HOW TO TAKE ATTRACTIVE REAL ESTATE PROPERTY PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
As a real estate agent, your job is to sell homes to prospective buyers and to help homeowners quickly sell their homes. To quickly sell a home at the highest possible price, there are several things you must include in your listing:
1. Communicate compelling and accurate home's features and value
2. Explain benefits of your listing
3. Very importantly, take beautiful real estate photography
A great real estate photo can convey emotions and help you to showcase your home to its fullest potential. However, you have the option to either do everything yourself or outsource certain parts to an expert. Many agents choose to outsource real estate photography because in today's age of brand impression is everything, pictures are more important than ever. Of course, not everyone can afford a professional photographer or videographer. Sometimes you just have to do it yourself. Keep reading to learn more about the most essential elements of successful real estate photos and videos.
PREPARE THE PROPERTY
First things first, let's answer the question: "How do I prepare the home for real estate pictures?". The question is self-explanatory, like cleaning the house, removing any distractions and removing excessive personal objects. But the most impactful change you can make to the house to take a great real estate picture is to stage the home. It is pretty simple. There are several schools of thought when it comes to real estate staging and we will cover the more common stage configurations here.
You want prospective buyers to imagine themselves living in the home, add appropriate furniture to the main rooms along with tasteful decorations. But make sure you keep it neutral and limited so that potential homebuyers don't get distracted by the furniture, paint colours, or artwork.
CHOOSE YOUR COMPOSITION
Composition is the clearest differentiator between professional and amateur real estate photos and videos. Unfortunately, it's also the most difficult to teach. First, know what you are going to shoot. Will this be a one-light shot? Will it be a set-up shot? Will you be capturing the color and feel of the property, or will this be a black-and-white shoot? Next, you should know your camera and what it can do. For example, if you are going to be shooting in a well-lighted room, you need to make sure that your camera is not sensitive to motion. So, if you are in a high-lightroom type of property, you better be sure that your camera's autofocus is not as sensitive or you could be fighting for focus on the property!
Perfecting the composition of your pictures is something that will come with experience. However, these tips will ensure you start off the right way:
1. Standing in the doorway of a room to take your photos will make the room look larger and more open.
2. Ensure all the lines in the room are straight. If your camera is tilted, the room will look crooked.
3. Select the best height to shoot from for the furniture in the room and the height of the ceilings. The wrong height could make a room look disproportionate.
4. Your photos should capture more floors than ceilings. Flooring is a significant selling point in a home, so don't skimp on the images that showcase it.
SHOWCASE RELEVANT PROPERTY LOCATION
Move away from the set up to display the property in different locations. This is what can really capture the attention and make it worth the trip. Ensure your videos feature several part of the property like bedroom, living room, bathroom and special features like swimming pool, private cinema, etc. You can also showcase the property before or after construction in different parts of the property to create an impression of originality.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Now that you know the basics of how to take professional-looking real estate photos in theory, it's time to practice! The best way to do this is to take house pictures of all your listings, even if you don't use them in the professional listing. This will allow you to practice in a wide variety of situations. And eventually, you will become proficient enough that your house pictures will be the ones you use in professional listings.
Aside from taking beautiful images, real estate agents need to be deliberate about their knowledge in the real estate business. Our training will take your real estate knowledge to the next level so you can perform at your best. Sign up today!
