The primary purpose of real estate marketing photos is to present the features of the property. Make sure that each photo visually supports this purpose. Any visual distractions that divert the viewer’s attention from this purpose need to be eliminated.

Use a wide-angle lens to shoot interiors. Wide-angle lenses increase the feeling of space in interiors. What’s a wide-angle lens? For interiors, a lens should have a 35mm equivalent focal length of between 14 and 24mm. Lenses with a wide enough angle of view to shoot interiors don’t usually come with off-the-shelf or point-and-shoot cameras.

Remove clutter and stage interiors for best results. It’s a well-known fact that staging homes pays off. Homes sell faster and for a higher price when they are staged. Most lived in homes have too much clutter. Photos will look better and show more of the home if clutter is reduced and furniture is staged by a trained home stager.

The primary exterior shot is THE most important photo. Spend extra time, money and effort to get a “knock-out” front photo because this is the photo that will be seen most and first by prospective home buyers. Online thumbnails of this photo must entice the buyer to look closer at the property. Many homes benefit from an elevated front shot where the camera is 10’ to 20’ above street level.

Render interiors light and bright. Bright interiors are up-beat and make a more positive impression on the prospective buyer, so you want light and bright photos. Amateur cameras often under expose. Special lighting equipment and/or photo editing techniques must be used to get interior photos to come across light and bright.

Vertical lines (walls etc.) must look perfectly upright and parallel with the edges of the photo. We live in a world where we know that all walls are perfectly vertical. When photos don’t look this way it becomes a major visual distraction.

Vertical and horizontal lines must be straight. Wide-angle lenses cause lines near the edges of photos to curve (called barrel distortion) so special photo editing software must be used to remove this lens distortion.

Don’t let bright windows distract. Unless special lighting and/or photo editing software is used interior windows will tend to look too bright so the view out the window is not visible. It is always possible to show the view out the window if the view is an important selling point of the property.

Don’t let color casts distract. Strong color casts (typically a strong orange or yellow cast from incandescent light bulbs) distract the viewers attention and make interiors look unrealistic.

The way photos are presented online has a huge impact on the overall effectiveness of marketing a property. Photos have the most impact when presented large (800 x 600 pixels or larger) and in a smooth, easily controllable slide show. Real estate sites typically do not present photos in the most effective way possible. One of the purposes of a virtual tour or slide show is to maximize the impact of marketing photos.