One of the keys to a good listing is beautiful photography. It is essential for real estate professionals to know what works best in creating these eye-catching photos and what to avoid.

A big part of doing well with real estate photography is having the right equipment, and often the investment that effort requires will pay for itself in the form of more attractive photos that generate more interest, according to Fit Small Business. Wide-angle lenses, tripods and professional cameras will help real estate agents capture the beauty of the homes they're listing far more effectively than simply taking a picture with even an advanced smartphone camera.

Getting it right


Agents should consider the benefit of taking HDR photos, which involves using three different shutter speeds on the same photo, then digitally and automatically merging them together to make the photos that much more attractive.

Agents should be encouraged to think like photographers when approaching a photo shoot. They should take the time to set up shots, rather than clicking and moving on. Focusing on the lighting and carefully examining a room for the best feature to highlight are simple steps in gaining those professional results. In much the same way agents stage homes to make sure everything is just right for an open house; they apply that same level of attention to detail to the rooms in which they're shooting photos.

After the fact


Once a photo shoot ends, an agent's work isn't quite done, according to SLR Lounge. Pictures are then edited by going into a software platform like Photoshop and making sure everything they want to highlight in an image really "pops." While many minor edits that beautify an already-nice image can be done with just a few clicks, others may require a little more work.

Fortunately, for just about any issue with a photo, there are going to plenty of online tutorials - including some on YouTube that walk viewers through every step of the process - that can show agents exactly how to use even advanced techniques to get the most out of every photo.

Once all that is done, agents can then go through everything they've edited to select the handful of the most impressive and attractive pictures they took. Posting them on listing sites and social media alike will then help draw interest from prospective buyers in short order.

When trying to get a better handle on tackling real estate photography themselves, agents will likely have to take more of a trial-and-error approach, especially at first. Once they gain a little more confidence with their own photo shooting and editing skills over the next few months, that can translate to a lot more business down the line.

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