Real Estate Photography Tips for Great Photos
Real Estate Photography Tips For Great Photos
Real estate photography is always in demand. Houses leave the market every day, and all the agents are fighting over the buyers' attention with the best photos.
Doing photography for real estate can seem complicated. However, with these simple real estate photography tips, you will produce beautiful, coherent photos. Moreover, this will make your local real estate agents call you back.
Real estate photography takes advantage of natural light and does not use flash. The lines have been straightened, and the distortion has been corrected in Lightroom, as well as the necessary parameters.
What to Do Before Shooting Real Estate Photos
1. Have a list of standard photos for each property.
Although there are not two identical houses, there are typical plans that you will always want.
Two wide-angle shots of each bedroom, kitchen, and living room
One photo of the bathroom, unless it is particularly beautiful or spacious
One to three pictures of the courtyard, unless it has unique features
One to two shots from the front of the house to show "the edge call"
A shot in each of the features such as laundry, garage, and pantry
This helps you ensure that even if there are distractions, you have a point of reference to make sure you make all the plans you should have.
Moreover, this information can also be passed on to the agent you are working with. As a result, they will know what they can expect from their photo shoot.
Knowing what to cover is an essential tip on how to take pictures of real estate.
2. Prepare your equipment the night before.
The worse thing that could happen is getting to the location and discovering that something is not working. A dead battery is a deadly blow. You can have enough knowledge to keep moving forward. However, missing some articles means that you have to work a little more on your feet.
Take your charger and extra batteries. If you have a secondary camera, take it too. Preparing your equipment will include tasks such as charging all batteries, formatting your memory card, and packing your bag.
Look for the address to make sure you have planned enough time for the unit. If you have emergency equipment that you can take with you, be sure to pack it as well.
What to Do in the Property
3. Declutter.
Decluttering is one of the best tips in real estate photography. In our own homes, we get used to the clutter that accumulates over time. However, all those little things we do not notice will be highlighted in a photo.
Make sure the owners keep the surfaces such as countertops, coffee tables, desks, etc. as clear as possible.
If you want decorative objects, leave one to three objects. When photographing interiors, the lockers are only photographed if they are particularly spacious or personalized.
In most cases, a closet is a great place to store these small items until the end of the photo shoot.
Sometimes you come home, and there is always a disaster you know will not look attractive in the photos. There is nothing wrong with suggesting extra things that are hidden.
4. Walk around the house before you start shooting.
Every house is different. Having an idea of the space before lifting the camera will give you an idea of how you want to photograph it.
You will begin to mentally write the best angles and small elements that you will need to move.
Moreover, it also gives you the option of asking the owner to move the objects. Besides, it lets you know which spaces are ready for you and what may require a few more minutes of arrangement.
Knowing this will let you know the order you want to start taking pictures of real estate.
5. Decide: turn on or off?
There are valid points to turn lights on or off.
Turning the lights on tend to make the space warmer and more welcoming instantly. However, it introduces variable light temperatures. You will need to consider this during post-processing.
Leaving the lights off provides you a uniform light temperature. On the contrary, it also often gives a feeling of cold in the interior photos.
We take it one property at a time and decide based on what each house will look like. Whatever decision you make, be consistent throughout the house!
What to Keep in Mind While Shooting
6. Use flash and bounce to broadcast.
Agents and owners are usually in a hurry to put the list online for potential buyers. Moreover, budgets do not allow many hours for a single list.
Using a flash attached to your camera is a way to help you move from one space to another.
However, when using a flash on your camera, be sure to bounce the light on the walls to make it softer.
If we point the camera's flash directly into space, we get a dreaded clear zone in the center and a quick drop for the shadow around it.
Turn the flash to bounce against a wall behind you, the ceiling just above you, or even one of the side walls. In this way, you allow this light to diffuse into space and to give a more uniform appearance.
We also recommend using your flash in manual mode on the camera. Doing it will give you full control.
We use the 1 / 16th power as a starting point and adjust from there. If you are shooting at bright windows, you may want to reach maximum power.
In the absence of any changes to either photo, you can see the difference when the flash is inserted. Here, the flash is aimed at the ceiling to allow a specific diffusion of the light.
7. Pull straight for less distortion.
When taking different angles, be sure to keep the camera straight. This will help you avoid the distortions you would need to correct later in Lightroom.
You will notice that if you point the camera slightly up or down, the vertical lines begin to tilt. They are deformed one way or the other.
The ideal height for property photography is about five feet.
Every house is a little different. However, it is the general height that will appear the most natural and the most balanced.
If you climb too high, you start to see too much ceiling and not enough living space. If you go too low, you see too much furniture and not enough of the actual room.
How to Edit Real Estate Photography in Lightroom
8. Correct distortion using lens correction and transformation.
Be sure to apply a goal correction and correct your verticals first. These two settings will give the photo a more polished look.
You can find the lens correction module in the detail module. Check the box "Enable profile corrections."
Make sure the goal you used is the one that appears in the drop-down menu under Goal Profile. Then go to the transformation module. Check the box "Constrain culture". After that, click on the word 'Auto.’
When you click Auto, this box darkens, which means it applies.
Make sure to check that it has corrected all the lines. Alternatively, you can use the sliders in this module to make adjustments manually.
Here, a before and after with step-by-step instructions on how to correct.
9. Go to the basic settings.
The main adjustments I make include reducing highlights, lightening shadows, deepening blacks, and improving clarity.
It will take a little time to develop your own style and workflow. Thus, go ahead and experiment. Over time, you may just have the right Lightroom presets for each move.
10. Correct variable light temperatures
If you leave lights on in the rooms, you will get yellow tones. These will look very different from the blue light of the sun.
It is always better to balance as much as possible these light temperatures in Lightroom or Photoshop.
Real Estate Photography Bonus Tips for Great Photos
Furnish the house, but do not decorate too much
Use landscape orientation for optimal viewing
Move the furniture to capture more space
Give your staging a universal appeal
Use the power of video
