Residential Property Photographer

[PCH]

Hi guys,

I have a question aimed at peeps with photographic knowledge, and especially for anyone who has photographed residential properties for sale or rent

My question is this, - if you were to be given the task of providing a set of pics to advertise your house online, what equipment would you use and what special techniques if any would you employ?

I've found that going through with my Canon 400D using the standard 50mm lens and built in flash just doesn't produce images sufficiently professional, - hence my question.

Any help greatly appreciated :)

[gary]

Hi Paul,

With the advent of digital photography, there is no doubt real estate
photographs look a lot spiffier these days than in decades past.

I suspect many use HDR.

For example see https://fstoppers.com/strobe-light/hdr-vs-flash-interiors-and-real-estate-photography-3135

If you haven't tried it, you need a tripod and you can start with a program like Photomatix.
See http://www.hdrsoft.com/

It's probably not surprising they would reach for something fast to do like HDR rather than try and
spend hours fiddling with fixed lighting as if they were photographing for Vanity Fair. Time is money
and the real estate business is hot at the moment.

The digital commercial real estate photography has got to the point here
that some of them ask if you want digital furniture inserted as an extra.

I smile when I see the obligatory big screen TV that always happens to
be showing a view of the Sydney Opera House on it. :)

And they love some shots with all the lights on so it looks warm.
There is always that twilight exterior shot with all the lights glowing warming inside
and HDR makes that easy.

Good luck with your sale.

[PCH]

Hi Gary,

You always amaze me matey. No matter what the question, you're always able to come back with a fully informed, highly relevant answer. I'm in awe mate!

It's a rental property actually, that I've just painted while it's empty - and I took some pics for realestate.com dot au but wasn't overly impressed. Hence the question.

I have a pro coming round in a day or two to do a shoot for only $120, but I was just wondering what equipment these guys would likely use, and what techniques they might adopt.

Anyway, thanks buddy, for a stellar answer. I'll take a peek and who knows, maybe I could do this in future.

Best wishes :)

[raymo]

Hi Paul, Quality pics of homes are the result of equipment and technique.

You need a wider lens than your 50mm, 24, or even better, 18mm.
You can get more of the room into the field of view, and importantly,
they make rooms look larger.
Take your outside pics in late afternoon/early evening, and turn on the
lights in the rooms that face the camera. Unless you're fortunate
enough to own a shift lens, get well back from the house in as high a position as you can, so that you're not looking up at the house. Standard lenses make vertical lines such as the sides of a house lean in toward
each other. Standing higher minimises this.
Also, the inbuilt flash is not usually powerful enough. Where appropriate,
have lights on, makes the room more inviting. Make sure you set the correct white balance for the type of lights. With wrong WB incandescent
lights make the pic a horrible yellow/orange, and fluorescents make the
pic blue/green. Don't go in close, it shows up any blemishes, such as
carpet stains, worn surfaces, etc. All I could fit in.
raymo

[PCH]

Hey Ray,

Thanks buddy , - so much useful knowledge in your post. You're not a pro real estate photographer are you?

[raymo]

No, but I was a semi pro photographer years ago, weddings, portraits,
industrial, occasional residence for sale job. HATED weddings.
raymo

[Kunama]

Great advice above !!!
Use the widest lens you can, a tripod to allow longer exposures and keep the camera level about halfway between floor and ceiling. Watch out for reflections from mirrors and windows.

[xelasnave]

I was in real estate for years and did all the photography for my office.
It was pre digital days.
But the key really is not quality really.
The art is to show something that raises a question that can only be answered by personal inspection.
You need to arouse curiously and interest such that you cause th
e phone to ring.
House hunting is an elimination process for the buyer or renter
So when they look at an add there is really a process of eliminating what to go and view..same when they phone..your goal is to get an inspection.
Good luck.

[Octane]

There's rules on how wide of a lens you can use to take images, too; wide-angle lenses introduce perspective distortion which make rooms appear bigger than they actually are.

I have several mates who do real estate photography for a living. It's a cut-throat market nowadays.

H

[LewisM]

Wide is GOOD, but I would avoid going TRULY wide in so much as it gives a truly false illusion of depth and size - I have found this SEVERLY puts people off when they actually inspect the premises and become very disappointed. I have seen it more than a few times when I used some pro shots for the unit we own. I redid them myself, and the overall reception is more noticeably better.

Nothing worse than setting a false illusion in a prospective buyer's mind, no matter how subtle or apparently harmless.

I can link you to the shots I did for advertising our rental rooms if you like?

[LewisM]

Totally agree - we posted same time.

Too wide = no sale. False perspective = no sale.

Try to be as photographically honest as possible.

[rally]

Use a very wide angle rectilinear lens
Around 14mm on a 35mm camera works pretty well if you want to portray the room as being more spacious than it really is - This gives you the panoramic wide view of your now generously proportioned 2x2m living room !! - but keeps everything square and preserves the right angles (so long as you hold the lens square and horizontal).
28mm tends to bring it back to being spacious and covering a lot of the room in one pic but maintaining a more normal but wide view.

Anywhere in between to compromise between capturing the room in one shot and looking like a McDonald Hamburger picture - where you know its a hamburger in the picture but its nothing like the one you are about to be served !

You can't stop perspective distortion - ie if you are too close to something in the foreground it will appear huge and possibly distorted - so make sure nothing is too close to the lens.