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The Secret to Superior Photos is a $60 Investment
By Ryan Ward | August 7, 2008
It’s amazing how many photos we see of homes for sale with pictures that look like they were shot by, well, an amateur. Unfortunately for most agents, the expense of hiring an expensive photographer just doesn’t make sense, but, that does not mean that you need to compromise quality. A $60 dollar investment in some high quality contractor halogen lights can easily provide you with the necessary lighting to get a photo shoot right for just about any listing you will take. The lights that you see to the left cost me about $55 dollars and you can see below the stark contrast that having proper lighting will make on your photographs. As an agent who runs a team selling Atlanta real estate and specializes in the use of the internet to market listings and generate buyer leads, I do my level best to try and stay in tune with the needs of consumers in the real estate market today. It should go without saying that we need good photos, but, many just haven’t taken the time or effort to learn how to do it correctly. It’s not necessary to spend 8 hours with photoshop if you do it right the first time and you don’t need a $2,000 SLR to make it happen. A high quality point and shoot along with proper lighting will get you photos that rival anything a professional can shoot. Here are a few examples:
Old:
And here is the new photo with the added lighting:
What’s more is that the first photo was actually shot using one, but, not both of the halogen lights. Without the halogen light, the back wall was barely visible because it was so dark. Here is another example”
Old:
New:
Again, even the first photo was shot with one of the halogen lights, but, without the halogens, these photos were completely washed out.
Another technique to improve photos dramatically is to you the small light somewhere out of sight, deeper in the picture such as in the room at the far end of the photo. This will help to add a tremendous amount of depth to your shot and really bring the room to life. For a larger home, this is essential if you want both agents and buyers to see your listing for what it truly is.
Topics: Technology |
Thats a big difference using lighting like that. We were filming a video the other day and we just could not get the room bright enough, now I know what I need to buy to solve this problem. Thanks for the tip!