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Introduction for Real Estate Photography

Introduction for Real Estate Photography

Hi my name is Alex and I will be taking you through a photographer training tutorial where you learn the principles and techniques of real estate photography. Make sure you have your camera and tripod on hand so you can change settings accordingly and experiment with some of the techniques intermittently as we go through different processes and ideas.<br/><br/><h2>Before we get started on the photography side of the job, we need to do a basic overview of best practices once you arrive at a property.</h2><br/>Firstly, it's important to remember that though there are formulas and rules of real estate photography that you'll be thinking about every shoot, every agent and broker has different preferences and goals, depending on their taste and the distinctive characteristics of the listing. Therefore after you've met the agent and gone through baseline introductions, ask them to give you a tour of the property so they can voice any specific shot ideas,angles are elements of the property they especially want to capture.<br/><br/>This will give you a good sense of their marketing goal and the layout of the house so you can mentally prepare for the forthcoming shoot. Don't hesitate to respectfully raise concerns if agent has a poor shot idea that you know won't work. In these situations you may want to take the shot and show them it's a bad idea rather than trying to describe why. Nonetheless, the ultimate goal is to give the agent what they want, so be compliant and experiment with bizarre ideas if necessary.<br/><br/>Sometimes you may even be surprised. After you've gotten a tour from the agent, start prepping the house for photos. This means turning on all light fixtures and lamps, pulling up blinds and hiding remote controls, Kleenex boxes, sponges and any other items inside that will show poorly in photos and make it difficult on your <a href="https://www.phixer.net/">real estate image retouching company</a>. For staged houses, you probably won't have to move anything out of the way but in properties where the homeowners are still living there, you may have to hide some personal items and declutter a bit. Remember you have a limited amount of time to finish the shoot, so if the house is overly cluttered or unprepared for shooting, ask the agent whether you should reschedule or if they're comfortable shooting the property in its present condition. There's only so much you can do and you're a photographer not a home cleaner/stager.<br/><br/><h2>Do not spend more than 15 minutes prepping the property.</h2><br/>Do what you can within that limit, however moving heavy furniture, decluttering every room, sweeping etc are not your responsibilities. If you have time, avoid including the following items in your shots; bath mats, small carpets or mats on the kitchen floor, modems and bundles of cords, the homeowner's personal photos, toothbrushes, shampoo bottles and personal toiletries in general, trash cans, bedside alarm clocks, home phones, dog beds, litter boxes and anything else that will negatively affect the marketability of the listing. Usually these items can be gently move to the outside of the frame of the photo, then returned once you finish capturing the space. A note on blinds, in general all window blinds should be pulled up there are few exceptions to this rule, so leave the blinds up if;<br/><br/>A. The view outside is really unpleasant, for example there's a dumpster and industrial refinery, a chaotic construction site or anything else that would devalue the listing.<br/><br/>B. If the agent and insists for whatever reason, on leaving them down, you are after all working for them.<br/><br/>And lastly:<br/><br/>C. If the blinds are broken and won't stay level or pull up entirely. Sometimes excessively heavy blinds can be problematic and it's best not to risk pulling them off the wall. Leave the blinds down and twist them open so light can come through the windows. Other notes on prepping the house; make sure you remove security signs from the front yard before taking exterior shots, also hoses should be either coiled or removed from view.<br/><br/>Garage doors should be closed and garbage cans either moved into the garage or out of view. In kitchen's especially, make sure you double check for cabinet under lighting and turn the stove lights on. Dining room and breakfast table chairs should be tucked in even and orderly. Fans, fireplaces, TVs in any other kinetic features of the listing should be turned off. These objects will appear blurry and disorienting once the disparate exposures are fused by your real estate photo retoucher into an HDR composite.

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The Top 4 Best Photography Filters for Beautiful Real Estate Photos

November 14, 2022

The Top 4 Best Photography Filters for Beautiful Real Estate Photos
Real Estate, Real Estate Photography

November 14, 2022

Modern technology has enhanced the quality of digital filters to improve the appearance of plain photographs. Nowadays, you can easily edit images on your smartphone with creative preset app filters for various purposes like social media posting or marketing.

Most available filters are whimsical, imaginative, and romantic, so they’re not great for post-production of real estate images. If you’re fond of social media, you may use some filters to add spice or excitement to your selfies and video calls.

You need the best filters for real estate pictures; but initially, you have to know why filters are essential in the first place.

The importance of using filters

There are different natural elements affecting photographs that you can’t control, like sunlight brightness or UV rays. You may not have enough time to wait for a favorable temperature or setting, so filters can help you achieve good color, saturation, and temperature balance.

You should use filters that are as natural as possible if you want a suitable photo filter for selling house. After all, one of the primary reasons why you have to make excellent real estate photography involves bringing in sales, improving marketing efforts, and completing conversions.

Filter shapes

You may be ready to purchase your first filter but don’t know which is the best filter for home photos. Before going into the different filters for real estate photography, let’s address the filter shapes. Currently, circle and square are the two standard filter shapes available in the market. 

Circular filters

A circular filter can be attached directly in front of your lens, so purchase one that fits the corresponding lens diameter; this information is available on your lens cap backside. If you want your filter to accommodate different camera diameters, you can purchase a step-down or step-up ring.

Square filters

Square filters can sometimes come in square or rectangular form and are part of an attachable contraption, typically in a bracket attached to a round ring that you can screw in front of your camera lens. A square or rectangle filter is stackable and easy to change, making it an excellent photo filter for selling houses. You need to plan if you want to purchase the bracket or filter system so that you don’t end up wasting money on it. Eventually, you’ll develop your style and technique using different filter combinations.

You may wonder what filter do real estate photographers use to create successful listing images. Here are some of the primary camera filters for beautiful real estate photos:

1. Ultraviolet (UV) Filters

The Ultraviolet (UV) filter is perhaps one of the essential filters newbie photographers use. Ultraviolet light has shorter wavelengths than visible light, and the Sun releases a full ultraviolet radiation spectrum defined as UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C. Even though it is almost unnoticeable to the human eye, it can cause blue tones in photographs. Before using a Photoshop filter for selling house, you must ensure that your photos don’t have unnecessary bluish tones that would ruin the composition and color balance.

Here are the pros and cons of UV filters:

  • Reducing UV light exposure
  • Protecting lens from scrapes and scratches
  • Protecting lens from liquids, dust, sea salt, and other elements
  • Slightly lowering image quality
  • Not protecting the camera from internal damage
  • Reducing the light passing into the camera

A UV filter is one of the essential real estate photography filters, especially for those operating under harsh sunlight, like outdoor real estate photographers.

2. Circular Polarizer (CPL) Filters or Polarizers

Photographers often use a circular polarizer filter (CPL) for landscape, outdoor, and street photography. The CPL is one of the best filters for real estate pictures, especially when shooting outdoor real estate property listing photos.

Here are the pros and cons of CPL filters:

  • Reducing reflections
  • Increasing saturation
  • Enhancing cloud details
  • Allowing limited light
  • Not ideal for indoor shoots

A CPL filter is useful when shooting in high sunlight and not ideal when shooting images for virtual staging.

3. Neutral Density (ND) Filters of Varying Densities

Adobe Lightroom presets could improve any image, but the next item on the list is one of the most versatile and arguably the best filter for home photos. Photographers use a neutral density (ND) filter to create a shallower depth of field, create motion with a slow shutter speed, and reduce light over the whole picture. ND Filter comes in square and circle variants.

Here are the pros and cons of ND filters:

  • Capturing a beautifully shallow field depth using a wider aperture
  • Producing motion blur and long exposures for a more extended duration using a slower shutter speed
  • Creating dramatic effects for lawn, foliage, sky, fog, and cloud scenes

There is more than one ND filter type with different densities for advanced photographers, so feel free to experiment and explore which suits your style best.

4. Graduated Color Filter

If you want that wow factor in one of your real estate listing photos, you can use the graduated color filter to help achieve the best real estate photographs. This filter lets you get creative with the skyscape and brings you the same effect as a twilight replacement edit. It allows you to enhance the color on one half of the photo and retain the normal lighting condition on the other.

When you ask what filter do real estate photographers use, the graduated color filter is not at the top of the list since it presents a more creative approach than the usual realistic property listing photos. It has a specific purpose, mainly to enhance outdoor views such as the sky or sea. 

Conclusion

Filters improve real estate photographs, whether a photoshop filter for selling house or a camera filter, especially when you’re up against millions of real estate listing photos. Most of the ones mentioned in this list are filters ideal for outdoor property images.

If something is wrong with your raw shoots, you may consider getting filters on your digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera. Phixer and most post-production professionals know what kind of filter works best for specific real estate listings.

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