Home Photography Tips: Attractive Images Can Attract Buyers

With real estate constantly becoming an online marketplace, the notion of a home’s aesthetic “curb appeal” has evolved into “eye appeal.” These days the attractiveness of a property in published photos is extremely important. Photos can be a powerful tool in selling your home, and good photos can make your home look much more attractive to potential buyers.

“Without photos, you’re much more likely to go on the next list,” says homebuyer Diane Clark of Watchung, NJ. “In most cases, photos are the first thing I look at when looking for a house. I tend to overlook houses with bad photos,” she adds.

Photos are powerful sales pitches, and bad ones can be detrimental to your home’s buying potential.

Here are 5 tips you can use to take great photos of your property:

1. To illuminate– Take your photos in the middle of the day when the sun shines and shines. Taking your photos on a gloomy day will make your home look like this: gloomy and unattractive. It is worth waiting a day or two for the weather to improve to take your pictures. Doing this will make your exterior shots look bright, vibrant, and attractive. For interior shots, I suggest you turn on all the lights, open the blinds, and use a flash. Doing this will effectively fill in shadows and add color correction to your photos.
2. More more more- Home buyers want to see more than just the front of their house; they want to see everything, including the living room, family room, kitchen, master bedroom, and backyard. Be sure to include some photos of your best selling points. Buyers want to see pictures of that spectacular view, your state-of-the-art home theater, or your beautiful pool area. By highlighting some of your home’s best features, you can make your home stand out and draw attention.
3. Details- Be sure to clean up and remove any clutter or unnecessary objects from view. You wouldn’t want your mom to see the big pile of dirty dishes in the sink, why would you want potential buyers to see it? Get rid of it! Spend some time going over the details of what will appear in the photo. You want your house to look clean and tidy. Get rid of any distractions that might dissuade a buyer from seeing your sales pitch. Make the beds, hide the wiring, move the car out of the driveway, and put the kids’ toys away. Pay close attention to details and make your home look impeccable.
4. quality counts– When taking good photos, cell phones are not enough. If you have a wide angle camera, use it. If not, a regular point-and-shoot digital camera will work just fine. To get a clear photo, place the camera on a tripod or a flat surface to keep the camera stable. Set your camera to the highest resolution and use a flash.
5. Edit-Using photo editing software can really enhance your photos by cutting out any unnecessary objects or adjusting the brightness and/or contrast. If you are familiar with photo editing programs like Adobe Photoshop or PhotoSuite, use it. There is also free software that you can download on the Internet if you do not have these programs. Try Snipshot.com or Picnik.com.