No matter if you are selling or renting out, the appealing pictures of your property are the key point in getting a good deal. Even if you consider your property bright and cosy, poorly taken pictures may turn it into a dark and unfriendly place.
To prevent this happening, we collected some tips to help you with picture staging.
1. Hire a professional photographer
If you are ready to put a lot of effort into the prospect deal, we recommend to consider hiring a professional photographer to make up a property portfolio.
A skillful photographer knows how to utilize space and light to make it work, so this may be the best option.
Of course, if you are not into taking up an extra financial burden, we're going to run through all of the tricks the actual photographer would use.
2. Create the focal points
Simply speaking, focal points are the features of your property you want to highlight. If your property has a dramatic view or some architectural details you want to stress, be sure you stage them well. As you may see in the picture, the fireplace is supposed to be the focal point, so the decor and the angle are organized to draw our attention towards it.
How do you do that? First, you will need to decide on the features you want to emphasize. Let's imagine your property is a wide studio with a counter kitchen and a loft. What should we do to make it look appealing? We'll stress the counter kitchen feature by decluttering it and maybe placing some fine glasses on the tabletop. Also, we'll decide on the best angle to make it look stylish.
How about the loft? If it's spacious enough, we may add some cosy cushions, candles and a throw to create a relaxation zone.
Appealing enough? We hope so.
3. Neat, cosy, clean
These are the three key points of the good property photo. Before taking the pictures, clean up the property or hire a cleaning professional. The room must look as if it popped out from the magazine article:
no garbage, no clutter, no unnecessary items. Your buyer or tenant must be able to imagine living in this space so your task is to make it as inviting as possible. Also, if your property is a detached house, it would be nice to have the front door repainted or some plants set by the entrance.
4. Depersonalize the interior
Even if the property you wish to sell or rent out was your own home, please remember that it's important to create a totally neutral space. A good property portfolio must feature a neat and calm interior appealing to any person. To depersonalize the property you would have to put away all the family pictures, hobby items or really standing out interior items. If you want to enhance the curb appeal, consider purchasing some minimalist room decorations.
5. Mind the color palette
To take a quality property picture you have to be careful with the palette, too. Sure, you may retouch the photos or apply some filter, but keep in mind that when your potential tenants or buyers would come to see the property, the reality and picture gap mustn't strike them too hard.
Natural, creamy and soft colors are the best choice as they would appeal to person with any taste and won't make the space look too extravagant. White or really light walls make the room look wider optically, so it`s perfect for photo shooting, too. Some contrast details like rugs, wall decorations or furniture pieces won't be a bad thing either.
6. Catch the best angle
This point may be the hardest one if you aren't very good at taking pictures. This is why sometimes you'd better leave the staging and photo shooting to your real estate agent.
An experienced professional knows how to introduce your property to the prospect tenants in the best way possible.
If you want to take the pictures by yourself, though, try to look through some interior design magazines or websites. This will make you able to copy the best appealing angles.
7. Stage the light
It's not a secret that light setting is the main point of any photo shoot.
If the room isn't bright enough, always turn on the lights when taking pictures. Also, if you happen to take the pictures on a cloudy day or in the evening, don't forget to set up the light scheme in the most appealing way. Some bumpy shadows may totally ruin the composition so turn on the light to make it as bright as possible.
Also, let's mind the warmth of the lighting. As a rule, the light bulbs come in several types, so there are warm light lamps and cold light lamps. To be honest, warm type light bulbs tint the picture yellow, so if you want a classy property appeal, consider setting up the cold type light bulbs. Yellowish light can make your interior look cosy, but it also puts a slight feeling of sepia on it which psychologically makes us feel the thing in the picture is somehow old or worn out.
These were the most common tips for the property photo shooting, and we hope it was helpful.
Are you ready for the photoshoot?
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