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There is no need to hire a professional photographer unless you decide to sell your home "by owner". If you hire a reputable real estate agent to list your home they have professional photographer's that take their photos for multiple listings, brochures, etc. Why spend the money until you make this decision? Just saying!
This is an excellent counter-thought to your post:
Quote:
Originally Posted by MOD
There are a lot of hack photographers out there trying to break into the real estate market, probably a product of how common DSLRs are these days. But real estate photography pays terribly unless you're in a major market. I've done photography for other Architects and furniture builders, but only did real estate once when asked. Once was enough, never again, unless there's big $$ involved.
Best thing I can say is to google for photographers in the area and look at their online portfolios. The good ones will stand out. Other than that, ask if they use a shift lens. It's a generalization that of course has exceptions, but shift lenses are expensive, specialized, and particularly useful for photographing buildings, so most folks doing well photographing buildings will probably have invested in one.
One thing I'll mention, if your house is on the upper end of the market, hire the photographer yourself. Expensive houses tend to sit longer and are more likely to go through multiple listing agents, so if you have the rights to use the photographs and not your realtor, you don't have go through doing it all again if you need to switch agents.
"Professional photographer" can be construed as anyone who takes money for taking photos. It isn't agents distorting photos with HDR caricatures or fish eye and super wide angle shots. It is "professional" hack work.
And the rights to the photos are certainly a concern. Assuming a listing with a Realtor, the agents must sign off in the MLS that they have the right to use any photos, and sellers have to sign off in the listing agreement that they have the right to use photos they provide to the agent.
Any way the OP proceeds, but particularly if listing with an agent, it is wise to have the photos prepped and ready and to be uploaded to the MLS immediately upon taking the listing Active.
You are correct that great photos can make (or break) interest in your home. In my experience, most RE agents use professional photographers that know how to show your home in its best light (pun intended). Personally, I would wait to determine if you are going to use an agent since photos will be included as part of their service. You can always find one later if you choose to go FSBO.
You are correct that great photos can make (or break) interests in your home. In my experience, most RE agents use professional photographers that know how to show your home in its best light (pun intended). Personally, I would wait to determine if you are going to use an agent since photos will be included as part of their service. You can always find one later if you choose to go FSBO.
All the best.
Actually, in many local neighborhoods, people are lining up to get into houses regardless of the quality of the photos.
In a sellers market, quality photos have been devalued a bit and some listing agents are getting away with lowering the bar and a cell phone photo walkthrough.
Their sellers don't feel much difference between only 7 showings the first day and 10 showings the first day.
Ahh.. lol Throwing this out there, but, true HDR quality photo's are completely dependent on the 'photographer.' (PS, that is a VERY loose term, these days.) We were actually taken aback at how bad 90%+ of the RE photos are out here, after moving to NC.. Hubs & I are hobby photographers, have well over 10k invested in the ol' Nikon/Nikkor, but still, are blown away by the awful point and shoot photo's from the majority of listings.
Agreed. I find most of the real estate photos around here to be quite mediocre.
An interior room photo with the windows so over-exposed they are blown-out white, screams point-and-shoot. At least bracket the two exposures and merge them with something like Photomatix. That’s how your eye sees the room – why wouldn’t you duplicate that?
You’ll never get great real estate photography without multiple off-camera flash.
With so many people searching online, why wouldn’t you do everything you could to make the best possible first impression and get the potential buyer through the front door?
There is a real estate photography group on Flicr. Check them out if you want to see some high-quality photography.
Agreed. I find most of the real estate photos around here to be quite mediocre.
An interior room photo with the windows so over-exposed they are blown-out white, screams point-and-shoot. At least bracket the two exposures and merge them with something like Photomatix. That’s how your eye sees the room – why wouldn’t you duplicate that?
Chances are it's not even a point and shoot, I bet it's a phone.
HDR is ridiculous, I don't care how fast someone's house sold. Interior HDR shots are the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in real estate photography. It's the ultimate form of misrepresentation. And often it's done by a hack amateur who doesn't do it properly, you've got more colors popping out of the photo than a cheap modernist painting!
HDR is not only overused in realty, it's getting really bad in magazine ads as well. And now people are doing it with smartphone aps, and most look like crap. 90% of the people with a DSLR today think they are a professional photographer. It's hilarious.
Agreed. I find most of the real estate photos around here to be quite mediocre.
An interior room photo with the windows so over-exposed they are blown-out white, screams point-and-shoot. At least bracket the two exposures and merge them with something like Photomatix. That’s how your eye sees the room – why wouldn’t you duplicate that?
You’ll never get great real estate photography without multiple off-camera flash.
With so many people searching online, why wouldn’t you do everything you could to make the best possible first impression and get the potential buyer through the front door?
There is a real estate photography group on Flicr. Check them out if you want to see some high-quality photography.
Why? Because....
Professional photography, done with skill and talent and caring, is not a sales tool until you get into very high end homes. "Good enough" photography gets properties sold all day, every day.
Professional photography in mid-market price ranges is mainly a marketing tool for agents to impress and pick up sellers who want their home to be photographed lavishly, whether they see a definable pay back or not.
Neighborhood, price, description, schools, and some level of photos gets them in the door.
Then the house gets sold.
HDR is ridiculous, I don't care how fast someone's house sold. Interior HDR shots are the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in real estate photography. It's the ultimate form of misrepresentation. And often it's done by a hack amateur who doesn't do it properly, you've got more colors popping out of the photo than a cheap modernist painting!
I think what you're seeing then is not simply HDR images, but images in which the colors have been over-saturated or otherwise subject to overdone post-processing. I question the ability of the average "hack amateur" to create the multiple exposures necessary to blend shots together into an HDR image. (And no, selecting the "HDR" setting on your iPhone for a single image is not the same thing as creating an HDR composite image.)
That's the problem, there are a lot of programs that do most of the work for you, and they don't do it well. Lots of aps can do it on phones, and I see plenty of crappy cell phone photos used in real estate in this area. I've been in homes that looked MUCH better in person than they did in their awful photos, and I've been in homes that made me wonder exactly where the photos came from, because the house looked great online and like a dump in person! The latter, being extremely frustrating.
A lot of the indoor HDR photos I've seen have glowing bright blue skies popping through the windows in the background, and every color in the room is saturated and glowing. It looks like a painting from a child's book. Most HDR photos are overdone, you get 14 shades of blue in one small background window!
That's the problem, there are a lot of programs that do most of the work for you, and they don't do it well. Lots of aps can do it on phones, and I see plenty of crappy cell phone photos used in real estate in this area. I've been in homes that looked MUCH better in person than they did in their awful photos, and I've been in homes that made me wonder exactly where the photos came from, because the house looked great online and like a dump in person! The latter, being extremely frustrating.
A lot of the indoor HDR photos I've seen have glowing bright blue skies popping through the windows in the background, and every color in the room is saturated and glowing. It looks like a painting from a child's book. Most HDR photos are overdone, you get 14 shades of blue in one small background window!
This is completely overkill in my opinion....
I think those are gorgeous. I doubt the house looks that good.
Are they yours?
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Such great comments. Thanks everyone. I had never even heard of HDR until this thread and already I know its use is controversial. Up until now, the technique I truly disliked was the wide angle shots that made a toilet look like a family could all use it at one time, or that a twin bed was wider than a king. When the proportions are distorted it looks dreadful.
I never considered the advantage of 'owning' the photos, so thanks also for bringing that up.
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I do like the idea of using reflected light or supplemental lighting to soften the interior views. It's also nice to have someone with an idea for composition, and who realizes that the house is being sold, not just the belongings. For the latter I am thinking of photos of the inside corner of a bedroom showing no features other than some pretty bedding that someone has set up.
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