How to improve your real estate photography
The first thing that a prospective client is going to see is your image gallery, starting with the one that accompanies the ad or listing of the property. Therefore, improving your real estate photography and how you present these images are essential in both catching the customer's attention and trying to give them the best first impression of the property.
Keep reading to learn some more tips that will help you improve your real estate photography used to promote properties.
INDEX:The importance of improving real estate photography
The 5 tips to improving real estate photography and how we present properties
5. Use extra resources to your advantage
The importance of improving real estate photography
First, one must understand why we should present an attractive yet realistic image gallery in the first place. We should not create high expectations if they do not correspond to reality. You can enhance photos, however never retouch or falsify images. A client is mainly interested in a property depending on its price and location values. Once these points have been filtered out, the next step is to see details of the property, which will be shown mostly in the image gallery. Although, more and more resources are being added to facilitate the decision such as construction plans, videos or the most innovative feature – virtual tours of the property.
So, if this step is done properly, we will achieve the next step: a request from the client to visit the property; the last step is to finally purchase it if it fits their demands and what they have seen. Not doing this properly, either by omission of information or because what is shown is not an accurate representation of reality, can result in an unsuccessful viewing. It almost always turns out unproductive when the client goes to the property with low expectations in mind or finding out imperfections that had not been reflected in the listing later on.
5 tips for improving real estate photography and how we present the properties
1. Choose the best equipment
The first thing you need when taking professional photos is the right equipment. Start with researching the best quality cameras in the game - if you are looking specifically for 360 cameras, we've already done the research for you in this post. As we know, image is everything, so this is definitely the most important tool for you. We would also recommend setting up a tripod to obtain pictures from all angles and this will also help you avoid unclear or blurry pictures.
2. Pay attention to natural light
We all want to see a well-lit house, therefore, if there are windows or ample exterior lighting, we must play that to our advantage. To do this, we must ensure that photographs are taken at the time of day when the house receives the most natural light and avoid taking them at times of day when artificial light is necessary.
3. Have spacial awareness
Being spacious is another feature that makes a home highly attractive. The fact that a room can accommodate a lot of furniture may be seen as a positive thing, but overcrowded images will give the opposite impression: that it is cluttered and claustrophobic. On the flip side, you don't want the room looking too bare as this will also deter clients. Therefore, try to make the images as clear as possible in each room, but without leaving it completely empty.
4. Replicate everyday life
When the customer looks at the images of a property, they should be able to picture themselves living in the property as this will increase the chances of it becoming a successful viewing. It's a good idea to add furniture that is neutral and gives the room some character.And we can achieve this feeling beyond placing furniture, for example by placing food elegantly and orderly on the living room table.
5. Expand on each room
Make sure that the images of each room are taken from an angle that allows you to see the whole room. When we see images of a living room, or a bedroom we want to know how spacious they are and sometimes it's difficult convey the depth through images. This does not mean that after showcasing more “panoramic” images, you should leave details of the property out.
In the following video made by Idealista’s colleagues, they explain the importance of this factor among other details:
Use extra resources to your advantage
There are aspects that, when correctly indicated in the gallery, are powerful sales arguments, such as the fact that the rooms are bright or that they are spacious. It would also be helpful to add resources to accompany these arguments and help convey all the information necessary to boost sales. Some of these resources are:
A floorplan. Although the photos will be ordered chronologically, the user will not be able to place where each room corresponds, nor will they know the layout in detail. A floorplan will serve to order this aspect.
Video. A video directly helps with visualising what it would be like to walk around the property. However, we must be careful with the graphic adjustments of the image, that the luminosity is adequate, that everything is in order and that it is edited so that it enhances rather than worsens what is seen in the images.
Virtual tour of the property. A virtual 360 tour is the most advantageous of all the proposals, as it not only allows us to go through each room, locating it perfectly, but also allows us to enjoy every detail, go back to the rooms that most interest us and create sensations that neither video nor images can transmit, such as looking out of the balcony and seeing the views with total realism.
By improving your real estate photography through each proposed technique, it goes beyond showing a house but also helps create the feeling that goes along with it. With all of this information combined it will definitely help to convince the client to make appointment. Hopefully, if we have been able to recreate reality at a good standard, the process will conclude successfully.
