Image Rules!

When it comes to images (photography) of property listings it is important to remember the age old saying “every picture tells a story”. Many agents today employ professional photographers and whether your agency sells or lease property it is important to understand photography will save you time and money.

A few years ago I was looking for a property to lease in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and one thing I came to realise was that so many agents were just too lazy to take appropriate photography if any at all.

I really wondered what their vendors were paying for. Many of the images I came across were not a very accurate portrayal of the property. People leasing properties are on the whole allot more picky than people buying a property.

So here are some rules all agents should follow.

1. Complete the picture.
Make sure you take at least 5 images of each and every room and feature of a property and then choose the best one from the five. This will mean the site user is given an accurate tour of a property.

2. Image Size
Set your digital camera at 800 x 600 pixels for web images. If take correctly these will be good enough for most print work as well, however if you require larger images then make sure you resize images for the web. Most of the portals including realestate.com.au allow for images up to 800 x 600 pixels. The reason for this size is because still about 25% of people have monitors that cannot view anything above this. In the future this size will increase to 1024 x 768 pixels and I a sure portals will support this size once the 800 x 600 users go below the 10% mark. Almost every monitor sold in the past 5 years has a minimum 1024 x 768 pixel resolution.

Note: Pixels are the little dots that make up an image on a screen.

3. Image Quality
Make sure you do not choose out of focus images or images that are useless for consumers, just because you took the photo does not man you have to use it.

4. Quality NOT Quantity
Some agents have too few images and some too many, one good shot of each room and feature is enough for the consumer to get enough of a feel about the property. So try to think of your photography as a tour of the properties rooms, features and views.

5. Your Camera
I have always said that agencies should have the same camera for each of their sales people (if you do not use a professional photographer). This is because you will naturally have one or more people that take the time to understand the camera and its features, this will help the other users who are having problems.

Overall: I think you have to understand that people viewing property photography are also potential future vendors so with this in mind, think of the impression you will leave on them.