Photos that sell

We live in a visual culture, and we tend to browse the Internet rather than read it. This – combined with the fact that photographic equipment is now within arm's reach – means that today it is hard to imagine a property listing without photographs. The question, however, is: what kind of photographs will they be? Their quality determines the image of the house or flat that our listing will build in the mind of a potential buyer. And whether they will want to visit the property.

Photograph as much as possible

It often happens that property listings contain only some of the necessary photographs. The author of the listing includes a photo of the living room, the hallway and the bedroom, but forgets, for example, the kitchen or the bathroom. The person reading the listing may wonder: Does the flat or house even have a kitchen or a bathroom? What condition are they in, if no photographs of them were included?

Photographs should cover not only the interior (which in our latitude matters most), but also views of the property from the outside.

An additional and very helpful trick is to place the photographs on the floor plan of the property (e.g. using pins) – so that a potential client viewing the listing can easily picture the layout of each room and what it looks like. Nothing is as irritating as a guessing game about which room a photo was taken in.

A further asset is including a photograph of the view that stretches out beyond the window. For many buyers this is an important criterion. After all, it matters quite a lot whether for the next few years they will be looking through their windows at a park or at a crumbling factory.

Digital photo editing – how to do it

Today's digital photo editing programs can do a lot. An important element is the brightness of the photo. We should see to this at the stage of taking the picture – making sure the rooms are properly lit. This element is extremely important – nothing puts clients off like dark, gloomy interiors that create an atmosphere of dread.

Sometimes it is also worth improving the brightness of the photo a little in the program – so that the effect is even better.

Another matter is the colour intensity of the photo.

Grey, washed-out photos (something poor lighting also contributes to) look depressing. In a graphics program you can not only raise the colour intensity slightly, but also shift the palette more towards warm colours, e.g. yellows or reds. This will make the interior look cosier and more pleasant. This is of course important above all for listings of houses or flats.

The next aspect worth paying attention to is the sharpness of the photo and its graininess.

Low sharpness and high graininess are characteristic of photos taken with poor-quality equipment. You can still find listings with photos taken with an older mobile phone – which often makes a very poor impression.

Photographs of a property – because buying it is a major expense – should be of very high quality: high resolution and high aesthetic standard. This significantly improves the image of the property in the eyes of potential clients.

Finally, it is also worth thinking about improving the contrast of the photos in a property listing. Low-contrast photos give the impression of being dusty and indistinct. Fortunately, most digital photo editing programs can deal with this problem.

Weather for sale

When watching American films or series, we often get the impression that the weather there is almost always good. This is no accident, as our psyche is very sensitive to weather conditions.

This is one of the more important reasons why it is worth making sure that the view from the window of the property for sale does not frighten buyers with unfavourable weather, e.g. heavy, steel-grey clouds hanging low over the horizon.

The sun is the best lighting for any property. It is a source of light far more intense than even the strongest camera flash.

It is also worth searching the current owners' home photo archives and finding photographs of the house being sold in spring or summer. The greenery of trees and shrubs blossoming around the house and birds in the sky turn out, according to research, to be a very important factor by which buyers are subconsciously guided.

Using drones in property sales

This is the latest trend in property sales.

A drone is a small, remotely controlled flying device with a camera on board. It makes it possible to photograph buildings, sites or plots from an unusual perspective, e.g. from a height of 20-30 metres.

This unusual photography, practically unattainable by other methods, is a valuable asset – it shows the property from a completely different perspective. Even if a potential client has already seen the property or knows the street on which it stands – an unusual shot of the building, an unconventional perspective, makes the listing much more memorable.

It also often happens that the full merits of some properties are visible only from a bird's-eye view. In such cases the help of drones proves invaluable.

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If you too need professional photographs of your property – contact me.

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Everyone who has ever tried to sell a property has learned how important photographs are in a listing. Do you already have any experience in photographing properties? Share your observations in a comment.