Sell A House With Creative Photo Lighting
Far too many real estate listing and for-rent postings look like they were shot by a rushed real estate agent. One photographer shows how a few lighting tricks can produce “Architectural Digest on the cheap.”
For many of us digi-cam amateurs, the advanced multi-flash lighting techniques advocated by the Strobist blog won’t really apply or come into play. But the site’s got a ton of ideas on where to put and point the lights around a room, how to make certain features “pop,” and, if you’ve got a friend with an SLR and a favour owed to you, suggestions for a game plan. For example:
The fireplace was lit with a few small candles. We shot in the dark with long exposures and the candles really glowed the place up when we opened up that shutter — even lit the kindling box nicely.
The photos speak for themselves, and I’m pretty much sold on the house, even if I don’t live anywhere near it.
Sold a house or two in your time? Got any suggestions on what to shoot, and what not to, for maximum photo appeal? By all means, share the lens learning in the comments. Working Around the House [Strobist via Consumerist]
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@driggity: Not usually, but 3 stops underexposed is better than 4.
@projectvirus: Do most flashes actually have enough power to provide fill at the distance you're going to be if you're taking pictures of a house?
driggity
Good tip for shooting interiors is to use the widest lens (or zoom setting) you can, and to not have more than two walls in a shot. Stand in corners, not in the middle, and shoot towards other corners. It makes the room look as big as possible. Also, get low. Crouch down and keep the back of the camera parallel to the walls. This makes sure the room feels tall.
Lastly, clean up!
@projectvirus: That applies to sunny portraits as well. People erroneously believe that the flash is only for when it's dark. Proper use of flash fill can turn a sunny portrait from a shadowy mess to a nicely lit gem.
Simple tip for exterior photography on a sunny day for houses or any other subjects - turn the flash ON. This creates a nice fill that adds a ton to your photographs.
@pallendo: I shoot real estate for a living, and that site is a never ending source of joy for realtors and me.
One other thing that works for me for quick and dirty lighting. I still have a big old floodlight from my 8mm movie camera days... It will light up a good portion of any room or provide highlighting and side-lighting. Just plug it in, position it & let the camera read it and shoot. Easy and quick
deanes
I do this daily. This is a good hack and we are all still learning. Lighting is critical! Clutter removal is critical. The quick little camera (Panasonic) I always have with me does not have a really wide lens like I need, so one thing I nearly always do is take at least 2 to 3 shots left-to-right and stitch them together. (AutoStitch is great). I looks like a nice wide angle closeup of a room that way. Works even better for exterior pictures.
deanes
Strobist is awesome. Anyone who wants their pics not to suck when the light isn't perfect should spend some time checking out the Lighting 101 thread.
[strobist.blogspot.com]
lewie221
How's this for what not to do?
[www.rlproyalcity.com]
Found on a listing on a local real estate site. Yeesh.
saffyre9
@driggity: Do most flashes actually have enough power to provide fill at the distance you're going to be if you're taking pictures of a house?
For a sunny exterior of a house, not even close.
A tactic that would work is put the camera on a tripod, shoot three or more bracketed exposures, and use HDR to extend the dynamic range.
VayaConQueso
@jessedybka: Here's a bunch of ways to screw some of that up, too...
[www.lovelylisting.com]
pallendo
I used to do this for a living.
1. Wadded up newspaper also works great in the fireplace.
2. Remove random stuff: fridge magnets, coffee cups, paper towel rolls -- anything too functional or too personal
3. Flowers really do help.
4. Blank spots look bad. It's okay to move furniture to make the shot look good even if you'd never live that way.
I guess it depends on the market, b/c a lot of the RE photography I see in my neck of the woods appears to be deliberately poor so as to not show the details that turn away the buyer.
One thing that always drives me batty is when the photos are so low resolution that they are worthless.
jupiterthunder
@jessedybka:
My girlfriend just bought a house... but I've spent months looking at dozens of houses on various real estate websites. They could have all used these tips.
Most real estate websites have very few photos... and the ones they do show do nothing to sell the house!
I'm a visual person... show me tons of pictures!!! Isn't it in the seller's best interest to make people WANT to buy their house?
@kitson.harvey: Excellent. I'd add these.
1) Clean the house, top to bottom. Baseboards, behind movable appliances, **EVERYWHERE** A clean house says, "maintained" to a buyer. Clean the closets too!
2) Remove as many personal items as possible. Think about hotel suites as a model. Buyers need to imagine their stuff in your home. Personal items make that hard.
3) Remove ugly wallpaper. Just because you like it, doesn't mean anyone else does.
4) Do whatever it takes to highlight architectural details in each room. Seating should always be around a fireplace instead of the TV.
5) Try to show at least 3 bedrooms instead of 2 bedrooms and an office.
6) Have a printout of average utility costs on a table near the door and any other required disclosures (leaky roof, termites, etc) and corrective actions.
7) Keep the yard nice.
The goal is to make buyers not think of all the things "they need to do" before living there.
TheFu
Thanks again for another useful post.
Selling your house without a real estate agent may be the single most important DIY project that any of us undertake. In general, you are far better off selling your home on your own. Tips such as these can be worth literally thousands of dollars.
I hope this isn't too off topic but, if anyone reading this is trying to decide whether or not to hire a real estate agent, it is worth thinking about the incentives in this market. A good summary of this research can be found in this Wired article by economist Steve Levitt [www.wired.com]
In many cases, DIY doesn't make sense because of the advantages of specialization (i.e. it's in everyones advantage to leave the baking to the baker). In real estate markets, however, there is often no easy way to ensure that a broker will act to maximize home values.
Nobody said "thank you" yet. So I will do it, thanks for posting this :)
Firasco
It is daunting to see how many additional lights Strobist uses. Most of us don't have nearly that kind of gear. I like to use reflected light as much as possible, and the source can be anything as long as the angle and diffusion is good. Color can be corrected in Photoshop.
The recommendation to shoot low is a good one; it bothers me a lot to see a "ladder shot" looking down on a room. A high angle may show more of the room, but it also makes everything look smaller. A shot from kid-height, however, makes rooms look bigger - which explains why the house you grew up in seemed to get smaller as you got older. ;o)
But I don't like wide-angle lenses for architectural shots that much; they distort too much and can be a crutch. Yes, you can clean up the distortion in Photoshop, too, but why? In most cases, I've found that just spending a little more time on selecting the angle of the shot solves most problems.
Cleaning and decluttering the space is absolutely key. And don't take pictures of pets or people! You want your buyer to imagine themselves in the space, and the presence of the current family can prevent that. Consider removing a piece of furniture or two to make small rooms look larger, and try using glare or reflection to cover up undesirable features. The shine off a granite countertop can mask worn cabinetry or a dingy floor to an amazing degree.
Keter
As someone who is currently shopping for houses, I find inaccurate images extremely disappointing. Coming from a creative background in TV/film and now graphic design, it is a knee-jerk reaction to make anything you output visually beautiful. As a home-buyer, I prefer an honest view of a potential house, so it's not a waste of time for myself and the realtors. I understand the need for wide lenses and whatnot when shooting rooms and exteriors, but buffing up your home to magazine-levels in a pictorial leaves a bad taste in the homebuyer's mouth. Realism is much appreciated, and will likely help you attract the appropriate level of buyers for your home.
AidenLadon
The article is not for amateurs, I couldn't get through any particular paragraph without scratch my head trying understand what type of flash he was talking about. In short, it sounds like if you want to make your house look good, higher a (professional) hobbyist photographer to do it for you.
KevinDampt
I saw a house ad where they did an HDR effect on everything. It was a bit much. Plus, the site limited the pic size, so they were all squished and looked like they'd been shot with a fish-eye.
KyleFlute
@KevinDampt: Hire me! I need the work so I can get more work.
Really, any picture is more interesting if there's some contrast. Flat pictures are boring. The shadows have to show some detail, too, not just exist as black holes.
And don't forget the copy of Architectural Digest on the coffee table.
aeronaut
Its all in the pictures. Even with small items on Kijiji or selling cars (also, clean your car!). The way you show an item makes a huge difference.
a89aries
I am going to shoot a listing this Friday. Looking forward to trying some of these ideas out.
@pallendo: Damn you, I just spend 2hrs laughing my ass off at that site.
Darkest Daze
Oh man, you've gotta be shatting me. I've been looking at real estate in my area for the past couple weeks, and I recognize which listings each and every one of those pictures came from.
One thing I'd like to add, take a picture of the whole damn room instead of focusing on a single point of interest. I can't tell you how many listings I've come across where the pictures tell me absolutely nothing about the house's/room's layout.
phantazn
As an ex-interior and architectural photographer i have a few tips. 1. tripod - set the shot up and then dress the furniture, remove clutter whilst checking through the lens, view image time to time as you do it. 2. Flash - bounce of the ceiling, thats the biggest umbrella in the world!Also you want to use a good long exposure to get bags of natural light into the room. 3. if the flash is pointing directly foerward as with compact cameras, use a white postcard or similar, putting that in front of the flash at an angle diverting the flash up onto the ceiling. 3.Turn all lights on! Turn off floureceny tubes (nasty colour cast). 4. Set dress, bring flowers and fruit along as you can, this gives extra colour. 5. Wide angle 20-24mmm for film cameras is fine. 12-18mm for digital, they don't see as wide as fil aera lenses ( apture hip problems). Shoot Procedure. 1.Place camera on tripod, camera height below half top half of height of the room. (to create ceiiling height!) 2.Corner to corner is best, although dead sqaure on, in some spaces looks amazing. 3.Keep the camera back parallel with the wall door frame etc, you dont want converging or diverging angles. 4.Turn on all lights, and move furniture around to complement the camera angle. add flowers etc.. 5.longish shutter speed, dependant on the ambient light, mix with flasjh bounced of teh ceiling. Trial and error TIP- write down what you do for each shot so you know when you have the winning formula. Have fun!!! Cheers Murray
FarrahProteus