Here are our golden tips that will give your photos the edge.
Staging
Your home needs to look its best before you take any pictures. Find out more about staging your property here.
Cleaning and Declutter
Make the house super-clean and remove any superfluous junk that distracts the eye. That includes gunky bottles of shampoo in the bathroom and the worn-out sponge on the kitchen sink. Children’s rooms usually need a lot of work in this department! You also need to remove any seasonal decorations as they will date the photos.
Go Natural
If you can, use natural light in your pictures – throw open the curtains to let the sun in. Avoid backlighting when you aim towards the windows, or correct the photos afterwards.
Angles
Take photographs from the door or a corner of the room to create a sense of space. You can even stand on a stool to make things feel more spacious, or go low to emphasise interesting features. The ceiling should take up the top quarter of the shot to frame it. Use a landscape shot (horizontal) for large rooms and a portrait shot (vertical) for smaller rooms. Outside, photograph the exterior from an angle (rather than head-on) to give depth, and avoid wire and poles as much as possible.
Keep it Real
Shots should remain realistic, or renters might be disappointed when they arrive and find that rooms are smaller, darker or less pristine than the pictures suggested.
Post Pics
After you’ve taken the pictures, touch them up on the computer to brighten dark spaces, or crop out distracting features.
Full Coverage
You want your pictures to tell a story, inviting people in through the front door, bringing them through some of the main rooms and highlighting the best features; it’s great to show how the rooms connect. You might include areas like storage spaces, roof gardens and balconies…. but avoid a piccy of the toilet! Not every room needs to be posted in the listing.
People Free
Your shots should not have pets or people in them – and that includes a picture of you in the mirror!
Sky High
You could get really fancy and use a drone to get some aerial pictures of your place if you think the location merits it.