Real Estate Photography

Real estate photography is always in demand. Every agent is fighting for the buyers’ attention with the best real estate photos. They are trying to get the full attention of the buyers by capturing beautiful photos.

Professional real estate photography can seem a little tricky at first. But with our real estate photography tricks, you can do real estate photography. After that, you will get more calls from real estate selling agents.

If you are taking photography as a profession, then you can read our other guides too. Learn more about Wedding Photography, Night Photography, and Long Exposure Photography.

Here are some general guidelines to start you on the right track of real estate photography.

Camera Equipment for Real Estate Photography

Real estate photography doesn’t need excessive tools. A perfect camera, lens, a tripod is the basic equipment for this kind of photography. Let’s check the details of the tools that you need in real estate photography.

Camera 

You will need a camera that can shoot manually. A crop or full-sensor DSLR or mirrorless camera would be best for real estate photography. The camera must allow cable release, flash, a different lens, etc.

You can choose a perfect camera for this job by reading our guide about the best camera for photography.

Lens

For capturing the tight spaces, a wide-angle lens would be best. A wide-angle lens can make the rooms look large. In that case, NIKKOR 16-35mm for Nikon and EF 17-40mm f/4L for Canon will be the perfect lens. But a tilt-shift lens can improve the quality of your photos. The tilt-shift lens is perfect for real estate photography. It also eliminates the distortion that a wide-angle lens causes. But this lens is very expensive. So, try a used one for photography. Rokinon TSL24M-N 24mm, Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, and Nikon PC-E FX Nikkor 24mm f/3.5 ED are the best in the market.

Tripod

Use a tripod in real estate photography to stabilizing your camera. It will also help to avoid motion blur. Normally, photographers use a tripod for long exposure photography. 

So, keep your camera consistent to shoot perfect images for real estate.

You must need these three tools for real estate photography. Besides, there are some other necessary tools you can consider.

• Remote Trigger

• Flash

• Flash Trigger,

• Light Modifiers,

• Light Stands

Approaching the Property

When buyers preview properties online they first see the exterior photo. The exterior photo is very important for real estate. So, take the time to find the best angle and lighting. You can ask the realtor to know about the important features for highlighting. Most of the realtor wants an exterior photo from front and rear, landscaping and gardens, pool or hot tub, etc.

So, you should take an exterior photo with surroundings, beautiful gardens, etc.

Exterior Lighting for Real Estate Photography

The quality of the exterior photo depends on the daylight. Most of the exterior subjects can be better early in the morning or late afternoon. To determine the best time of the day, you can use Google Maps and Google Earth before the shooting. So, find out the best moment when the property faces the sunrise or sunset.

In winter, you may face many problems shooting the houses that are facing the south. Because in the winter season, the houses never have the sun hitting the front if they are facing south. In that case, shoot from the same end of the house as the sun.

You can choose a day with an overcast sky to solve the issues with the sun’s position. But it would be better if you talk the realtor first. On such a day you can do your real estate photography any time. But keep in mind that, white skies can be an issue capturing a great exterior photo.

Using Dusk-dark Technique

Many real estate photographers use this technique to fulfill the client’s request. Using the dusk-dark technique can increase the possibility of selling the property.

It is a technique for shooting the property at a certain time. That time has to be dusk-dark. At that time turn on all the lights of the room and shoot amazing shots. To balance the sky’s exposure with the room, choosing the time after sunset would be great. If possible, add more lights to the rooms for lighting. Thus, you will get a great exterior photo by following this technique.

Interior Photography

When we see the interior photos in a magazine, we think it is impossible to achieve such a great photo. But it is very possible with proper techniques. All houses come in different shapes, sizes, and styles. So, it is important to prepare a list of every interior before doing real estate photography. Tell your clients to decorate the rooms in the way that you want.

Importance of Interior Photos

After seeing the exterior photographs, the client’s next target is the interiors. So, think about which room’s photos the client will check first. It is very important to make sure every space such as the living room, dining area, kitchen, bath, etc.

Without perfect inner photographs, no one can be interested in a property. In that case, the importance of interior photographs is huge. Though shooting the interiors is not easy for all but with proper techniques, anyone can do that.

Things You Should Follow Before Doing Interior Photography

There are some criteria you should follow before doing interior photography. Check them to have a clear idea of how to do interior photography.

Using a Tripod:

As you can remember, we told you before to bring a tripod for real estate photography. Now use that tripod to take interior photographs. When taking interior photographs, you may need longer exposures. So high ISO will cause too many problems. In that case, a tripod can solve those problems.

Using Live View:

Every camera has a live view mode. Use that to capture better photos. In the video mode, you will have a live view option. It would be better if you have a tilt screen.

Using Wide Lens:

When it’s important to take a whole space in a property, you need a wide lens to cover the area. Suppose you have to take a shot of the whole drawing-room area, but how can you do it? A wider lens will help you cover the whole space. You can also use some other techniques. But first, find a better spot that covers the whole area.

Using Fill Flash:

Use bounced flash to fill the shadows in the photo. If you focus flash on the behind wall or the roof, then the shadows will lessen in the photo.

Camera Height and Vertical Edges:

What is the perfect camera height for the interior photographs? Many photographers think differently in this case. But the majority of them suggest chest height. Some think the doorknob height or an even lower height is the best for interior photos.

Again the verticals in the room must be correct. There are edges and corners of walls, door frames, and windows in most interiors. So, all these vertical sides and edges need to be exactly vertical. Using a tilt-shift lens can solve this problem too.

Getting Better Exposure

Getting the perfect exposure for interior photographs is not easy. It is a challenging job for any beginner real estate photographer. One great way to deal with the exposure is to shoot when outdoor light levels are lower. In the middle of the day, the outside is brighter than the sunset. So take the shots when the brightness of outside lights is lower. You will be lucky if the sky is cloudy. When taking the shots turn on every light inside to lighten up the brightness of the interior.

Interior Lighting

The most important thing in interior photos is lighting for real estate photography. HDR can adjust scene contrast but it fails to make highlights sometimes. To get proper detail of a dark cabinet against a dark wall you need to add an extra light source.

Normally all interiors have two different constant light sources. Window light and interior lights. Changing the exposure to darken window light also changes the exposure brightness. The Flash or strobe will give you much flexibility as they are not constant light.

Lighting Color Balance

Color balance can be mess up by mixing the outdoor lighting with the interior lighting. So, you may need to fix CWB (camera white balance) settings. CWB is set to specific areas of your scene or average all light sources in one place.

Sometimes the mixed color has less impact but the other time its needs fixing. So the real estate photography needs the help of photo editing services. This kind of photography needs Photoshop color correction techniques most.

Conclusion:

Real estate photography is also known as architecture photography. And there are many techniques you can use in this photography. There are important things you should maintain when doing real estate photography. You are photographing the client’s not for yourself. So, maintain quality in your work. Another important thing is being careful when processing your real estate images. Always try not to misrepresents the property when doing real estate photography.