How to Prepare a House for Photography
Useful Tips
Before deciding to view the property in-person, most people carefully read the information about the property in the MLS database and especially look at the photos. To get the best photos and make the most positive impression, you need to properly prepare the house.
Furniture
If you have a lot of furniture in the rooms, remove part of it. The fewer the better. The rooms should look spacious. Leave only the furniture that is needed to show the purpose of the room. If the room is oversaturated with furniture, it will look like a dusty warehouse, and not a spacious room in which you want to be. It is very important to try to make the room more impersonal
We recommend removing all the toys from the rooms. Even from children’s bedrooms. Buyers will want to see the space, not the “cool” toys that children play.
Tip: Use the phone trick: when it seems to you that you have removed everything – take a picture. Look at the picture and continue cleaning.
Kitchen
Clean up the mess. Remove everything from the countertops so that they are visible. Remove everything that stands on top of the cabinets. Remove all magnets from fridges. There should be no dirty (or clean) dishes in the sink. Remove the calendar from the wall – it dates the shooting. Clean all metal surfaces to prevent fingerprints. Take away food bowls and animal drinkers. Wash and polish the sink and range to shine. Layout colored towels and potholders, a beautiful bowl or vase, wine glasses, some colorful fruits or vegetables as props.
Bathrooms
Remove everything from the countertops, except for a vase with flowers or one or two decorative gizmos. Remove the cleaning products and the waste bin. Make sure the shower curtain looks nice. If this is not the case, replace it or remove it completely. Make sure that the surface of the bathroom, countertops, sinks and taps are cleaned to a shine. Hang multi-colored towels in the role of props.
Bedrooms
Make the bed. Remove all clothing, shoes, etc. Remove everything from the bedside tables, except for night lamps, flower vases or similar decorative items. Children’s rooms should be completely freed from toys, clothes and objects hung on the walls, except for paintings. No posters, slate boards, awards, trophies or other personal items.
Tip: If you buy a new bedroom linen kit specifically for shooting, try to avoid colorful small drawings – on linen, on plaids, and towels.
Laundry room
Clean up the mess. Clean everything: dirty clothes, laundry baskets, trash baskets, shoes, hangers, etc. Make the room look as spacious as possible.
Mirrors and Glasses
The places where dirt, dust and spots will be most noticeable are glass, and especially mirror surfaces. Surprisingly, in ordinary life we rarely notice them. The camera is arranged differently than the human eye, and from different angles, all this little dirt will begin to come out in the form of terrible stains, which are often impossible to retouch even with Photoshop. Therefore, pay attention to the cleanliness of all the mirrors in the apartment.
Lighting
Lighting is the second key point after cleaning. If your house has properly organized lighting, most likely there will be no problems shooting. And if not? Of course, we will bring with us all the necessary lighting, but in interior photography, there is nothing more beautiful than natural light.
Therefore, check whether the curtains are well opened, whether the blinds are working properly so that at any time you can let sunlight into the room!
Check if all bulbs are working in light fixtures. Surprisingly, missed bulbs are the most common problem. No, the photographer doesn’t always need this light for shooting, but it will be immediately noticeable in the photographs if some of the lamps are missing in the sconce or chandelier and it will look ugly!
Tip 1: If the lamps in the lamps (especially glass and translucent) are powerful, it is recommended to install a dimmer or purchase low-power lamps, so we can achieve a soft dim light.
Tip 2: Try to select all the lamps of the same color temperature (warm, for example, 3000K). This will allow you to achieve a well-matched color pattern without distortion of natural colors.
Personal Photos
Remove all family photos – buyers will want to imagine themselves in this house. To avoid leaving walls blank, use neutral images. You can even in the same photo frames
Pets
Do not forget to remove all traces of the presence of animals in the house! This applies to such things as a playpen for animals, bowls for food and drink, bedding, houses, toys for pets, catwalks in windows, birdcages, a wheel for hamsters, etc. At the same time, aquariums are quite acceptable – leave them where they are.
Conclusion:
Of course, the photographer can solve most of the problems in a graphic editor, but the result will be much better if you prepare the house in advance. These simple tips will help not only during the filming but also during the showings of the house to customers, and you, in turn, are more likely to receive your “dream offer”!