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Take Better Photos of Homes
Interior and exterior real estate photography can be difficult and frustrating. I created this lens to reveal what I know about getting it done right.
I will cover techniques, methods, software and provide some helpful links that will be useful for home builders, real estate developers, agents, and anyone else interested in home photography and implementing great photography and virtual tours into their website.
DISCLAIMER: There are many techniques and a variety of ways to take great real estate photos. I will only be explaining my personal techniques in these sections. You may find alternative methods to take great pictures that may yeild entirely different results with equal or better quality. This largely depends on individual taste. Please leave comments (toward the bottom of the page) if you have any additional methods, tips, opinions or questions. I want this lens to become an open forum on real estate photos and virtual tours.
ONE MORE THING. You may email me any tutorials or photos you would like to show on this lens and I will post it up along with a linkback to your site or portfolio. I am always interested in hearing from real estate photographers around the world.
Exterior Home Photography: Daytime
What every real estate photographer should know about shooting exteriors of homes during the day.
In order to get the best lighting possible, the time of day and direction that the house is facing will be an important factor.Make sure you pick a day/night that is clear. Dark clouds will add an element of gloom to your house unless you have the skills to cut out the sky later in photoshop. If you get a great sky the first time, you won't have to worry so much about fake-looking photoshop edits. Trees can also be a major pain when replacing the sky.
For daytime photos:
You will need a good polarizing filter to ensure that your sky will be nice and blue and your clouds will be defined. The polarizer helps diffuse harsh light, cut down on reflections and contrast, and make your colors more saturated (which is good).
The trick to using a polarizer is to make sure the sun is not in the shot at all - preferably behind you at a slight angle. You can use a linear or a circular polarizer (circular is more common and versatile). If you shoot into the sun, it will diffuse the light and make an ugly/whitish-grey sky. The whole problem is the sky is usually so light - a polarizer used properly can fix that.
The sun rises in the east, sets in the west, so consider which direction the house faces when scheduling a time to shoot. For daylight photos, you will want the sun behind you. Mid-day will probably not be so good. Mid day is better for interior photos, however, because the light will not be shining right into the windows... it's more even. See the interior section for more on that.
Keep your aperture small so you can get a deep depth of field so the whole shot will be in focus. Honestly, if the sun is behind you the auto settings combined with the polarizer will work well during the day.
Exterior Real Estate Photography: Evening
What every real estate photographer should know about shooting exteriors of homes in the evening.
A nice evening photo (right at dusk) can give a home a real touch of class. All it takes to transform a boring house to a glowing castle is a slow shutter speed and a couple of 500 watt lights.If you are using an SLR camera, the trick is to wait for the perfect time. The "money shots" come right when the sun is setting (or rising). It's hard to describe, but the perfect time will be right before the sky turns completely black.
I use a Canon digital rebel XT. As the sun goes down. I set up two craftsman 500 watt tungsten shop lights - positioned to light the house from two extreme angles... from the left and from the right.
You want to geet the entire house into the shot, with little obstructions (such as trees). If you have a wide-angle lens, it will make the shot easier .
Set your ISO settings to 200 or less. You wouldn't want to set it too high because high ISO settings will cause unneccesary noise in the final composition.
Set your camera to manual and pay attention to the light meter. You want the light meter to show a balanced reading... right in the middle.
Depending on the time of sunset and the amount af light added to the scene, you will want to take a shot with a long exposure time. This will allow more light in and make it possible to get that perfect shot.
Flickr Exterior Night Photos
Great examples of evening real estate photography
John Burrill
curated content from Flickr
Real Estate Photography and Virtual Tour Links and Resources
Useful real estate photography and virtual tour links on the Internet.
- Texas Real Estate Photography - Austin, Houston, & San Antonio
- Offering high-quality interior and exterior photography services in Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Katy, Sugarland, The Woodlands, Cedar Park, Round Rock, San Marcos, Ft. Worth, Spring, College Station, New Braunfels, & More.
- Photography for Real Estate Blog by Larry Lohrman
- The ultimate professional real estate photography blog by a veteran real estate photo specialist in Seattle. This blog rocks my real estate photoraphy world. Newbies be sure to check out the 6 steps link at the top. A real gem.
- Home Photography Tutorial on Photolinks.com
- This is a great and hard to find tutorial on photographic model display homes.
Intro: You can apply these tips to photography of any home or interior.For the uninitiated, display homes (sometimes referred to as 'Project Homes') are exactly what the title implies; a real-life house built for the sole purpose of simulating what a new-home buyer will be getting for their hard earned cash (or that of the bank). All the big builders have them, mostly in outer suburban growth areas and often in an area surrounded by other display homes (quaintly referred to as a 'village'). From a photographic viewpoint, a good display home is furnished (don't laugh, some are completely empty), landscaped and possessing an assortment of items to make the house look like a home. The later is often absent and a judicious phone call to the builder or publicist will often result in the delivery of flowers, magazines, bread, even fruit - everything helps! - The Real Estate Lens - by Jason Schneider
- Whether you're in the process of selling a house on your own or through a realtor-or you're a real estate agent or a real estate photographer yourself-one of the most effective tools you can use to showcase any home effectively is a digital SLR fitted with an ultra-wide-to-wide-angle zoom lens. With more home buyers than ever shopping online, the visual impression you make on the small computer screen is crucial-and as the saying goes, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.
- Point2Agent's Basic Photo Tips
- Great basic real estate photography help for agents with a regular digital camera.
- Interior Photo Exposure Tips
- A great tutorial on getting those wonderful see-through windows from inside. It is close to impossible to get the proper exposure inside and ouside without a slew of lighting equipment. Check this link out, it contains one of the secrets.
- A Frequently Asked Virtual Tour Question - with Answers
- This is a forum link....First of all--How do you even start to take the pictures for a virtual tour? Do you sit your camera on a tripod & go around in a circle taking over-lapping pictures? . What about the 360 virtual tour pictures that can look at the ceiling & the floor. How do you stitch these together? Second--when simply taking pictures of interiors, what is the best time of day, and what lighting equipment should I bring? And how do I need to arrange them to downplay the light coming in from the windows?
- Texas Virtual Tour Services
- BuilderBleprint.com offers home builders, developers, and real estate professionals custom design, photography, virtual tours, and marketing solutions. Serving Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Katy, Sugarland, The Woodlands, Round Rock, San Marcos, Ft. Worth, Spring, College Station, New Braunfels, & More.
- Digicamhelp's Real Estate Photography Beginner Guide
- Skimpy resource but may come in handy
- Real Estate Photographer Directory
- Real Estate Remix Directory - Find a local photographer specializing in real estate and architectural photography in the Real Estate Remix Marketing Direcrtory.
- Photography for Real Estate Pool on Flickr
- This group is associated with the www.PhotographyForRealEstate.net blog. Post recent or problem images ( only 2 images per member per day) for comments, feedback and discussion. Please supply lighting setup notes on your image. No advertising. Non-real estate related images will be deleted. New to Real Estate Photography? See PhotographyForRealEstate.net/faq for tips on getting started.
Photography & Virtual Tour Products
Interior Photography: Lighting and Other Professional Techniques with Style
Amazon Price: (as of 12/02/2009) 
Sell Your Home for Top Dollar--FAST! Design Psychology for Redesign and Home Staging
Amazon Price: (as of 12/02/2009)
Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only - Silver)
Amazon Price: (as of 12/02/2009)
Real Estate Rainmaker: Guide to Online Marketing
Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 12/02/2009)
Wide Angle Lenses on eBay
A wide angle lens is a must for real estate photography... Here are some of the current eBay auctions
A wide anle lens will be anywhere from 10-22mm. A fisheye lens will be too wide unless you have virtual tour/stitching software that requires or supports it. Please make sure you choose to get a lens that will fit your camera.
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
Why Photographs For Your Listing Are Important
By Raynor James
To market your property, you are going to need to have some choice photographs. Before whipping out the camera, however, you need to give some thought to the process.Why Photographs for Your Listing Are Important
One of the most important things that will set your property out from others is photographs. When a buyer is looking in MLS, on the internet or in some other location, photographs draw their attention. Is this shallow? Well, yes and no.
Unless you are talking to a lawyer or psychiatrist, words are cheap. Indeed, the real estate world has its own lexicon of terms that don't really mean what they say and are the basis for some snide remarks. For instance, a "cozy" home is a real estate methodology for saying a property is SMALL! The question, of course, is how small are we talking? This is why photographs are key to your marketing efforts.
In the view of most buyers, the initial proof in the pudding is in photographs. Almost nobody really believes any of the adjectives used in real estate advertisements. Frankly, they words could mean anything. Much like a dating site, however, photographs tend to shed a more objective light on the subject. Unlike a dating site, a property doesn't tend to dramatically age over five years, change hair color, go bald or gain some unwanted pounds. Put in practical terms, buyers don't believe your words, but do believe your photographs.
If you give some thought to what I just said, you will realize that I am suggesting that most buyers assume you will lie about your property in advertisements. Don't take it personally. They don't know you, so why should they trust you? Frankly, they should not. That being said, you can use this distrust to your advantage.
You would be shocked how many people put little or no effort into the photographs of their property. As an old commercial slogan stated - Image is everything. A shallow statement, but true. Your photographs represent the first curb appeal impression buyers will get of your property.
This means you need to strongly consider hiring a professional photographer to take the photographs. They understand lighting, angles and so on. It may sound like an unnecessary expense, but it can be the difference between a sale and sitting on the market for month after month.
Raynor James is with the site - FSBOAmerica.org - FSBO homes for sale by owner.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Raynor_James
Texas Real Estate Photography Blog
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Give your advice/experiences/feedback on real estate photography or virtual tours.
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- OHP OHP Nov 28, 2009 @ 5:50 pm
- Thanks Carson, great site. I'm really enjoying the information.
Thom Neese
www.OmahaHomePhotography.com
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- Cindy_Egan Cindy_Egan Nov 25, 2009 @ 9:57 pm
- Thanks for this collection of great information! You're exactly correct - a good photo makes all the difference. Especially in this market where buyers have hundreds of homes to choose from, and in many cases, you've only got about half a second to catch their attention as their browsing through their options looking only at photos that catch their eye.
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- curtman curtman Nov 19, 2009 @ 4:11 am
- thanks for sharing us this info...
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- ShortSaleRealtor ShortSaleRealtor Dec 3, 2007 @ 2:38 pm
- great lens 5 stars 4 u
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- tombonner tombonner Oct 21, 2007 @ 10:32 am
- Hey Carson -- enjoyed your lens. I have been involved in real estate and home building photography for several years. I've also done my share of virtual tours. I intend to check out many of the resource links. Thanks or sharing!
Tom Bonner
http://www.squidoo.com/minoltasrt/
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by CarsonCoots
I specialize in new media marketing, web development, photography, and design for real estate companies. I write at RealEstateRemix.com, Agentgenius.... (more)
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