Advertising has become so integral to our daily lives that very few of us even question it.  Love it or hate it, we all know when we see an ad, as they tend to have those surreal qualities – those fundamental ingredients in the recipe for desire.

For real estate agents, marketing tends to work on two fronts: market your listings and market yourself.  Both feats require a substantial level of planning and effort, but if done right, you can quickly separate yourself from the pack.  Of all the things you can do to enhance your marketing, improving the core photographic elements should be at the forefront.

Turning photographs into advertisements

In terms of marketing yourself, a proper portrait is a must.  For real estate agents, your face is as important as your brand, and having an archive of four or five quality head shots will help you to advertise yourself as an industry professional.  Take these sample photos of real estate agent, Eric Billingsley, that compare a photo taken by a friend and a photo taken by a professional fashion photographer:

The five professional photos Eric received cost $200, but he assures that the “photos have more than paid for themselves.”  I know who I would choose if the two photos above were competing agents. Quite simply, professional photos resonate that above average quality that attracts consumers when purchasing products or services.

The same idea needs to be applied when marketing your listings.  A home is one of the biggest purchases a consumer will ever make, yet the visual marketing used to sell homes does not always stimulate a sense of desire. Photos have always been an important feature when marketing real estate, and even more so now as the majority of people shop online.  Here’s another comparison put together by Papilios Real Estate Photography that shows an amateur and professional photo of a listing.

The bottom line is that quality visuals attract buyers, please sellers, and enhance your visual appeal.  If you haven’t already, take the time to critique the photos you’re using to market yourself and your listings, or better yet, ask others to provide honest feedback for you. Ask yourself what the images say about you and your business, and determine if they can they be improved.

Even though these types of photos are arguably more attention-grabbing than daytime ones, there are good reasons why most real estate exteriors are not shot this way. For one, dusk shots are harder to execute – they require higher level camera knowledge. Secondly, they involve more elaborate setups often involving powerful fill lights, not to mention the task of turning on every light in the house prior to the shoot.  Lastly, these shots require accurate planning, as the window of opportunity is extremely short (dusk generally lasts about 30 minutes).

When to Shoot
The trick is to shoot your photos at the time when the sun is just rising or setting which, of course, varies depending on the time of year. For dusk shots, aim for the time when the sky is a deep blue but has not yet faded to black. If you arrive to the house at dusk, you’re already too late. Always allow yourself at least a half-hour to prepare for the shoot – that is, turning on the necessary lights and setting up your camera equipment.  If you have extra time, you can always shoot a few interior shots.

Equipment Needs
1) Camera & Lens: A DSLR camera with a wide or mid-range zoom lens.  At the very least, a camera where you can control the shutter speed.
2) External  Flash(es) (Preferably Wireless): You can shoot exteriors at dusk using ambient light in some instances, but I would recommend having at least one extra flash to act as a fill light on the front of the house to balance the exposure – two flashes are even better.  The built-in flash on your camera is NOT powerful enough.
3) Tripod and Light Stand: A sturdy tripod that is capable of being set up on uneven terrain, and a flexible light stand or two so you can properly place your flash(es).

Comparison
Before we move on, lets have a quick look at two images of the same building taken by Tony Owen Partners. It’s interesting to compare these images, and it shows just how different the look and feel changes when a listing is shot at a different time of day. Both photographs are superb, and the design of the building is extraordinary, but if you’re like me, you’ll be drawn more to the dusk shot:

Process
Camera/Scene Setup: Start by turning on all the house lights (inside and outside) and make your way around the property seeking out the most interesting angles. Next, set up your camera and take a couple test shots to ensure your framing and focus are spot on. Aim for a slow shutter speed (from 1/3 second to 2 or 3 full seconds) – keep in mind that you will need to make constant changes to your shutter speed to accommodate the fast change in available light. Keep your ISO low (200-400), and open up your aperture, but not necessarily fully open (f4 or f5 should do – just try to find a point where you get a pleasurable depth of field). Keep the camera on a tripod at all times.

Lighting Setup: Set up your flash (if required) at a distance and crank it up to 1/2 or full power. You will need to know how far your flash can fire – the Nikon SB-900, for instance, maxes out at about 20 meters (66 ft). Try to get the light to wash over the front face of the house.  If you are shooting at an angle, you may need a flash angled at both the front and side of the house. Take a couple test shots to ensure proper placement.  A second flash can also be used to lighten foreground objects. If you are getting enough ambient light, you may not need a flash at all.

To trigger your flashes wirelessly use whatever method you prefer. Check out this old post for more information: How to: The Off-Camera Flash.

Shooting Method:
If you have a remote for your camera, use it.  If not, use the self-timer so that you don’t have to touch your camera while the photo is being taken. Even little bumps of the camera can lead to camera shake during long exposures. Keep an eye on your exposure and try to maintain a balance between interior and exterior light.  Cool blues and warm yellows are a good sign.

Ideal Listing Styles
Houses with swimming pools, reflective patios or sheer entranceways are extra good, as you can play with reflections, further enhancing the property. Properties that have numerous large windows help to invite the viewer inside, and further enhance that glowing attractiveness.  Luxury properties, or those with interesting design styles shoot very well.  Houses during the Christmas holiday season can be fun if they’re decorated.

The real trick is to practice, and take time to perfect your skills.  Happy shooting, and as usual, feel free to add in any additional tips in the comment area below!

I recently stepped out and shot a house that met the description above.  The house is located in a beautiful, new area of town.  So new, in fact, that the landscaping is yet to be completed.  In other words: no trees, no lawn, no flowers. Yikes!  Barren, desolate yards are common sights though, especially for agents who deal with listings in newly developed areas.  In these types of locations, the house needs to stand out to attract attention, simply because there’s really nothing else.

Step 1 – Focusing on the House

When I see a dirt yard, my first intention is to try and shoot the listing photo in a manner that shows as little of the yard as possible.  So I got as close to the house as I could, and took a picture:

Listing Photo #1: Close-Up Front

Boom!  There it is, the classic garage shot, with the house tucked in behind.  There’s little focus on the yard, it’s true, but there’s really nothing to see here that a home buyer really wants to see.

Step 2 – Get More “Home” in the Picture

Seemingly dissatisfied by the results of my first attempt, I decided to give it another shot.  In a moment of genius, I found that stepping away from the house helped to decrease the visual dominance of the garage. Snap:

Listing Photo #2: Front from a Distance

So I’m standing on the neighbor’s driveway and elated that I can see the front door. And there’s windows too!  Definitely some progress…

Step 3 – Use Perspective to My Advantage

Now that I know I’m getting somewhere, I’m energized to go all out.  It’s time to get that aerial angle that I have relied on for years.  Getting the aerial angle shot does require some ingenuity, but it can be done in almost any environment.  OK, so here it is:

Listing Photo #3: The Aerial Angle

I’m loving the look and feel of the house in this shot, but there’s a problem: the house is literally swimming in a sea of houses that all look too similar.  To make matters worse, there’s no trees bursting out of the background, no shrubs, no parks, no flowers, no fences – not even a blade of grass.  It looks like a construction zone, because IT IS a construction zone.

Step 4 – Utilize Perspective, but Focus on the House

Last try.  It’s time to move in for the kill.  I know I like the angle, but the lack of green space bothers me.  So, it’s time for the low angle – the classic “go to” shot when the neighborhood looks like Mars.

Listing Photo #4: The Low Angle

That’s it!  The yard shows, but the focus is on the house – not the houses in the neighborhood, not the house next door, but THE house.  There’s a good balance between living space and parking space, and best of all, the potential buyer knows exactly what he/she is in for.

If the neighborhood would have been more developed, I’d likely have stuck with the aerial angle as my primary shot to market this listing.  Every house requires it’s own analysis in order to get the best shot possible based on it’s structure and surrounding environment.

My advice: take your time, explore possibilities, and have fun!

We dug in and decided that, rather than just making a few changes here and there, we would replace 100% of all template headers and images!

Important News for Current Point2 Agent Customers:

1. On Thursday, July 8th, ALL template graphics and headers will automatically be replaced.
2. We have taken great care to ensure that the new graphics will match closely to those they are replacing, so we hope that the transition will be seamless and positive.
3. Any custom graphics and headers that you have created or added to your site will not be replaced or altered in any way.
4. Prudential agents and brokers – if you use images that include the Prudential logo, the replacement images will not include any Prudential logo.  This has been done at the request of Prudential.

We’ve done our best to make this a seamless and positive change, but if anything looks out of place, please don’t hesitate to let us know and we’ll do our best to get you fixed up in no time!

This was a massive undertaking but it allowed us to make a couple of important improvements:

• we’ve updated franchise logos across the board to reflect these brands’ updated looks
• we’ve made many image tweaks that we hope you’ll agree modernize and improve the look of our template websites
• we’ve replaced almost 100% of the stock photography that was previously used with Point2-created original photos and imagery

A few samples:

Before:



After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Any questions?  Hit us in the comments and we’ll get back to you ASAP!

Thanks very much on behalf of Point2.

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Listing Interior (Final Shot) - Two-flash setup

It’s not a perfect interior photo, but I think it’s pretty decent based on the difficulty of the area and the limited number of flashes.  The image is well exposed except for a couple of dark areas and a few blown-out highlights.  If I could, I’d add in one or two more strobes to better illuminate the cupboards, minimize shadows, and try to prevent light falloff.  Most importantly though, I managed to balance the interior and exterior light.  If you remember from Part 1 of this series, a common problem is when the interior and exterior light cannot be balanced, which was the case with this room.  Here’s a shot taken without a flash, using full-frame metering:

Listing Interior - Without Flash

According to the camera’s metering system, the photo above is perfectly exposed.  However, we can clearly see that the shot suffers from both over and under exposure that has rendered most of the visible areas useless.  In order to compensate for this problem, we need to add light to the interior – which is exactly what I did.

So, here’s how I did it:

1) Select a Metering Mode
As usual, I started by observing the scene and determining the areas that were both brightest and darkest.  There was nothing I could do about the sunlight/window, so I decided to use it as my principle level of exposure.  I set my camera to Spot Metering, which we discussed a while back, so that I could target the bright window area.

I spot metered my camera to the window and manually configured the settings to f8 for my aperture and 1/200 second for my shutter speed to allow for a decent depth of field.  I metered the shot at 200 ISO.  Here’s what I ended up with:

Listing Interior - Spot metered to windows.

Now, this photo may look absolutely terrible, but it’s exactly what I wanted/expected.  The exterior light is no longer overexposed, and it gives me a point of reference for my interior light requirements.

2) Add Strobe/Flash #1
Now that we have a reference point, it’s time to add the first light.  I set up the first flash to the left of the camera, and I bounced the light in an umbrella.  Bouncing the light softens it, and makes for less distinct shadows.  The light stand was erected as high as I could get it, and angled down on the dining area.  I initially set the flash to 1/2 power, but increased the strength after a couple of test shots.  A light meter would eliminate the need for trial and error, but we’ll get into that another day.  Here’s one of the test shots:

Listing Interior - One-flash test shot.

On the positive side, the interior and exterior light are closer to being balanced, but there are a few reflections, and dark areas that require attention. Sometimes you just have to tweak the placement of lights and continue doing test shots to get it just right.

3) Add Strobe/Flash #2
Once you get the first light in a good location, it’s time to add the second into the mix.  I didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver, but I found a good spot at the end of the room to the right of the camera.  Here’s the basic floor plan with camera and flash placement:

With a bit of tweaking, I was able to get a shot I was happy with.  Flash #2 was erected to about 5-6 feet, also bounced off an umbrella, and set at 1/2 power.

I had to perform some minor color correction to the final image in Adobe Photoshop, as I chose not to use color correcting gels.  The image was shot in RAW which allowed for some added flexibility in both exposure and color temperature.  You can use this method with any number of lights, just keep adding them in until you have enough.  It’s a bit more time consuming, but it is a great way to stand out from the crowd – and we all know that in real estate, standing out from the crowd is a very good thing.