3 Tips for Taking Photos to Get Your House Sold!

Published: April 06, 2018

It’s no secret that hiring a professional photographer to take beautiful listing photos of your home to put online would be ideal when putting your house on the market. But face it, it’s much more affordable to do it yourself as long as you have the right tools. While hiring a professional will likely result in the best photos you’ll get of your home, it’s not impossible to take photos yourself that will get your home sold quickly and at the price you’re looking for. Here are 3 tips for taking your own photos to get your home sold:

1. Focus on Lighting

Lighting and photography are like peanut butter and jelly. They just go together. And in order to take good photographs of your home, you need to have at least a basic understanding of how to use light to your advantage.

First and foremost, turn off the flash. If you’re using your iphone or using your camera, do not turn your flash on. Using a flash can make your images seem unnatural, and they will never have the airy feel of a photo taken with natural light. Open your blinds or a window and let as much natural light in as possible. Natural light won’t have the same harsh lines and shadows that artificial light creates, and it will make for a more pleasing photograph overall. Even in a room that seems dark to your eye can take wonderful photographs that can be brightened using the settings on your computer, camera, or phone. It’s better to shoot in a naturally lit room no matter how dark it seems than to shoot in a fluorescent artificially lit space.

2. Use the Technology you have

While we all wish we had a professional DSLR camera or the latest version of Photoshop, the reality is most of us just have either a normal digital camera or a smart-phone. But that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice quality. If you’re using your phone, you have plenty of settings right at your fingertips. Go into your camera and play with the brightness and exposure to get your photos looking bright. Be careful tweaking things like Saturation and Ambience, however, because sometimes it can look a little too much like an Instagram filter. A good rule of thumb is to edit your photo to look exactly how the room looks to you when it’s well lit. After all, if someone likes your photos, they’re going to come see the space in person. So you need to remember to make it look as truthful and honest as it does in real life. Just a nice aesthetically-pleasing version.

There are plenty of Apps you can download with more editing modes. Apps like Snapseed and VSCO allow you to play with lighting in different ways and can be very helpful in making sure all of your photos have the same look and feel. You can save your edits and apply them to each and every photo with one click instead of going through and trying to individually edit each one. It’s a time saver, and your photos can end up looking their very best.

3. Stage Your Home

The key to taking good photos is to allow the potential buyer to picture themselves in that space. While it may seem fine to just snap away at how your home looks in its “lived-in” state, a little staging can go a long way. There are plenty of tips and tricks to staging your home to look its very best to attract buyers.

Taking low-level photos that are straight on will create symmetry and be more aesthetically appealing. This is a common misconception because most people try to stand in the furthest corner of a room to make the space seem as large as possible. But in reality, our eyes enjoy symmetrical spaces and photographs more than the harsh angle you get from taking a photo from a corner. Symmetry and lower-level shots allow people to really feel invited into a space. Paired with your excellent lighting, and you’ve got a photo that will really stand out in the sea of house listings.

Overall, it’s important to remember what you personally love about your space. Yes, you’re moving somewhere new, but when you’re taking photos, be sure to remind yourself what made you love this place when you first saw it? What made you buy it?  Do you love your kitchen? Do you have an amazing master bathroom? That’s what you should show off. While you should always take photos of every room in the home to show the buyers you’re transparent about the space, chances are your favorite parts of your space will transfer to a new buyer. The person who knows the most about your space is you, after all.

To get some of the clutter out to get started taking beautiful photos that will get your home sold, UNITS can help store your personal belongings to give you the space you need to attract buyers and play with your new photography skills!