DO PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

When looking around a room or at the outside of a property, your brain and eyes are working together in all kinds of neurological interaction to let you see most of the room – as well as the view outside – with seemingly no effort at all.

When looking around a room or at the outside of a property, your brain and eyes are working together in all kinds of neurological interaction to let you see most of the room – as well as the view outside – with seemingly no effort at all. But the brain is far more capable than even the cleverest of cameras and it takes a lot of work to get the perfect shot: it’s not simply a matter of point and shoot. Which is why we never take photos ourselves.

One thing estate agents love when it’s time to take photos is a sunny day, and for exterior shots the sun does indeed make everything shine. Bricks, painted woodwork, trees, lawns and flowers all look magnificent in the sunshine, showing your property, garden or terrace at their absolute best. But inside, it’s a different story.

Before digital photography, the sun was something of a nightmare for photographers trying to accurately capture the look of a room along with the view – and there are lots of nice garden views from the houses in Leytonstone, Wanstead, Leyton and Forest Gate! The differences in light levels would play havoc with the camera, often meaning the photographer would ‘blow’ the windows to capture the interior, with the view somewhat bleached out.

However, digital cameras and software like Photoshop allow the photographer to take two identical photos, one capturing the interior by blowing the view; the other capturing the view by darkening the room. The photographer then overlays the images in Photoshop, putting the interior shot on top, and cuts out the windows to reveal the view beneath. This is the most accurate way to reflect what the human eye sees and is why we use professional photographers for every property we market.

Professional photographers use sophisticated digital SLR cameras, high quality wide angle lenses, tripods, spirit levels, multiple flashguns and reflector screens to ensure that photos are perfectly level, and then put their Photoshop skills to work to optimise each image to full effect: it’s a long and involved process that is simply not going to be repeated by an estate agent. And the differences are remarkable, creating eye-catching images that make people stop and look.

Even if you gave an estate agent exactly the same equipment as a professional photographer, there is simply no way they would achieve the same results because there are multiple skills and years of training and experience involved.

You can generally tell when a photo has been taken by an estate agent, rather than by a photographer. The images are usually wonky, with the camera held up high and facing down into a room, resulting in a distorted picture turning all the vertical lines into diagonals. The process gets repeated outside with the camera held too low and looking up at the exterior, again distorting the shape of the building. It’s a typical result of using inferior equipment with a lens too small to take in all that it needs to.

The way your property is marketed can dramatically effect your success in finding a buyer or tenant. Almost every enquiry we receive is a result of the photography we use, whether from our window displays on the high streets, our website, or from property portals like Rightmove and Zoopla.

Professional photography has a hugely positive impact in the marketplace and it’s our view that nobody should put their home on the market without professional photography if they want to get the best result.

If you’d like to talk about any aspect of selling or renting your property in Leytonstone, Wanstead, Leyton or Forest Gate, our team would love to help.