How not to photograph a house.....

An image has lots of variables..besides the quality of the image color and lighting wise, how wide the lens is without making it like a fun house or fish eyed adds into it.  But sometimes the image is okay, just out of season and no one came back to replace the image that had snow in it when it is July and 75 degrees. That is just lazy not anything to do with the actual image.  Removing clutter before picture, turning on lights, and thinking about the time of day to take the image is key. Asking owner if they have any snowless images important too!

I saw a good one yesterday of a Realtor planting a sign in the yard in front of a house with his butt turned toward the camera when the picture was taken by someone else.  I won't post the picture here to protect the innocent.

Andrew makes a good point, sometimes the distortion created just to maintain "verticals" just isn't worth it.  There is an agent now that has images posted that make a pool table look 15' long, and a bathtub long enough to fit Shaq comfortably.

If the consequence of having perfectly vertical lines is a complete distortion of the rest of the room, then the verticals take a pass in order to keep "proper" perspective.

Kevin,

Wow you found some lovely pictures in that video. Thanks for your post and the credits. Hopefully we can all take a little more time to make our listings look better.

One critique about your video.  I could barely hear you with that music going.  It was a nice beat.

Not to solicite business although another visual way to market your homes is with 3D Floor Plans.  With new technology you can bring an enitre home to life and not limit yourself to different angles shots or areas of the home.  With 3D floor plans you remove the roof and you view the entire house to scale!

Their is a lot more work as far as data collection to market this way, although the extra time and effort will show in the end result

Kevin, if you want to be considered a professional in the real estate industry, you either need to take professional pictures, or find someone who can take them for you.  Very entertaining pictures.

Kevin, if you want to be considered a professional in the real estate industry, you either need to take professional pictures, or find someone who can take them for you.  Very entertaining pictures.

thats funny stuff Kevin

Great post, I have seen out of focus pictures, cluttered pictuers, dark photos, photos of outside of homes with cars in front. It amazes me. A little preparation . . .

Kevin - My favorite shots are the ones with flash shots in a mirror with the agent. Always a good one. :-)

Kevin, I'd like to know how to remove the clutter from a picture. What do you do when the seller has "stuff" everywhere and you know the pictures won't look good? I've had sellers out of state send me a key and ask me to list a house.  I told a seller the other day that I would list her house after she packed some stuff away or moved it somewhere else. Sometimes they just can't or won't move stuff. Any ideas?  Is no picture better than a picture with clutter?

As a broker and a photographer, I am amazed at some of the photos used to display a home. 

I ask my clients to remove as much clutter as possible, but sometimes will have to move it to another room until I finish the photo.