4 Real Estate Photography Tips for Maximizing Curb Appeal
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Photo by Binyamin Mellish from Pexels
The goal of real estate photography is to help sell a house as quickly as possible, and in the coming months amidst coronavirus fears, this is going to become more and more difficult.
So, real estate photographers are going to be in high demand. If you haven’t gotten into the niche yet, it may just be time for you to do so. Diversify!
Here are some of my best real estate photography tips for new real estate photographers.
Take Photos in the Spring
photo by can72 via iStock
Unless a house is undergoing major changes, like a roof replacement, it is always best to take exterior real estate photos in the spring.
Blooming flowers are much more appealing than bare lawns or huge piles of black snow on the street.
photo by BeyondImages via iStock
Exterior real estate photography also showcases exactly how long a home has been on the market, so if your home is still on the market in winter, it may be helpful to take new photos.
This way it doesn’t look like the house has been on the market for months without any takers.
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Choose the Correct Time to Take Exterior Photos
Photo by vu anh on Unsplash
Ideally, exterior photos should be taken in the early morning or late evening hours. This allows you to capitalize on soft, golden hour lighting that diminishes the harshness of shadows that you encounter when photographing homes in the middle of a bright, sunny day.
Of course, your schedule can’t always accommodate photographing a property as the sun rises or sets (nor will the schedule of the homeowner…) so you have to have other tricks up your sleeve in order to get the best possible images.
A great tip when you’re shooting in challenging lighting conditions is to bracket your exposures. Learn how to do so in the video above.
For example, when you’re photographing the exterior of a property in the early afternoon, you’ll encounter bright highlights and deep shadows that can look unbecoming.
But if you bracket your exposures - which entails taking three or more images, each at a different exposure level - you can overcome the wide dynamic range in the scene.
The result of bracketing is that you have one image that’s exposed for the shadows, another that’s exposed for the midtones, and another that’s exposed for the highlights.
Then, you merge these images together to create a composite shot that’s well-exposed throughout.
Not only is this trick easy to use, but it also results in much-improved photos. It’s a win-win!
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Stage the House
photo by Daisy-Daisy via iStock
While it shouldn’t necessarily be your job as the photographer, houses need to be staged before you take photos of them. And one of my pro real estate photography tips is that whatever you don’t include in your contract, doesn’t get done.
So, make sure your client knows they need to do any gardening, landscaping or trash removal before you do their exterior real estate photography.
Additionally, they need to clean the inside of the house, which includes deep cleaning things like carpets and windows, but also includes getting rid of small things that make the house look lived in.
photo by tomazl via iStock
Remove the dish soap from the counter. Get rid of any dog beds or laundry baskets. If the house is still undergoing renovations, make sure these supplies aren’t lying around during your photoshoot.
Use Your Composition 101 Tips
Houses are just like people, they have good and bad angles. A ton of real estate photography tips lists forget to include information on showcasing the most unique aspects of a house.
So don’t throw out everything you learned in your composition 101 class when you start real estate photography.
Make sure there aren’t any obstructions in your exterior real estate photography. Try getting low and getting high to capture the beauty of the property. Cropping can occur after your photoshoot, but getting more information into your shot can’t, so widen your view.
Plus, if you still need tips for curb appeal, you should start taking a real estate photography class, like Real Estate Photography Pro.
Unlike an in-person class, Real Estate Photography Pro allows you immediate access to downloadable content like video tutorials, presets, and templates. But, just like an in-person class, you can still ask questions on their weekly live Q&A sessions.
Never find yourself wanting for real estate photography tips again. Get the help you need sooner rather than later, that way your images - and your business - will be the better for it!
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