As you are well aware, there is a tremendous amount of CT real estate on the market these days. Making your listing stand out among the thousands of listings in Connecticut can be hard enough, but when you go online, you’re then competing with hundreds of thousands of listings.
It’s for this reason, CTMLS has changed our rules and regulations to allow our members to include 25 photos in your listings. This increase will allow you to not only showcase the traditional aspects of a piece of property, but it will allow you to focus on the unique features of a home that make it stand out from the rest.
This new rules change also makes it imperative that you continue to take stunning pictures that will help your property stand out from the pack online. But you’re not a photographer, how are you supposed to know how to take good pictures right?
One of our agents, who gets more property views through listing syndication then any other Connecticut listing agent, gave us a list of the seven things he keeps in mind when taking photos. Use these tips to make your photos pop.
1.) Take photos on a sunny day
2.) Take the broadest possible photos
3.) Shoot photos with a constant flash setting
4.) Turn on all lights
5.) Take photos of the room NOT the furniture in the room
6.) Put away personal and daily items
7.) Take close-ups of interesting details like fireplace/granite countertops/high end appliances
Keep in mind that CTMLS requires at least one photo be added to your listing within the first 48 hours it is on the MLS, but we recommend that you load ALL 25 pictures with the listing so it’s ready to go when it gets distributed to the web.
Do you have any great tips for shooting photos? Share them in the comments below.
14 Comments
Use a wide angle lens. 12-14mm seems to be the sweet spot for most consumer/prosumer cameras for interior photography. http://www.realestatephotographyinct.com
Great suggestion – I think you’re right, a wide angle lens would be helpful!!
do these photos automatically go on to Realtor.com?
@Alphonse, by default REALTOR.com is set to Y when you add a listing. If you don’t want the listings you enter to show on REALTOR.com then you need to change that to N. If you leave it as Y, your photos along with all listing details will be sent to REALTOR.com
I have used a wide angle lens camera for three years. I think it is an absolute must for a professional. Who wants to look at a corner of a room with a partial sofa or bed in it!
24mm is probably the best when it comes to Full Frame Cameras. I use a 17 – 40L Lens for my Canon 5D MarkII
Remember Crop Sensor DSLR Cameras add a crop factor when it comes to lenses. The Canon Rebels and 7D Line is based on a 1.6 Crop Factor which means a 10MM lens is actually giving you the equiv of a 16MM lens.
@Bruce, not sure what all that means, but sounds like you know your stuff. Great tips. So overall, what camera would you recommend a REALTOR use?
All photos do not automatically go to Realtor.com. I think only the first 4. Realtor.com wants agents or brokers to pay extra to get “enhanced listings”. Like we don’t pay enough fees already.. .Kind of a scam if you ask me.
@Doug, you make a good point. Many of the sites do accept all of your photos. Regardless of whether it is four or 25, it is still critical, as you know, to have wonderful photos. Thanks for your comment.
If taking pictures on sunny days avoid windows and refections from mirrors.
Also hold camera straight. Always take more pictures then you need. Use the best 25. Try taking small rooms from different angles.
Great thought @Julie. Hold the camera straight sounds like common sense, but when trying to get funky angles it can be hard, but in the end I think it makes for better pictures. Thanks for sharing!!
I noticed some pictures expanded pictures to a point they look ridiculous or at the very least, not the right size. the rooms appear so much bigger than they really are. Is there a particular camera that takes great pics, but doesn’t distort the image?
@Maria, I’ve noticed this too. I think it’s because of the resolution you’re using. I believe the best resolution for photos on MLXchange is 640×480, but I could be wrong, I’ll double check.
The depth distortion happens when the lens is too wide. When I recommended 12-14mm on a consumer (cropped) camera .. that is the reason I dont recommend wider. Wider than 12mm (crop sensor) really starts too add distortion of depth that can not be corrected. A full-frame sensor may have better results.