In the modern age, marketing a home isn’t just about how the house looks or how exposed it is. Buyers get their first impression of the house long before they actually see it. Pictures provide an opportunity for buyers to view the house and make their first decisions about it. As a result, pictures have become an essential part of marketing. If you are able to capture excellent pictures of the house, you have one more way to make your house stand out from the crowd. Below are a few tips on how to accomplish this feat.

On the outside, make sure trash cans, garden hoses, and other unsightly items are put away. Take pictures of the whole house, and then a few of the neighborhood. Try standing on something tall to get the house from above. Take a few pictures close up of particularly nice looking areas. Also take pictures showing the view from the house making sure you get some of the yard (front and back). Overcast days generally give you the best coloring and allow you to avoid shadows. However, sunny days with clouds can provide a great background for the house.

Make sure the inside of the house is clean and tidy. It’s best to take pictures during the day so you can see the outside through the windows. You will want pictures of each room, and again, close-ups of special features like fireplaces. Take pictures from every angle to make sure you get the best one. Try turning on all the lights in the house. While it won’t actually add much light to your pictures, it will provide a nice atmosphere.

One of the most helpful tools for inside pictures is a tripod. Often the problem with interior pictures is that they are too dark. Even if you use a flash, large rooms are left partially light while the rest is dark and uninviting. If you have a camera that allows you to manually adjust the settings, a tripod can fix the darkness (tripods that have a built in level are really helpful in ensuring your pictures come out straight). Using the tripod allows you to adjust the aperture and shutter speed to allow more light in. You will want to use a larger aperture and slower shutter speed to lighten the picture. If you are not familiar with the manual settings on your camera just focus on adjusting the shutter speed. Most cameras have a “Tv” setting which allows you to adjust the shutter speed while it takes care of the rest (check your camera manual for specifics in utilizing these features). The larger the number, the slower the shutter speed. Just remember, most of the numbers are fractions so 1/50 is faster than 1/30. You will want to slow down the shutter speed (larger number) in order to allow more light through the lens. If you take a picture, and it is still too dark, adjust the speed and try again. If you are in a hurry try just turning off your flash. This should cue the camera to automatically make a few adjustments to allow more light through the lens. As a rule, it is better to make the adjustments yourself to achieve the perfect lighting. This technique can dramatically improve the coloring of your inside pictures.

Try to take your pictures from an angle that gives the room the biggest look. If there are any mirrors utilize them. Allow the mirror to show the part of the room that is not in the picture. This is especially useful in bathrooms. It allows you to capture more of the room than you would otherwise be able to put in one picture.

If you own Photoshop, an excellent way to show what the house really looks like is by merging several pictures into one. This allows to you to capture more of a room than a normal lens could. You will need to use the tripod to accomplish this look. Set up the tripod and camera in a place you can view the whole room well. Starting on one side of the room, take a picture then rotate the camera to capture the next section of the room. The second picture should have some overlap with the first so the photos can be merged. Just less than half the picture should be overlapped. Continue rotating the camera until you have captured the whole room. Make sure you don’t move the camera up or down, or move the tripod. You want to have all the pictures taken from the same perspective so they can become one picture. You will also want to somehow keep track of your pictures since it can be overwhelming to sort through them all when you are done. One simple way to keep track is to take your sweep of the room, and then take a picture of something completely different so when you are sorting through them later, you can determine which pictures go together at a glance. Try not to take more than about three pictures of one room because more do not merge well together.

Once you have the pictures on your computer and have opened Photoshop, you will want to go to the file tab, then to “Animate” and click on “Photomerge.” You will then see a box where you can pick the pictures you want to include, and then merge them. Once you have clicked “OK” it will take a couple of minutes to merge, but you will have a much broader picture. Sometimes the merging leaves gaps or messes up images in the picture, but these imperfections can usually be quickly fixed using the cloning or other similar tools.

Taking good pictures for the first time requires patience, but once you have done it a couple times, it will become natural and go much faster. If you have to take pictures anyway why not take a few more minutes to make sure they are excellent? Pictures will improve the marketing of your house as prospective buyers are able to obtain a taste for the house. By following the above tips, you will be on your way to great marketing.