Help TO GET YOUR HOME ON THE MARKET WHEN NO ONE ELSE CAN ACCESS THE PROPERTY

With the current Corona-virus situation, we are all experiencing significant restrictions when it comes to others accessing (and thus marketing) your property. 
In particular, during level 4, your agent and the photographer are unable to visit your property to photograph and produce a highlight video, and if you need to get on the market now - then you'll need to turn to your next best option.
​That is to have you as the homeowner (or even your tenant) to shoot the property images yourself....

In this blog, we are going to share our top 10 tips to help you or your tenant take quality real estate photos - whether you’re using a DSLR camera or your smartphone.

Tip 1 – Take Advantage of Our Pre-Photography Checklist
We have compiled this simple document as the ultimate tool to help prepare any property for photography. The document is very informative and is easy to use with a basic tick-box system that ensures you as a budding photographer can work through the property at your own pace and avoid any simple mistakes along the way.

Click here to download our FREE Pre-Photography Checklist.

Tip 2 – Use the Best Quality Camera You Have Access To
Of course, it’d be fantastic if every homeowner or tenant had access to the top-of-the-line digital camera with a wide-angle lens, but obviously this is not the case. 
Luckily, the next best thing is sitting right in your pocket.
Being the stand-in photographer, if you can get access to a late-model smartphone, like the iPhone 11, you will be able to take advantage of the built-in wide-angle feature. As far as images go, the finished product from both the iPhone 11 and a full-pro setup like using a Nikon DSLR are extremely comparable, proving you really can use a smartphone effectively and produce magazine-quality results. 

Tip 3 – Don’t Worry If It’s Overcast
Our Image Enhancement Edit is your best friend when it comes to turning bleak, overcast days into bright and sunny skies. Our professional photographer we use is an expert when it comes to a range of enhancements for your property photos - from adding blue skies to enhancing the grass, or even replacing it if needed. So if you need to get it done now, follow this blog, use our guide and get your images to us, we’ve got you covered.

Tip 4 – Turn On All the Lights and Open All the Blinds
This super simple adjustment can make all the difference in your final images. 
Opening the blinds creates depth while turning on the lights brings a sense of warmth to the home and ensures the property feels inviting.

Tip 5 – Straighten the Furniture
Again, this might seem like a simple point but the difference is incredible. Ensuring all the chairs are pushed in, straight and spread evenly can enhance the appeal of the home while also limiting any distractions for potential buyers.
This point is also important for bed linen, pillows, kitchen stools, and curtains – a few small adjustments now can make all the difference later.

Tip 6 – Don’t Worry About Your Reflection
This is a particular sticking point for photographers shooting bathrooms and kitchens or anywhere with a reflective surface. Our Image Enhancement Edit can remove your reflection or the tripod itself from the image ensuring a clutter-free finished product for you. So don’t worry if you see yourself in the bathroom mirror!

Tip 7 – Stand Back If Required
This is a particularly important point for those stand-in photographers who are using a camera without a wide-angle lens. By standing back as far as possible, you can give yourself the best chance to capture all the important details in the frame while also making the room feel as large as possible.

Tip 8 – Shoot at Eye Level
Whenever you are shooting a property, you want to ensure the potential buyer gets a realistic feel for the home and the best way to do this is to shoot at eye level. Whether they are viewing the home online or in person, it’s important they have the same experience, and by taking the images at eye level, you can help convey the true scale and perspective of the room itself.

Tip 9 – Shoot Landscape Not Portrait
Shooting your property in landscape format is incredibly important and will help ensure you capture as much detail in the frame as possible. This will also help when creating an image that can be used across a range of different formats and mediums while also limiting the amount of cropping needed.
The other important tip here is to maintain a very steady hand if you are not using a tripod. A crisp final result is an absolute must when it comes to property photography and the last thing buyers want to be looking at are blurry or unclear photos.

Tip 10 – Ensure Your Photos Are in Focus
Our partners of professionals, with their editing tools can do some pretty amazing things in the editing room, but, one thing they can’t do is fix blurry images. If you’re using a smartphone, you can simply tap the screen prior to taking the photo which will help focus the image on the important focal point that you are trying to highlight.

Conclusion
If you are considering getting on the market as soon as possible, despite the current restrictions, then getting photos done is an important step that needs to be considered.

This is not the ideal situation, as we always recommend getting all aspects of the marketing of a home done by professionals - from the building inspection, photos and video, right through to using professionals to market and sell your home (us). 
But, if your situation dictates that now is the time to sell, then we can help you work with what you’ve got to get you on the market without being able to access the property ourselves at this time.

Get in touch with us anytime to talk about your options.

Cheers,

Paul.

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