to sell real estate, we need all of the advantages at our disposal and a $60 investment in lights like the ones at the top of this post go a long way to providing you with a distinct advantage over similar homes.

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