One picture at a time…
You’ve seen those beautiful photographs of homes in magazines and online. You believe that your own home could appear to be just as impressive. You put much effort into maintaining it nicely, but you just never thought to capture it in pictures. It certainly makes sense though. With all the work you’ve invested it would be nice to have a record of the results of your labor. Of course there are situations that offer more pressing reasons to have photographs of your home – like you have to sell it. So, since it could become a necessity, take a look at some of these tips, they are designed to help you take professional-grade photos without having to hire a photographer at correspondingly high rates, if at all possible.
Perhaps the most obvious and most important tool you’ll need for taking a quality photograph is a tripod. It allows you to find the perfectly appealing composition by keeping the camera perfectly still. If you’re using a camera phone, you can take plenty of test shots with ease, review them and tweak your setting until it’s as close to your vision of perfection as you’re able to get. If you have an actual dedicated camera, you may even change the lens until you achieve the desired effect. Perhaps the furnishings in the room need some aesthetic adjustment. Take your time, with a tripod you are guaranteed wonderfully still images.
One thing to consider when talking shots is the distance between the camera and the ground. Aim to take low shots. It will help with the compositional consideration you’re trying to employ. Basically, when the camera is positioned below eye level the images produced will resemble the professional 
pictures in magazines more closely. Set your tripod to be at about forty inches from the floor and see how well those photos come out.
It doesn’t hurt to keep your camera straight and not-at-all tilted. When the camera is angled up or down, vertical lines in the picture can appear distorted, which will defeat the purpose of working to get clean pro pictures. For a particularly powerful look, shoot straight into an elevation of a room (or building). For this, the camera sensor should be in line, parallel with the subject. You’ll find that this technique provides a pleasing resulting graphic. By being centered on the subject, the symmetrical balance will give the feeling of a firm and controlled stance.
If you’ve got gear, that’s great, but you don’t necessarily need to employ it all for this purpose. For instance, using a fisheye lens in this context is illogical. It makes the subjects close in physical proximity appear even nearer and things just further back will appear distant and small. Basically, the look you’ll get is unnatural. Just use a normal lens or wide angle lens (if you can get one) for the best result. Step as far back from the subject as possible getting as much into the shot as you can. In this case less is more. You may not get everything you wanted in the shot, but you don’t sacrifice photographic quality, either. Everything appears uniformly proportional, and we get a natural feeling for the room.
Most cameras, particularly of the simple point and shoot variety, have better built-in settings for dealing with low light situations. So turn off the flash, it will never be strong enough to light a room professionally. That’s why photographers have all of that bulky gear – just for lighting! Thanks to the tripod, you’ll be able to have a long exposure that provides a natural non-blurry image.
Now, in the unfortunate circumstance that you find the photos just aren’t coming out good enough (and/or if you are a real estate agent), you may find it best to hire a professional photographer after all. They are generally readily available and competitively priced to get your business. There are many uses and needs for the photos in a pro-selling capacity and it’s important to fulfill them all quickly with little issue. A picture says a thousand words, and when a prospective buyer is checking it out, each ‘phrase’ must serve to make your home as appealing as it can.
Though not possible for most facets of life, photography can succeed in making pictures appear even better than the real thing! You can use that to your advantage by bringing the best out in your home with a little visual artistry.
