As I’ve mentioned before, shopping for real estate is a visual process for buyers. Oftentimes, what makes a person stop scrolling is a beautiful outdoor shot of the property that intrigues them enough to investigate the interior. When promoting your house through different media channels, you want to provide your audience with as much material as you can. Keeping your audience engaged for as long as possible is a great technique that sellers can use to lure in potential buyers. Does that mean you need to be a professional photographer to create quality content for your online listing? Should you go buy expensive lenses and camera equipment? Not necessarily, you don’t have to feel pressured to spend loads of money just to sell your house.
I started my photography experience in high school when I first joined the yearbook club. I fell in love with the moments I could capture and focused mostly on shooting our high school sports teams. I noticed a significant difference that the camera would make when I compared it to the pictures I shot on my cell phone at the time, which even then was pretty out of date. Since then, cell phone cameras have become much more advanced. Not only was the yearbook club where I first learned how to work a camera, but it’s where I began to understand the importance of two key factors; angles and lighting.
Luckily, times have changed and you probably already have everything that you need in the palm of your hand. Within the past couple of years, the camera quality in your smartphone device has evolved tremendously. So, if you own a cell phone that was released in the past five or so years, you’re set and you just need to know how to use it! Remember those ‘key factors’ I mentioned before? That is what you need to focus on, finding the right angles and proper lighting. To ensure your space is well lit, avoid taking pictures with the flash and instead wait for natural light to illuminate the area. Typically the best lighting can be captured in mid-morning and in the afternoon. Some exceptions to taking pictures at this time would be if you have fantastic lighting features that would appeal to buyers or if you have a window or sunroom that will stand out during sunrise or set, but even in that case, you’ll want additional pictures to show how the room looks throughout the day.
You’re probably wondering which angles are “right” when shooting pictures of a property, the answer is multiple. By capturing the room from more than one angle, you give the viewer a more concrete understanding of the space. Be sure to take advantage of your camera’s features, one helpful tool is the grid line assistant which can help you to straighten your shot and find balance within the frame. Although phone cameras come with many helpful tools that you can utilize, additional accessories can prove to be helpful as well. One of the most useful phone accessories for the purpose of online property promotion would be a phone stabilizer. This gadget helps to eliminate any shakiness that results in blurry images. These lightweight devices are especially great if you are posting video tours or live walk-throughs for your audience.
One of the best pieces of advice I can offer, is to put yourself in the buyer’s shoes; try to imagine what they want to see and include that in your listing. Do you have experience buying or selling real estate? What did you look for in the images posted in the listing? If you have more ideas that can help our selling community, we’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a comment letting us know how you made your property stand out online.
If you have questions regarding what equipment you’ll need to create a quality listing online, don’t hesitate to reach out in the comment section or to me directly through my email or social media. Did you find this post helpful? Then be sure to like this blog and subscribe to my “Media Promotion Within Real Estate, A ‘How To’ Blog” so that you can get updated when I post new information and tips of how to create the most effective listings possible. If you think your followers could benefit from this post as well, share this so that we can continue to grow and expand our community!
Resources:
Cox, L. K. (2020, October 26). Phone Photography 101: How to Take Good Pictures With Your Mobile Device. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/good-pictures-phone-tips
DeLong, M. (2018, July 01). Best Times of Day for a Photo Shoot. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.markdelong.com/blog/best-times-of-day-for-a-photo-shoot
Ali, H. M. (2020, December 22). The 8 Best Smartphone Gimbal Stabilizers in 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.omnicoreagency.com/best-smartphone-gimbal-stabilizers/
Borland, C. (2020, November 26). Real Estate Photography – A guide to getting started. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://digital-photography-school.com/real-estate-photography-a-guide-to-getting-started/