How to take real estate photos
Each realtor is interested in effectively showing housing for sale. Hiring someone to do professional real estate photography can be pricey in some cases. But if you want to get more familiar with this genre and learn how to photograph real estate yourself, we have some simple tips to help you!
Equipment
While you can take pictures with your phone, to get good interior shots you may need a camera and some extra gear, such as:
Lens
A wide-angle lens is the best tool suited for this kind of shooting. More space fits in the frame, and the viewer gets an adequate idea of the size and shape of the place.
Tripod
When it comes to real estate photoshoots, a set of photos taken in the same way and from the same angle of view looks more professional. In such a case, a tripod will help you out since it stabilizes the camera and you can set it at a certain height.
Flash
An off-camera flash will come in handy when shooting in low-light areas or when the natural lighting is not favorable.
Lighting
Speaking of which, any professional photographer will tell you that lighting is 80% of success. It’s best to shoot in daylight so that the apartment looks bright and warm. However, it’s also important to choose a time when the sun rays don’t shine directly into the room, otherwise the picture will appear too dark. Draw the curtains, if that’s the case.
If the windows face the sunny side, take photos from 7 to 11 am. Sometimes good shots are obtained at dusk, especially if you use additional lighting. Or experiment with shutter speed and shooting modes, but make sure the result looks like the real place.
You can also try taking a photo with natural light, then with the artificial one to compare and see which one provides the best result.
Settings
Making good-looking indoor shots is not an easy task, especially if you have no experience with lighting or simply don’t have the right one at your disposal. However, you can take professional looking interior photos by experimenting with the camera settings.
Shutter speed
When shooting, most often you will have to use a shutter speed no longer than 1/60 second. If there’s not much light available, it can be set longer, but in that case make sure to keep the camera steady or use a tripod so that the shot won’t come out blurry.
Aperture
If there are a lot of things in the room and you don’t want a particular one to be highlighted by a shallow depth of field, set the aperture between f/7,1 and f/9.
ISO
Usually, setting ISO below 400 is enough, but if you’re going to set faster shutter speeds, ISO should be increased accordingly. It can result in digital noise on the shots, so check the various ISO settings prior to shooting to see when the image starts to lose its quality.
Composition
First of all, it’s recommended to do a little preparation of the rooms you want to take photos of. Organized objects and cleanliness will definitely help with it. You can bring some flowers or a fruit basket to make the space cozier and more inviting. By removing unnecessary things from the floor, you will also make the room appear more spacious.
There is no need to do rearrangements, but a little planning will make the photos look more appealing. Sometimes it’s enough to move a few small items or move them to another room. But if the room is completely empty, you can put more furniture so the scaling is clear to the viewer.
Take pictures of general plans. A photo where only an armchair or a wall is visible will not help to get an idea of the place. For a better understanding of the layout, show transitions from one room to another in the frame.
In addition, try to take photos in such a way that you don’t have to do a major retouching later. Slight color correction to make up for the lighting issues or cropping a photo is one thing, but if you overdo it with the editing, the end result can be very different from reality.