Real estate photography is a lot different from traditional photography. You’d need specific equipment, timings, and best practices to make your shots effective.
But don’t fret! In this article, we’ve curated a list of best practices that can help you make the best of your shots this 2023.
What Is Real Estate Photography?
Real estate is a lucrative but competitive business. To thrive in this landscape, you need to get all the advantages you can to be ahead of the competition. This includes real estate photos.
According to statistics, 32% of homes with high-quality photos sell faster. But weirdly enough, Wall Street Journal says only 15% of real estate professionals use high-quality images.
Necessary Equipment For Real Estate Photography
If you want good photos, then you need good gear. Here is a list of real estate photography must-haves.
Camera and Lens
There are a ton of options out there for cameras and lenses. As a rule of thumb, you want a full-sensor DSLR camera paired with a wide-angle lens.
This allows you to shoot manually and settings like exposure and aperture. The wide-angle lens on the other hand allows you to take great images of narrow spaces of the property’s interior.
Tripod
Do you want blurry photos? Nobody wants blurry photos. Even if your hands have the precision of a surgeon, it’s still best practice to invest in a tripod. They’re relatively cheap and last long.
Remote Trigger
Shooting real estate photos are often done on low shutter speeds to capture more detail. With this setting, the camera’s sensor becomes sensitive to movement.
Even the slightest of movements from things like pressing the shutter button can result in blurs and other unwanted artifacts. Avoid these by investing in a remote trigger.
Real Estate Photography Best Practices
Now that we know the basic equipment we need, it’s time to schedule a shoot. Remember to bring all the tools you need and apply the following best practices for real estate photography:
Strategize Your Shot List
Preparing what shots to take of what part of the home is going to save a lot of precious time. It also keeps you organized so you don’t waste time.
A sample shot list can include:
- Two wide-angle shots of the bedroom, backyard, and kitchen.
- Two shots of the home’s exterior, front of the home, or highlighting the curb.
- One photo of features like laundry or walk-in closets.
Schedule a Shoot for Later in the Day
You can bring all the light modifiers you want but some of the best photos you can get are done with natural light. Scheduling too early or too late might not get you enough sunlight.
When scheduling the shoot, try to schedule it when the sun’s behind the property. Doing a shot during this time frame presents the opportunity to take “golden hour” photos.
Declutter the Home
Clean up any unwanted objects in the home that you don’t want to be included in the shoot. You want prospects to focus on the key features of the home.
When objects can’t be removed, you can do so during editing. If you don’t have experience with editing, you can try out free picture clean-up tools like Pixelcut to remove any unwanted objects.
Stage the Home
If you want to get your perfect shot, sometimes you have to do some heavy lifting. The best real estate photographers would take their time to rearrange and set up a scene for a good shot.
You can even add elements to the shot to show the potential of a room or a space. Great examples are trendy rugs, decorative pieces like artwork, and even small appliances like lamps.
Shoot Straight
Keep the camera straight when you want to shoot at different angles. This is necessary if you want to avoid distortions in the photos. Use a tripod to help with this.
Examples of distortions are vertical lines that start to slant when the camera is pointed slightly up or down.
Key Takeaways
Real estate photography is necessary to make your property appealing to buyers and real estate agents. If you want to take quality real estate photos, consider the following:
- Create your shot list to stay organized.
- Schedule your shoot for when the sun is brightest.
- Declutter the home to remove any unwanted objects.
- Stage the home to set up the perfect shot.
- Shoot straight to avoid distortions in the shot.
