Ronny Loc: Netherlands

Hi Jeff,

Photographers who have an interest in Real Estate photography have a future.
Because of the internet people interested in buying or even selling are browsing the net and the first thing they look at is pictures.
It is also a fact that nearly all Realtors can not take pictures. Any person with photography as a hobby and who has a decent wide angle lens will take better pictures.
I have 25 years Real Estate experience and have also an engineering background.

Here are a few tips.

Tell the Realtor and/or owner the time and day you will come by and take the pictures.
That give them time to clean and stage that home. At least half of the homes on the market has been lived by families with children. Hide dirty laundry, close closets, close the toilet seats, clean the kitchen and sink, hide newspapers and magazines, turn TV off, turn all the lights on, close the garage door and move the cars from the driveway, water the lawn and plants, clean the driveway, and so on.

As a photographer ask the Realtor to walk you through the house and tell the agent what you like and not, meanwhile start adjusting the lights coming from outside in by playing with the drapes and or blinds.
Also walk around the backyard and site of the house.

Get your gear and start preparing your shoot. I use most of the time the Canon 10-22mm zoom, add the 430EXII flash and a monopod to my 40D. The walk around gives you an idea how and where to start. Remember shoppers on the internet want to have an idea how the flow of your house is.

Start taking pictures from the side front of the home to give it some depth. When the front is in a dark shaded area, use a flash, but reduce it with about two stops.
Take a closer picture from the front door. Do the same from the inside, a picture from the hall and front door. Follow the flow of that house. I often use also bracketing with 2 stops minus and plus and AV settings. I also like to use the flash bouncing to ceilings or walls to dark areas. Take pictures from every room and keep your camera and lens horizontal. Try to keep the walls and windows vertical and not skewed when you shoot with say 12mm wide.

For an average home of 1500 to 18oo sq ft with 3 to 4 bedrooms and two bath I mostly end up with about 80 to 90 pictures. Our MLS lets the Realtor to upload up to 35 pictures per home. That means, after selecting and some corrections I give that agent a cd with 35 pictures. If you do not have 35 pictures, take a picture from the street and street name, a neighborhood school and/or shopping center.

Good luck.

Michael O' Loc: Midwest right now

Ronnie from Cal : nice response ! Well done. Michael O'

jwegge11 Loc: Stillwater, MN

WOW..great tips, thanks so much for the detailed response.

Jeff

PS..I agree that most agents pictures are subpart, and you know I'm being kind in that response. I hear all the time when I ask agents to consider me, "Oh, my husband has a nice camera." I need to get some guts and say something like, "Well if he was given a nice racecar, how do you think he'd do driving it in the next Indy 500? It's one thing to have a nice camera, it's another thing to truly know how to use it to assist you in selling a home."