4 Easy Ways to Improve Your Real

Estate Photography
Compositions
by Abby Ferguson, MFA
May 16, 2021

Real estate photography is a relatively simple way to make money off

your photography. That said, there are some very common
compositional mistakes that I see lots of photographers making on a
regular basis. Fixing these four things can greatly improve how your
real estate photos show off a property!

Before diving into the tips, some background information is in order.

My time overseeing the photography department for a large vacation
rental company and subsequently freelance editing for that
company has given me the unique opportunity to see an excessive
number of real estate photographs. While I was working in-house,
we edited over 30,000 images per month, and while I obviously
didn't see all 30,000 photographs, I did see my fair share of those.
The problems listed below are the issues that I see most frequently
and also ones that can have the biggest negative impact on the
images.

One thing worth noting upfront is that real estate photography is a

bit different than architectural photography, both in terms of its
purpose and style. Architectural photography is to
highlight architecture and design. Architects, interior designers,
builders, and more look for architectural photographs to document
their projects for use in portfolios or publications. They are most
frequently used for very high-end properties. Because they are for
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 portfolios and publications, the photographs are expected to be
around for longer and thus are expected to be a bit more
polished. They can be a little bit more creative than real estate
photography for this reason as well.

Real estate photographs (and by extension vacation rental

photographs), on the other hand, exist to serve one main purpose: to
give potential buyers or renters a solid understanding of the home so
that they are enticed to buy or rent. A key part of that is being able to
see the layout and flow of the property. It is less about creativity and
more about documentation. That is why how you compose your real
estate photographs is so essential. If listing photographs are done
well, it should almost feel like you are walking through the property
when scrolling through images. Your images should also highlight
the features and finishes of properties, which are at times dependent
on how you compose your shot as well.

Tripod Height

In this example, the low tripod height on the left cuts out the ceiling fan, which is a big
selling point for both real estate and vacation rentals. Raising the tripod to show that
there is a ceiling fan is, therefore, a better decision.

How does tripod height impact composition, and how, by extension,

how you highlight a property? There are a few ways. First, as
mentioned above, real estate images are intended to be more or less
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 a walkthrough in still image form. To aid in that, the tripod height
should feel natural. If the tripod is too high or low, the images can
feel really awkward and can turn people off.

Second, and more importantly, having your tripod too high or too low
can cut off important features that need to be shown. This is where it
is really about finding a happy medium. If your tripod is too close to
the ground, you may cut off ceiling fans, recessed lighting, high
ceilings, or any other features that may be towards the top of the
room. Low camera height in kitchens or bathrooms can also be a
very negative thing, as it will keep the surface of the counters from
being visible, and countertops are generally a big deal. But, if the
tripod is too tall, the floors may get cut off, not allowing potential
buyers or renters to see that very important feature. Extremely high
tripod height can also make the space look a lot smaller than it
actually is, which is definitely not a good thing.

Having the tripod too low in the kitchen can result in just the edge of the counter being
shown. The surface of the countertop should be visible as it is an important selling
point.

There isn't necessarily one height that works for every property or
even every room within one property, so it is something that you
need to adjust as you go. Generally speaking, between four and five
feet is best. Kitchens and bathrooms will benefit from the slightly
higher end of that spectrum, while bedrooms and living rooms will be
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 on the lower end. The key is looking at your images while you shoot
and adjusting if you are cropping out or hiding important elements.

Shoot Level

The downward angle here cuts off the ceiling fan, which again, results in missing an
opportunity to show an important feature.

In the same vein as tripod height, another common mistake that I see
is photographers tilting their camera down or up, resulting in
converging vertical lines (as in the example above on the left). A
downward angle is the more common issue of the two angle
problems, and the result is much like having your tripod too high.
Important features on the ceiling get cropped out, which then misses
an opportunity to show potential buyers or renters why they should
choose this particular property.

Another reason converging lines should be avoided is that they can

create distortion, which isn't good for selling a property. While you
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 can correct perspective in editing, if you are making too drastic a
correction, the distortion will get extremely bad, throwing off the
scale of things and just looking all-around strange. You will also need
to crop significant portions of the image out, as seen below, if you
correct harsh downward (or upward) angles. Parallel vertical lines
just look much more polished and professional, which is never a bad
thing, so just shoot with your camera completely level. Most cameras
these days have a built-in level when using live-view, which is
extremely handy. You can also use the level on your tripod or get a
level to go on the hot shoe of your camera.

When perspective issues are corrected in editing it can result in severe distortion as well
as significant cropping.

Shoot From Corners

While shooting straight-on creates nice lines, it fails to show that there is a doorway
leading through to another room (and then the hall) behind the fridge.

One common style in more high-end architectural photography is

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 straight-on angles. While those images can look very nice and serve
their own purpose, overusing straight-on angles in real estate or
vacation rental images is not beneficial. As mentioned at the start of
this article, one of the main reasons for real estate images is to make
a buyer or renter feel like they are walking through the property.
Being able to see that there is a bathroom off of a bedroom, or that
the kitchen is open to the living room, and so on, is extremely
important. Home layouts can be deal-breakers for people, and if the
layout isn't shown well in the listing photographs, they may not even
take the time to look further. When only shooting squared up to walls
you miss the opportunity to show the full layout of the home or will at
the very least need to take more images to do so. We have limited
time to capture the attention of viewers, so getting more information
in fewer images is important.

Shooting straight-on in this instance hides both the air conditioner and ceiling fan.

Don't Block the View

Perhaps the most common mistake I see in all of the real estate
images I come across is using all sorts of objects to frame the shot.
While in other types of photography, framing your composition with
something on the edge can create a visually pleasing image, in real
estate photography it just gets in the way. There are three main
categories of this that I see on a regular basis: doorways, lamps, and
miscellaneous objects.
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 Doorways

The door frame on the right of the left image takes up nearly a third of the composition
without adding anything useful.

Doorways framing the image is probably the number one culprit.

Often, this is a result of someone not having a wide enough focal
length or an attempt to problem-solve photographing a very small
room. The issue is, framing the room with a doorway is going to
make the room seem even smaller. Also, as mentioned above, we
have a limited time to grab the attention of viewers; if a door frame
takes up a third of an image, you will need more images to cover the
same information, which may result in people checking out before
viewing everything. Simply make sure that you are stepping just past
the threshold of a room so that the door frame isn't in the image, but
you are still capturing as much space as possible.

Lamps
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 Sticking the camera right next to a lamp is another all too common
issue. This does nothing but block the view of the room, leaving the
potential buyer with a significant portion of an image
showing lampshade, which doesn't tell them anything about the
property. Instead, step away from the lamps and let the room do the
talking. Let buyers or travelers see what the room is like as opposed
to hiding it behind a lamp.

Miscellaneous Objects

In this instance, framing with the bookshelf on the left-hand side prevents us from
seeing that the entrance to the house is there, which is an important thing to show.

Miscellaneous objects act essentially the same as lamps (and

doorways), but I thought it was worth pointing out. Often, I see
bookshelves, pillows, or other random objects used to frame the
scene. Instead of creating a pleasing composition, however, they
take away valuable real estate (no pun intended) that could be
showing the room, layout, and features that people may want to see.
In both of these examples, key aspects of the layout of the home are
hidden by objects on the edge of the frame. By stepping forward just
slightly or moving the camera in a bit of a different direction, the
composition drastically improves and travelers are able to get a
much better understanding of the home. Instead of having a large
part of the image taken up by insignificant information, I am adding
information that matters.
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 By moving the camera over to the left, I am able to show more of the room and layout of
the home, and less of the unimportant wall and pillow.

In Summary
At the end of the day, the most important thing to remember with
real estate photography is what the purpose of the images is:
showing potential buyers or renters what a home is all about. If you
take photographs with that purpose in mind, it will likely help you
create much more successful images that will therefore make the
sale or rental of the property much more successful as well. And if
you are looking to create vastly creative images, real estate
photography probably isn't for you.
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