What is real estate photography?
Real estate is the essential tool used by real estate professionals to buy and sell properties. Real estate photography can produce images that can be worth thousands of dollars. Like other styles of photography, real estate photography highlights the best aspects of the properties in order to attract potential buyers. They help convey a feeling and an influence inside the buyers’ mind. Today, with modern technology, you can begin learning this process by taking photos with your phones.
How can you take real estate photos with smartphones?
Most smartphones these days have high-performing cameras, some phones even offer HDR photography. To take great real estate photos with your smartphone, the most important thing to focus on is stabilization. Hold your phone with both hands and use the volume button instead of the screen-based button to trigger the shutter and eliminate shake as much as possible. It would be wise to also invest in a tripod. Do not zoom because the last thing you want is grainy photos. All that’s left is to focus on WHAT you shoot.
How is professional real estate photography different?
To learn how you can take great real estate photos with your camera, it is important to distinguish how they special. Real estate photos gets the basic down pat. Photographers providing these “money” shots are focusing on getting a list of things correctly. Firstly, getting the correct verticals and horizontal lines. As humans, we love symmetry, subconsciously and consciously. This is especially important when you want to create a good impression of a space via an image. Therefore you’ve got to have this checked.
Secondly, most real estate photos are retouched. There is a method to the amazing pictures you see on listings. The camera no matter how good, the lighting no matter how ideal, cannot capture the true image of a place like the human eye. Sometimes, when we look at a space simply with our eyes, it looks beautiful. But when we snap a photo of the exact same frame, it looks underwhelming. Post-production along with other photography techniques allows the photographer to make adjustments to the limitation of the camera to produce the best quality images. Editing is an essential part of professional real estate photography.
Thirdly, also making up for the lack of technology at capturing images like the human eye, professionals use HDR photos. HDR stands for high-dynamic-range. What does this mean? The camera can only capture upto 12 dynamic ranges. The human eyes can capture well over 20 dynamic ranges. Simply put, our eyes see more color, capture more lights, see far and close at the same time with great clarity. Camera cannot just yet. Therefore, photography has a technique of capturing multiple images at varying stops to capture more dynamic ranges. These images are carefully merged together in post-production to create the most optimal image.
Fourthly, professional photography has tools that help them make perfect photos. Those tools are their wide angle lens and flash lights. When the room is too dark or the space is too narrow, photographers will use an additional flash to provide the camera with more light to capture and use a wider lens to capture more of the space. Good flash photography helps eliminate color casting issues, darker shadow areas, areas that are blurry or grainy. Learn more about flambient photography.
Value of professional real estate photography
Although we are embarking on taking real estate photography ourselves, there is much value in professional photography. Firstly, the experience these photographers carry with them to each shoot. This is what they do. Based on the years of training and experience in the field, they have the eye for the money shot. The photos that sell hundreds even million dollars homes faster and for a higher price. This is something that is acquired over the years based on experience. After all, photography is an art. Especially in the market where the data shows that 98% of buyers view the property online before booking a walkthrough.
Therefore, there is still a high value in investing in professional photography for your listing. However, that’s perhaps in the higher percentage of performance. Using the 80/20 principles, if you can do 20% of the work well you can accomplish 80% of the intended work.
When you need to cover the missing 20% of the results, you should consider hiring professionals who have spent years to perfect 100% of the art.
Look at these work from professional photographers 
Some tips that can help you take better photos with smartphones
Knowing the details of professional photography in real estate, we can gather some ideas of how we can replicate it using our advanced phone cameras. We have gathered some helpful tips that can help you make up for the lack of experience.
Everybody loves a great view. Make sure that in all your photos, you are able to capture the view of the photo. This is the big selling point of a house. The view. It will really help potential buyers picture themselves in the space.
Since are are focusing on the essentials, here are the essentials shots that you should consider capturing:
- Front exterior: 3 of these should be great, at varying distances + angles
- Rear exterior: 4 corners of the back exterior
- Kitchen: 3 shots here. 1 of the overall. And 2 close ups should be fine
- Living room: same as with the kitchen. However, if there is a fireplace get and extra direct shot here.
- Dining room: 1-2 shots should be sufficient
- Rumpus/media room: 1 shot is good
- Largest bathroom: 1 over all and one from the center. Try to capture as much as you can
- Master bedroom: 2 from in here. Try to get a shot of the bed and a shot from door to windows
- Patio: 1 should be good here
- Balcony: 1 also
- Pool/backyard area: 3 corners of the area
Before you do take the shoot of the property make sure you check off the following things:
- Remove all rugs and mats to make the most of floor space
- Declutter any surfaces and objects in the house as much as possible
- Plan out your lifestyle shots: selling a property is also about feeling. If the buyer feels that homeliness they are more likely to book a viewing
Simple enough. Isn’t it? Well all you can do is to test these tips out with your own house, your friends and family’s. Soon enough you can take better and better real estate photos with your phones
Extra equipment for smartphone real estate photography
There are 3 main things that you may need to make up for the disadvantages of the phone camera. Apart from the Iphone 11 and its contemporary, the lens of the main camera is not as wide as a standard dslr lens used in real estate shoots.
Firstly, you will need a wide angle lens. This is a lens attachment that can help enhance your camera lens. We would recommend a wide 18 mm lens. A wide lens can help you capture upto 2x more frames than without using one. At the same time these lens attachments can help your photos look crisper without having to worry about distortion.
What do you need to know about post-production Real Estate photography
The keyword you need to concentrate on is HDR photography editing. There is many content out there that teaches how you can edit HDR photos as a beginner. Not only that, you are likely to find the most software support out there for HDR editing.
How can you think about composition?
Shoot horizontally the majority of the time. However, in cases where small spaces need to be captured you can also use vertical shoot. A general rule, try to find corners and put them relatively. This is the natural tendency of the human eyes to seek patterns, a focal point, a point of lead up. Corners points towards this.
How can you improve your real estate photos with your smartphones?
After learning how you can take professional real estate photography with smartphones, here are some that we think would help you improve your photos considerably:
Firstly, widen your lens. More is always better is a trope but in the case of photography, especially in real estate. If you can capture a larger amount of the image, the more options you have. That’s the benefit of post-processing. If you can afford a little lens enhancer, it is a worthwhile investment.
Secondly, spend more time prepping the space. Funny the thing that improves your photos has nothing to do with your camera or technique. It is the physical objects you are taking pictures of that could be improved. Better models, better photos.
If you are taking a photo of an empty, that’s fine as well. Ask the realtors if they need the photo to be virtually staged. We can help you with that.
Thirdly, focus on the lighting. Make sure the lighting conditions are consistent throughout the shoot. If your property have enough light, chances are the photos will come out looking amazing. Light is something that is better to have more of rather than less. Because the exact reason with the wider lens. You will have more options to work with in post-production.
Fourthly, use a tripod. Don’t make your job more complicated than it is. One of the most popular hurdles when it comes to taking good photos is the camera being still. Although you might not feel the shake, the camera is so sensitive even a little shake will disrupt the photo.
How can I edit real estate photography on my own?
Great question! There are a couple of apps we would recommend for those who are starting out. Snapseed, VSCO, TouchRetouch.
Snapseed enable users to enhance and edit their photos using simple digital filters. This is very simple to use just like the other app recommended. This one is among our favorite because the company is now owned by Google.
VSCO is another app that is super easy to use. If you are just looking to make your photographs look better, this is the app you are looking for. It has the most fundamental editing tools such as Contrast and Saturation adjustments helping to make your photos real pop.
If you prefer, we also offer professional real estate photo editing packages that can really get you going.
Some limitations of real estate photography using a smartphone that you should know
Although you can learn how to take professional real estate photography with smartphones, this does not mean the results is ideal. There are some limits to what you CAN do.
If you are looking to use a phone to take real estate photos, the phone’s camera specs should be tip top. Only up until 2018 the phone camera are noticeably better and bordering being able to replace the lower and mid-range digital camera/DSLR.
Additionally, the photos produced by phones will not have as many options for you compared to input from DSLR cameras. Hopefully this does not come as too much of a surprise. Specialization still is valuable.
Phone photography, you would have to give up the benefit of a versatile handheld flash. Lighting creates better photo inputs. Although this is a limitation, please do not let this deter you. Most of the time if the light conditions are well, you can opt to not need additional lights.
Remember that you can only go so far taking photos with your phones. When you business grows, your clients’ demand may change as well. Learn more about where you can find potential clients here.
That is all from us, have fun experimenting!
This is as much as we can tell you. Although we are specialists at media post-production for real estate photographers, we are also quite new to being real estate photographers ourselves. However, it is always fun to learn and share experiences along the way. Hopefully, this article will help you get started in your real estate photography.
Starting this journey of taking photos with your phones can be challenging, take a look at some helpful guides we put together.
Learn how much you can make as a real estate photographer.
Explore more about Flambient Photography.
