Beginners Guide

Practical Advice for Your First Real Estate Photography Shoot

Practical Advice for Your First Real Estate Photography Shoot

There’s a lot of advice that can help you walk out of your first real estate photography shoot with better photos, but not all of it is practical.

This article will outline some practical advice that you can easily put into practice before and during your first real estate photography shoot.

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Advice For Your First Real Estate Photography Shoot

Although your first real estate photography shoot can seem overwhelming, it can also be the start to a great career in the real estate photography industry.

It’s important that you go into your first shoot with the proper skills and knowledge, but also without huge expectations. It’s ok to make some mistakes, the goal is just to limit them.

Use the following advice to walk away from your first real estate photography shoot with the highest quality photos possible.

Plan Ahead As Best As Possible

Before heading out, research the property as best you can. The easiest way to do this is by punching the address into Zillow or Realtor.com

If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to see a bunch of photos that a different real estate photographer captured. You’ll get an idea of the layout of the house, the possible best angles, and if there is any sort of feature that might be difficult to photograph.

This will save you time on the shoot and ensure that you capture the most important aspects of the property.

Make Sure You Understand Your Camera

At the very least, you should go into your first real estate photography shoot with a decent understanding of your camera and how all of the basic functions work. You’ll need to be able to adjust your shutter speed and ISO at a minimum.

You do not want to be on your first job sorting through menu functions or questioning why your camera isn’t doing what you want it to. You’ll be distracted and you won’t be capturing the best images you can.

Get to know your camera and lens well before your first real estate photography shoot.

Stage The Photo

You may not be able to fully stage the house or make sure that everything is clean, but you can make small adjustments to each shot. Doing this will make a huge difference in the quality of the image.

Clear off kitchen counters, set up the chairs around the dining room table, hide the trash cans, and remove clutter when possible.

Checkout our Free Home Staging Checklist to see a full list of how to best stage a home. I give this list to every new realtor I work with and try my best to properly prepare each room. It really will make a huge difference.

Use Natural Lighting When Possible

If there is some beautiful natural light in the house, make sure to use it to your advantage. This means finding the well lit areas with sunlight streaming through the windows and then using it in your photography.

Everyone, especially realtors, loves to see tons of natural light coming into a home. Obviously, this isn’t going to be possible in every room or in every house.

Great natural light can directly lead to portfolio worthy images for a brand new real estate photographer, so it’s important to use it to your advantage.

Bring All The Gear You Need

Although this seems like an easy one, it’s easy to forget things when your stressed, excited, or anxious about your first shoot. If you can, pack all your gear well before the shoot so you aren’t thinking about a million different things while also getting your gear together.

Showing up without the proper gear doesn’t just ruin your shoot or cause your photos to look worse, it’s also unprofessional and will not be appreciated by your client.

Photograph The Room, Not The Stuff In The Room

Bad real estate photos put too much focus on the furniture/appliances in the room rather than the room itself. Buyers and realtors don’t want to see the stuff in the room, they want to see the room itself.

It might be tempting to try and get the full couch in the shot, but first ask yourself if it’s really that important to show the whole couch (it’s not). The same thing can be said for refrigerators or stoves in the kitchen.

It’s ok to only show half of the couch or the refrigerator. It’s not ok to cut out a portion of the room.

If you’re having trouble doing this in practice, try to focus on the architectural details of the space, even if it’s just a window or a doorway. This will help shift your attention off the furniture.

Overshoot If You Have The Time

By overshoot, I mean in terms of angles you capture. You don’t need to deliver every angle you capture, but capturing a few extra angles gives you some wiggle room incase one of your photos was out of focus or you end up not liking some angles you thought looked good.

Assuming you have enough time, overshooting can be like an insurance policy. Give yourself more options to limit your mistakes.

Additional Resources

Check out our Beginners Guide. It’s full of helpful articles and tips that will guide you in the right direction as you begin your real estate photography journey.

You can check out our Gear section as well to see reviews and recommendations on the latest real estate photography gear.

If you’re more interested in other resources that can help your real estate photography business, check out our Business Resources page.

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About author
Matthew Digati is a professional Real Estate and Architectural Photographer. Matthew has worked as a Real Estate and Architectural Photographer since 2015 and has photographed properties and projects all over the United States.
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