How to stage a home for the best property photos
Staging a home for property photos is an essential part of the property marketing process. A recent survey from the (US) National Association of Realtors suggests that 80% of estate agents who represent buyers said that prospective buyers were more likely to visualise themselves in a home when it’s been staged for photos. In most cases, a prospective buyer will check out a listed property online before they decide to view it, so it’s important to stage a home for property photos.
Whilst a home can be staged before photos are taken, there are photo editing softwares available to manipulate the images after the photos are taken. We’ll share a few in this blog post, where we’ll discuss how to stage your home for photos.
Remove clutter from your home
Whether an unattractive vehicle is parked outside a property on the day of the shoot, or toys are strewn across the floor inside the home, clutter needs to be removed from the property prior to photos being taken. This is particularly important if a prospective buyer is not in the same age demographic as the current occupier, for example, a prospective buyer in their 60s may not be able to visualise themselves living in a property that’s owned by a young family if they see their personal belongings on show in the photos. And it’s no good hiding the clutter from the camera, as 360 degree virtual tours are increasingly becoming popular, and there is an increasing return to physical property tours post-pandemic. Nonetheless, if an unsightly car is parked outside the listed property which cannot be moved prior to the photoshoot, DCTR Photo provides object removal features to ensure that unattractive objects are removed from images. Their photo editors not only remove objects, but they’ll enhance images to a high standard ready for property listings.
Implement an attractive interior design scheme
When a prospective buyer is viewing a home, chances are their sense of interior style doesn’t match that of the current occupier. In order to stage a home for photos, it’s useful to remember that the property is being sold to someone else and therefore, should attract a wider audience and not reflect the current occupier’s personal style. To achieve this, the home staging process could involve moving furniture to zone spaces according to their usage, as well as implementing a neutral interior design scheme. Restb.ai provides a room tagging tool powered by artificial intelligence, which detects how spaces are used and includes specific details, such as the materials used for flooring and which appliances are installed. This helps a prospective buyer understand exactly what they’ll get in the space. Consequently, they’ll decide whether they’re serious about buying a property faster.
Ensure rooms are well-lit
A well-lit image of a property makes observers feel relaxed and draws them to an image. Therefore, it’s important to have good lighting in the interior spaces during the home staging process. If it’s a bright day, ensure that as much natural light can enter the interior as possible, by drawing back curtains and blinds. On a dull day or in rooms with limited natural light sources, turning on lamps will ensure the space is well-lit. In most cases, a space will appear darker in images than in reality, so a photographer will then use photo editing softwares to prepare the property images for listings. Photoshop is a photographer’s photo editing tool of choice, however, for a faster editing process, a photographer can use Autoenhance.ai photo image enhancer. Trained with artificial intelligence, Autoenhance.ai will automatically brighten dark interiors using the relighting feature. As it’s also impossible to control the frequently overcast British weather, Autoenhance.ai also includes a sky replacement feature to replace an overcast sky with a bright blue one, making the images seem like they were shot on the best day of summer.
