Why a Property Photographer is vital in todays marketplace

As the world becomes increasingly digital, the importance of visual content cannot be overstated. In the real estate industry, it is especially vital to have high-quality photography to help showcase properties and attract potential buyers. Property photography has become an essential part of marketing homes, and it is something that cannot be overlooked in today's competitive real estate market.

Property photography involves capturing the best attributes of a property and presenting them in a visually appealing way to entice potential buyers to schedule viewings. The significance of great property photography has been underscored by multiple studies that have shown a clear correlation between stunning visuals and the success of the sale. It has been revealed that homes with professional photos receive more views and sell faster than those without.

In property photography, it is crucial to showcase every angle of the property, including both the exterior and interior. As a skilled photographer I can capture the home's key features, including the layout, decor, and lighting, all while balancing the size of the space and maintaining the feeling of depth. The goal is to offer potential buyers an accurate representation of what the property looks like, leaving the viewer with the feeling that they're standing in the space.

One of the essential aspects of property photography is having access to the right equipment. As a professional photographer, I use high-quality cameras that can capture images with stunning detail and clarity. Additionally, specialty lenses, and lighting equipment can help create the perfect lighting in a home, making it more attractive to potential buyers. I also use advanced editing tools to enhance the images, ensuring that the images are perfect before publishing.

Real estate professionals often work with real estate photographers to showcase the best aspects of their properties. As a property photographer my goal is to capture images that create an emotional attachment and sell the property. Images with high-quality resolution and color accuracy, combined with the power of storytelling through visual language, can create an almost sensory experience for buyers, making them feel that they're already living in the home.

In conclusion, real estate photography is a vital aspect of modern real estate marketing. When done correctly, it increases the chances of attracting potential buyers and making sales. A professional Property photographer with the right equipment and technical expertise can make a difference in how a property is presented in the market. With that said, real estate professionals should invest in quality photography to gain a competitive advantage in today's real estate industry.

Window Pulls in Property Photography

Sometimes in property photography a view to the outside is required. I say sometimes as a view may not always be needed. If its a view to a garden, then yes. If it a view onto a busy street then maybe not. Window pulls are very often in my work flow as a Property Photographer, so below is essential to getting high quality imagery.

This is what the process is and its a very quick & effective way to get clear view of the outside.

• Take an ambient or flash shot making sure everything is exposed correctly

• Then increase your shutter speed to show the outside. Be careful not to go too dark as you what the photo bright enough to look natural.

• Directly point the flash at the window frames, slightly over exposing the area around the windows. You may need two or three shots for this as the flash can appear in the shot. I this case, I flashed to the right in two frames so I can photoshop the reflection out.

• Now that you have your ambient/Flash shot & your windows exposed correctly bring the images into photoshop.

• Put your window pull layers on to of the exposed photo. In this case I photoshopped the flash reflection using the second flash image.

• Add a black layer mask

• Using the darken blend mode and paint with white to revel the clear windows

• Flatten and save.

Architectural Photography - How I got the shot

Close to were I live here in Dublin is the stunning Eircom HQ building.

For Architectural/ real estate Photography the number one rule is your lines must be straight. This is were a shift lens comes into play. When using a shift lens, all your lines are straight. Sure you can use a 16-35mm and use the vertical slider in photoshop, but this reduces the quality of the image dramatically. The image below was captured with the Laowa 15mm shift lens. In my opinion this is a great lens and is less expensive than a Canon 17 tilt shits. My only interest is the shift function of the lens & have no need for the tilt function of a Canon 17mm TS.

Below my my camera setting in getting the shot

Laowa 15mm shifted up (not fully as this degrades the image in the corners), F11, 10 second exposure & iso 500. The 10 second exposure was just perfect to get the light trails

With Architectural photography timing plays a major part in the final image. If I had been a little later in capturing the below shot, the sky would have been too dark. A little earlier and the sky would have been too bright.. So, timing has to be perfect.

One of 7 Best Property Photographers

Nice to get a mention as one of the 7 best Property Photographers in Ireland

Thank you to www.perfectproperty.ie

7 Best Property Photographers & Videographers in Ireland (perfectproperty.ie)

The Benefits of Organising Professional Property Photography

If you are planning to have photos taken of your business, you will have a good reason to take those photos. More often than not, it will be because you want to sell or rent out your property. This means that any images you have taken (and share on your chosen platform) need to be of the best quality possible. 

Of course, you can try to take your photos yourself, and you may get some great shots, but there is a better way. One great option to consider is organising a professional property photographer to take the pictures for you. 

This can come at a cost, which means that you will want to know whether or not it is worth spending out on. 

To help to show you why it is definitely worth paying out for, I have put together my guide to the main benefits of organising professional property photography.

They know how to highlight the best parts

You may have parts of your property that you like over others, but this doesn’t mean that you will always know how best to highlight them. They will understand all about angles and lighting, which in turn, will ensure that your images look amazing, no matter what angle they are taken from.

The images will be of great quality

Another great thing about choosing a professional to take your property photos is that they have the best equipment. Not only this, but they also understand how to use that equipment to achieve the very best results possible. Something that you may not have. 

There is a post-production process

When you take your property photos yourself, the chances are that your idea of post-production is to simply download them to a computer and then upload them to your website of choice. However, this is not the case with a professional. They will have a detailed post-production process, in which they can touch up their shots and ensure that everything appears to be perfect in the images. 

They will help you to generate interest in your property

Above everything else, one of the main reasons you are going to want to use a professional to take photos of your property is that they will help you generate interest in what you have on offer. It doesn’t matter if you are planning on selling or renting out your property; with their help, you can make sure that you have plenty of interested parties wanting to know more about the property and seeing it in person too. 

 As you can see, there are several reasons why you may want to pay out to have your images taken professionally. If you want to make sure that you have maximum interest in your property, then get in touch with me today and see if we can help you to make the most of the beauty of your home in every single shot.

How Professional Property Photography Can Help Your Business

As a estate agent I am sure you realize that now, more than ever, high quality photography is the first introduction (and sometimes the only introduction) to a potential client of property for sale.

In such a competitive market place, getting the right photographer to create images that showcase the property at its absolute best can be difficult at times. There are far too many “run and gun” or HDR (a blend of images in a software program that often result in a cartoon effect) photographers out there whom prefer to produce passable results over actual quality imagery. I prefer to spend an extra couple of minutes getting the images just right & I find the more and more estate agents are accommodating as the final results are pleasing to the eye.

As the say, a picture is worth a thousand words. This is so true in the case of sales. A real estate image needs to have proper angles, color, lighting, lens, ect to create an image, were the buyer can visualize themselves actually living in the property. This visualization is the key to the sale.

Poorly taken images are often bypassed by the potential client & a sales opportunity is lost. There are some estate agents whom prefer to take their own images, but find themselves loosing out due to how competitive the market is at the moment.

As a professional real estate photographer, I am always mind full of who I represent. First and foremost I represent you, the estate agent. It’s my job to create high quality images that drive sales & I do this thru my extensive knowledge of my lighting and camera gear as well as Lightroom/photoshop skills.

FYI - Because of the size of the room, the below image took 5 flashes to light

Interior Photography - Declan Burtenshaw Photography

Interior Photography - How to light a long room

Have you ever seen Property Photography Photos were above the camera is well exposed and as your eyes are drawn into the photo, the room gets progressively darker. In this blog on Real Estate Photography, I will show you how I can evenly light a long room.

As you will see from the below example, Real Estate Photography is all about lighting, and a good property photographer can take almost any space & light it well. After all this is what we are essentially paid to do - Making spaces look good by lighting them correctly.

As for tools needed, as well as a camera (obviously), tripod, two flashes and a trigger of some sort. Sometimes I use a simple trigger I purchased on Amazon, other times I use a Camranger (my preferred method) hooked up to my phone. From this I can easily adjust the flash power to meet the need to light the scene properly. This method save time going backwards & forwards to the camera, checking for the correct exposure. Some would believe a camranger would slow you down, but I find I can instantly see from my phone what adjustments are needed. A little time to set up, but this is easily made up. Like all tools in my Property Photography bag, Its knowing when and how to use them.

The first step in getting an Interior Photography Shot of a long room, is to get a ball park exposure & light the area above the camera, giving a bright foreground. Then I light (using a speedlite or AD200) either side of the other end of the room. The flash pop on the left side lights up the right side of the room and the flash pop on the right side lights the left side of the room. A little confusing I know, but the trick here is to separate the photo into two halves (or zones) & from a bit of practice, you will understand the method.

A simple brushing technique (to hide my self either side) in photoshop & an evenly lit interior photography shot is created. Another way of doing this is you can use a 50% gray mask & brush accordingly.

Sometimes, using a powerful mono light like the Godox AD600 can do the job if you have the right conditions and have knowledge of the inverse square law. In this case, you would blast the wall behind the camera, the transition of the fall off is much smoother & therefore lighting the scene correctly. Works great on a white wall, but try it on another colored wall can create a color cast.

Property Photography can be challenging, but knowing your tools and when to use them separates a good interior photographer from the rest.

Benefits of Professional Property Photography

As humans, we are visual creatures. Our judgements are based on what we see, we are attracted to what looks good & in the case of Real Estate/ Property high quality images that we can imagine ourselves living in.

So what makes a quality image?

Recently (in my last blog post) I was assigned to photograph a penthouse apartment in Dublin City Centre. The apartment itself was crisp & clean but this was not the main selling point. The particular selling point was the fantastic view of the cityscape. So, my task was to capture both the modern interior and the view at the same time.

Enhancing the selling points of the property with correct lighting, camera setting & position, making it look its absolute best is an essential part of the job.

My moto is “ providing a first impression that sells your property”. First impressions last. If you like something you will remember it. Professionally lit images attract attention, the more attention the more demand for the property & the more demand, ultimately the higher the selling price.

Estate Agents

As you can see on my website, with more focus on quality rather than speed. Its so easy to make a comparison between a good and not so good property photography. A lot of photographers use one flash on camera. The results are (for example) a brightly lit entrance but dark hallway and dark staircase. In this scenario I would use 3 lights to balance the exposure for the whole scene of the image. In the picture of the example below, I used 4 lights ( behind camera, Lounge, far back & the staircase). Took my time but as you can see the results are of high quality.

I work with leading Estate Agents whom appreciate the results I provide & as a professional property photographer in a crowded marketplace, I represent these agents whom i am taking the photos for. This is at the foremost on my mind with every photo I take. My job is to use my skills to attract the attention of a buyer by providing high quality images & after all this is what makes the sale.

Interior Photography & how I get great images

With Property photography, I come across lighting challenges every day. Some are simple enough but others as more challenging & offer fantastic results, as you will see below.

Recently I had the pleasure of photographing a penthouse for an estate agent in Dublin. The view of the city was spectacular, so needed to capture this to its full potential. As photographers are well aware, it is no easy task. Indeed I could do an HDR and bracket five exposures (or more). Its an easy way but the results wont be as clear as I had in mind.

Interior Photography is all about the correct lighting balance & it is a difficult task. Expose for the interior and your exterior is blown out. Expose for the exterior and the result is a massively underexposed interior. So what do I do?

The answer lies with flash. If you want to balance bright exterior with a dark interior or visa versa, you use flash. Knowing how to use flash and camera settings get results like these….

By the way, I was delighted to see my images used in the Irish Times on Thursday the 25th of March 2021