4 Reasons Why Good Real Estate Photography is Worth It
photo by Purdue9394 via iStock
The real estate industry is currently on fire. Demand is absolutely through the roof, mortgage rates have never been lower, and in some places, houses are being snatched up within hours of hitting the market.
For these reasons and more, people are starting to doubt the benefits of good real estate photography.
I understand where these people are coming from, too. If their houses are going to be purchased so quickly after hitting the market regardless, then why should they have to pay for good real estate photography?
But, here’s the thing. Good real estate photography has a lot of benefits and I’m going to talk about a few of them here.
Good Real Estate Photography Doesn’t Mean Hundreds of Photos
photo by PC Photography via iStock
When you DIY your real estate photography, you are either going to make one of two mistakes. You will take far too few pictures or you will take far too many pictures.
When you take far too few pictures, you will turn off potential buyers because buyers want to understand what each section of the house looks like before coming to view it. When you take far too many pictures, you might be wasting your time and your potential buyers’ time.
Of course, each property is different, so the number of photos that hits the sweet spot will depend on individual properties.
photo by PC Photography via iStock
But, someone who understands good real estate photography will likely give you around 10-15 interior photos and 5-10 exterior photos for a typical home. With this number of photos, a potential buyer can learn all the information they will ever need about a home.
Here’s a tip no matter how many photos you take: use HDR techniques to get the best-quality interior photos.
The trouble with photographing interior spaces is that any windows in the room are flooded with natural light while the rest of the room is far darker. Even high-end professional cameras can’t accommodate that wide range of light to dark in a single shot.
The solution is to bracket exposures - take three or more images that are exactly the same compositionally but are exposed at different levels for the light, midtone, and dark areas of the room. See what I mean in the video above.
Then all you have to do is merge the images together into a single composite photo that is well-exposed throughout. This technique is easy, quick, and far cheaper than relying on artificial lights to brighten up interior spaces.
Photography for Realtors: Staging a Home is Half the Battle
photo by Jodi Jacobson via iStock
Professional real estate photography ensures that clients can see themselves living in a home and a big part of this is ensuring that the home is staged properly.
Having no furniture in a home, or worse having bad furniture in a home, means that your potential buyers will not automatically connect with a house the way they otherwise would have.
When a potential buyer is emotionally invested in purchasing a house, they will be far more likely to offer a price that is above asking. Good real estate photography, along with proper staging, may, in the end, make you far more money when your home sells.
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Good Real Estate Photography Makes a Home Seem Bigger
photo by Anatoli Igolkin via iStock
One of the best benefits of real estate photography is that it features all of the perfect angles of a house. It also showcases a house in the most beautiful light.
When a professional pairs great lighting with great angles, each room in the home offers its best possible first impression to buyers.
Additionally, properly composed images help showcase the space in each room. This means that if a potential buyer has told their Realtor that they won’t look at any homes under 1,250 square feet, but your home falls just short of this, the Realtor may choose to show it to their clients anyway because the photos make it look big enough to be worth it.
Of course, staging has something to do with this as well - a room that is cluttered with too much furniture will look and feel smaller than it actually is. By removing some pieces and staging the same room, potential buyers will be more impressed with its space.
Post-Production Makes a Home More Desirable
photo by sl-f via iStock
Post-production makes the images of a home far more desirable than if you were to simply put every photo you took of a home up online.
Think about it - buyers don’t want to have to sift through subpar images looking for what they’re really after. They want to be fascinated by each photo they see.
Culling your images and editing only the best ones will help you highlight the features and amenities of the home more effectively. Whether you use Lightroom, Photoshop, or another program to process your images, take the necessary time to evaluate your images and do the needed touch-ups, that way the properties you photograph are presented in the best possible light.
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