Adventures in Real Estate Photography

Taking better pictures of my work is one of my goals for 2014.  I struggle with the room or project not translating to the screen accurately. In person, my spaces have soul and depth and personality. In pictures....meh. Well, maybe meh+. In my quest for photographic nirvana I have learned some things.

1. My cellphone is ok for instagram or a picture of my ancient dog and cute kitty in the sun....it is not ok for my business.

2. Composition in life and in photos is different. Less is more in pictures. (More on that later)

3.Patience is a virtue. Wait for the right light, take way more shots than you think you will possibly need. You can delete all the horrible ones later.

4. Tell a story, set a mood. This one really is the easiest for me to understand in concept. I do this in homes easily.....getting it to convey....I am still working on this one.

Realtors as well can use this advice for their listing photos. Using a professional photographer is not always an option, so if you are taking your own pictures, remember.....they are the virtual gateway through which your buyers will pass, and a dark, dingy, cluttered doorway is not inviting. (here comes the "more on that later") Matthew Millman, professional photographer from San Francisco gives this advice

"While the eye can handle complexity well, the photo is more democratic and does not respond to clutter as gracefully. Your photos should be ambitious, trying to tell as much of a story as possible, but the styling or staging should be simple. Let the project speak for itself. Do not add too much. And if a space is cluttered, pare it down. Remember that your viewer is building their own story about the space through your images. If the images are messy, the viewer will figuratively trip on the things in a space and miss the design. However, if the space is crisp (not sterile), then the viewer has room to imagine what they would feel like if they were there."  See Matthew Millman's homepage here.

So I am off today to learn how to use the "real digital camera" in the house. Hopefully I will return a little bit better at photography and at conveying the image in front of me to people on the other side of the monitor. Until  then...I will leave you with one last cell phone picture.

Vintage table, sofa, sconces and prints. New cat.

Say Cheese,

Teresa
The Sellable Home

PS....if you are following me on Google+, please follow my business page, The Sellable Home, LLC on google+

Interview with Barbara Corcoran of Shark Tank on Importance of Home Staging

Instead of writing witty words today, I am going to share a great interview with real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran on selling homes, home staging and the market today. Enjoy.


part 1


part 2


Short. Sweet. To the point. I am not even going to clutter your mind with a picture!

Happy Humpday.

Teresa.

Yard Sheds..... Often Unrealized Assets.

Do you have a little square footage of un-claimed equity in your back yard? Two of the top items on homebuyers lists today are A)Storage and B)Offices. A shed can provide both of these requests. While you don't need to do an overhaul like I have planned when selling your home.....you do need to clean it up and make it an asset buyers will want!

 I have a shed in my yard. Sadly, it is not the cute Hobbit House pictured above. It used to be "the man shed", but "the man" got a whole new addition and garage, so I have claimed the shed as mine. Don't feel sorry for me thinking that I got the short end of the sick in this deal...I think I got the best part. I have however been paralyzed by the options available to me as what to do with the shed. This is not like me at all, I usually jump right in hammers and paintbrushes flying. But I really want this to be special, or useful, or both...heck, I don't really know what I want to do with it.

I am inspired by all the gorgeous and amazing shed photos out the on the "inter-web"...lol. It is truly overwhelming.

I would like this......

Or this.....

Maybe the inside could become a haven, like this...

Or incredibly useful, like this....

Or an office, like this...

The sad truth is.....what I have right now, looks like this........

This is pretty dreamy stuff heh?

Can you feel yourself relaxing yet?

Yeah.....Welcome to my reality... and probably yours too. But really, it is nothing a truck and a trip to the dump can't fix! Have ideas for my shed? Put them in the comments below, or email me thesellablehome@gmail.com. If you are a google+ user,  The Sellable Home, LLC. I really want your thoughts.....so get going!

Spring is around the corner....hang on.

Teresa.