How do you get those WOW images?
You’ve just been instructed on a terrific property. The signed Agreement is tucked lovingly in your folder as you speed back to the office to be congratulated by the whole team on bringing in the highest priced property so far this year.
The vendor is keen to get his home on the market so you need to arrange photography, pronto. Because it’s a premium property, you’ve chucked professional photography in with the fee. You want to make sure it looks dazzlingly good to really showcase it and hopefully win new high-value instructions from it. Is your usual photographer (aka junior neg) going to be able to handle it?
First of all, let me explain to you that there are actually two different kinds of professional property photographers, and choosing the right type will dramatically improve the results of your photoshoot.
Magazine photographers – I’m not suggesting these are magazine photographers; more that they have a magazine style in the photography they take. These images may look like styled rooms, as if they were in a magazine. Bright, well-lit images with no distorted angles (verticals) and beautifully presented spaces. These images are the epitome of ‘property porn’; gorgeous to look at and to drool over. Properties that best suit this style of photography are those that are stylish enough to grace the pages of a magazine: contemporary penthouses, sprawling country estates, even chic country cottages. A sophisticated colour scheme and excellent interior design are both vital components of this type of photoshoot.
Architectural photographers – these are photographers who primarily seek light and texture. They love worn doors, rusty hinges and crooked walls. You’ll find them out with their cameras at dawn and dusk to capture the atmosphere of the scene using low light and backlit shooting. These photographers are a must for period homes, converted barns and chapels, or even modernist structures like Huf Houses. Properties that have architectural merit of any kind need a sympathetic photographer who can see the potential images in every angle, crevice and feature. They add history and texture to their images, turning each one into a story in its own right. These images will not look out of place in Architectural Digest or even a glossy coffee table book. A word of warning though – the interiors of these properties may not interest and excited these photographers as much as the exteriors, unless of course it looks like the Olde Curiosity Shoppe.
In an ideal world of course, you wouldn’t have to choose between these two photographic disciplines; every property photographer would be equally good at either. In the real world however, I’m afraid most of the time, you’ll have to choose.
Remember your new vendor is going to absolutely love the images of their house – and so will their friends and family. In fact, they will undoubtedly be the most beautiful pictures ever taken of that property. And that’s how you really up your game and start winning the instructions you deserve.
Worth the extra few quid? I think so.
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