7 Common Real Estate Photography Mistakes

Real Estate Agents and Pros alike seem to repeat the same mistakes over and over when it comes to photographing homes for sale.

 

    Here are 7 of the most common real estate photography mistakes found both on the MLS and real estate web sites.

  1. Reflection of the photographer in a mirror or window or other glass or reflective surfaces. This one isn’t unique to agents, I’ve seen plenty of times where “pros” make this error!
  2. Camera flash in mirrors or other reflective surfaces – very distracting and hides detail.
  3. Under exposed pictures. Rooms end up too dark when a light source brighter than the room tricks the camera into using too fast of a shutter speed. Easily occurs when in “auto mode” when the camera is pointed toward a window or bright interior lights. Very common when using camera phones, tablets, and point & shoot cameras, but “pros” with DSLRs do it too.
  4. Poor composition. This includes a number of things, but commonly includes things like chopping off the ends of a house in an exterior photo, interiors showing too much ceiling or floor, shooting too wide, or including something in the photo that adds no value to the image or to the marketing of the home.
  5. Pets, people, guns, taxidermy, and open toilet seats just don’t belong in photos taken for marketing a home.
  6. Leaning walls or slanted buildings caused by failing to level the camera. This is another blunder that “pros” commonly make and fail to fix. Taking a picture angling the camera down or angling the camera up will cause walls to lean in or out. Slow down… use a tripod and a level to ensure a straighter result !
  7. Turning a prefectly good room with a white ceiling and neutral walls into a toxic looking glowing mass of yellowness. This is actually pretty easy to fix by using the right white balance setting if shooting in jpg format, or if you shoot in RAW format it can be easily corrected using the white balance tools in Photoshop Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom. Or you could just turn off the incandescent lights in the room being photographed.

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    Many of these mistakes can be avoided by simply slowing down and caring about the results. If you don’t have time to learn how to take good photos using the right equipment, or just don’t have time to take photos, hire a professional who specializes in real estate photography.

    Even when hiring a “pro”, caution should be taken… just because they have a DSLR and charge money doesn’t mean they know what they are doing.

    Contact us for premium quality real estate photography when marketing a home for sale!