Use great images to sell your house

Keen to sell your house? Cherry Beesley from Simply C Photography explains how to set the scene right and watch the images of your home do the selling for you..

There are few things in life more stressful than moving home. As a property photographer with a background in interior design and styling, I’ve seen first-hand what a huge impact the right imagery can make when it comes to finding the perfect buyer.

Getting it wrong can really take its toll on stressed-out sellers keen to move on in their lives and get the best price for their home.

Property photography, particularly when it comes to interiors, is all about ‘setting the scene’. The aim is to enable potential buyers to visualise themselves living in that home – entertaining guests, enjoying that morning coffee on the patio, sitting in the garden or enjoying a good night’s sleep in their luxurious bedroom.

When it comes to properties of a certain value, this is all the more important. Investing in a new home isn’t just about bricks and mortar, it’s about investing in a desired lifestyle.

I’m going to let you into a little secret … setting the scene in preparation for a professional residential property shoot is really quite simple.

Top tips for setting the scene in a residential property

Clean up – You would be surprised at just how many vendors don’t do this – and the camera will not be able to disguise any mess within the final photos.

De-clutter – This is a biggie, and includes removing objects such as wastepaper bins, bags and shoes, towels, kitchen roll and even toiletries. Buyers know that all of these things will be present in a home, but they don’t need to see them.

Hide electrical cables – Unsightly or tangled electrical cabling can be really distracting in photographs and is really quite unnecessary. Hide those cables up behind furniture, tack behind chair legs, or unplug and wrap up until the photography session is over – whatever you need to do to get them out of the way.

Position ornaments – You may have those bedside lamps positioned to the left or the right for ease of reading in bed, but in a photograph they will just look out of place. So centre any lamps or position purposefully alongside any other objects. Or if you can’t quite get the positioning right – feel free to remove the object altogether.

Get the iron out – It’s a fact of life that bedding is there to be slept in, but potential buyers do not want to see the remnants of current owners in their sheets, duvets or pillows. Ensure that any bedding, including throws, are clean, dry and straight – if you need to, enlist the help of a second person to pull sheets tight outside of camera sight.

Remove personal objects – Remember when I said the key to residential photography is enabling buyers to visualise themselves in the home? This is why I also recommend removing any objects that are too personal, such as family photographs or children’s paintings from the fridge.

Keep lights turned off – Often, when rooms are photographed with the lights on, this can draw attention away from the room itself and may even give off the impression that the room is usually dark and gloomy. It can also result in that odd yellow halo effect which doesn’t look good. Use natural lighting.

Feel free to take a look at some examples of my recent residential property photography on my website. To book a free consultation or to discuss photography services get in touch.