A $200K Bottle of Aspirin -- Real Estate Photography Tips

I know the iPhone has gotten pretty good.  I also know I’m biased, but really?  I was browsing through real estate photos of properties online to see what might be available for my expanding family.  You know what I noticed?  Some properties didn’t even have photos.  I didn’t even bother to look at them.  There was way too much out there to waste time looking at listings without a photo.  Then there were those clearly photographed in a hurry - with a smart phone.

A friend of mine who is now a real estate agent used to work in the lighting and photography field in a Hollywood studio.  He recounted to me one day how they would spend hours upon hours lighting a $2 bottle of aspirin just to get the perfect shot for the ad.  We laughed about how a $2 bottle of aspirin could justify more time, money and effort than a $200K property!  Hopefully you’re persuaded that good photos are a must in this “online” age.  Let me offer a few pointers for the do-it-yourselfers.

1. Equipment isn’t everything - but it is something!  Ditch the iPhone camera.  You’ll be well served by a DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera with a wide-angle lens.  While most architectural photography purists will never shoot over 28mm wide, most real estate agents and potential home buyers want to see as much as possible of that property, and some degree of wide angle will help.

2. Ditch the flash.  Turn on all the lights in the home, much as you would do for a showing.  If you have a camera like that DSLR we talked about, you should be able to manually control the shutter and aperture.  Expose longer to brighten the room without flash.  In most cases, especially in smaller rooms or when looking away from any windows, the natural light from daylight and lighting in the home will look better than with flash.  In cases where you’re shooting toward a window, invest in a good flash that sits on the hot-shoe and bounce the flash at the ceiling or the wall behind you.  Like with everything there are exceptions, but give it a try.

3. De-clutter.  De-cluttering is important for showings, and doubly important for photos!  That same shot will be showing up over and over and over again and can be scrutinized.  Cleaner and simpler is almost always better in photography.

4. Consider shooting real estate photography at night.  You’ll minimize the window glare and reflections on floors, counter-tops and other smooth surfaces and get a more even exposure of the room.

5. Know where the sun is and use it to your advantage.  If you have an East facing property, photograph the front of the home in the morning hours when you have sunlight helping brighten the photo and making the colors more vibrant.  If you can come back to do the back side later in the day with good sunlight that’s a bonus!

6. Consider a professional.  Of course this is always a good bet since real estate photographers are experts at what they do so that you don’t have to be.  

Happy photographing!

Tim Ray
www.ColoradoVirtualTours.com

Bio
Tim Ray is the owner of Colorado Virtual Tours and Vantage Point Imagery, LLC.  A full-time business owner and part time military pilot, he got his start with a camera providing aerial photography services to commercial and residential clients.  He can be found at a coffee shop near you.

Real Estate Filmmaking

"As Phil Di Giulio, co-founder of WellcomeMat, says, "Cutting your own hair is fast and inexpensive. Does that mean you should do it?"

Consumers want more video and we have open arms for people creating their own. However, there's no question that high-quality, professionally produced filmmaking is pushing video into the mainstream of real estate. We also acknowledge that most brand-centric people (from personal to multinational brands) want nothing to do with user-generated content."


I just read the above excerpt from #inmannews by Tom Flanagan writing about WellcomeMat, a real estate video host of sorts that is positioning itself as a better alternative to YouTube.  It's nice to get some confirmation that we're on the cutting edge with our professionally produced real estate video services and hope the trend continues! I've always wondered why everything in our society seems to understand marketing while real estate lags far behind. Take a look at this real estate video and let me know what you think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE6-ZQpyeW8 (We'll have to look into posting this on WellcomeMat instead!)

See the complete Inman News article by Tim Flanagan here.

Tim
Colorado Virtual Tours
Vantage Point Imagery, Inc.
www.ColoradoVirtualTours.com
www.VantagePointImagery.com

Colorado Real Estate Photo and Video for Dummies

Humor me for a moment...

"I'm Larry D. Young and I'd like to thank you for taking the time to watch this Dr. Pepper commercial.  Follow me as I give you a tour of our shiny new soda can.  You'll notice the exterior is round with a conveniently located pop-top.  Inside the spacious interior we have a comfortably satisfying soda."

My wife and I happen to be in the market for a new home and to be perfectly blunt about it I don't give 2 cents about who the agent is that is selling the home... I only care about how the home itself appeals to my wants and needs.  Odds are pretty good I'm going to be more impressed by a home with a solid video and good photos than I am by the seller's agent who is getting in the way of me seeing more of the home.

Does a searching buyer want to see this?

...or this?

If as a real estate agent, you only remember one thing about marketing, remember this - your target market. When selling real estate, the seller is your client, but buyers are your target market. (Of course you are also marketing to gain sellers, but this is another topic altogether).

I would suggest that a well made real estate video, professional quality real estate photography and virtual tours with a modest amount of branding at the beginning or end would speak much louder to your professionalism and marketing prowess than the stereotypical on-camera introductions and tours.  That isn't to say there is NEVER a place for agent introductions on camera - just think about the marketing powerhouses you see on TV every day and ask yourself what they are doing to generate sales.

Need some examples?  Here are two sample real estate videos from Colorado Virtual Tours. The first real estate video is a $199 Glide Through Video Tour.  One of the most affordable professionally produced videos on the market from a quality-for-the-dollar angle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EeayNFMkfc

The second video is an all-out production with the real estate agent, homeowners and friends from the brokerage office playing roles in the movie.  Combined with professional video gear, nearly 11 hours on location and our "actors", this video not only markets the home, but helps sell the lifestyle to prospective buyers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgK_EdR6sh4

Leave your thoughts, comments and questions below!
Tim