Real estate photography

An hour of preparation changes a listing gallery more than any amount of post-production. Clear every countertop completely — not tidily, completely. Remove personal photographs and fridge magnets. Open all the blinds, turn on every lamp in the house, and park cars away from the front elevation. Agents who do this get noticeably better galleries from the same ninety minutes than agents who do not, and no editing recovers a kitchen with a toaster and a stack of mail in the frame.

Window-pull blending is included rather than an upsell, because a listing photograph where the windows are blown to white tells a buyer nothing about the view, which is often the most valuable thing the property has. Verticals are straightened and colour corrected throughout. Files arrive within 24 hours in both MLS-sized and full-resolution versions, so a property photographed in the afternoon can go live the next morning.

A short-term rental listing is a different brief from a sale listing rather than the same photographs at a different price. A sale photograph sells square footage and light; a rental photograph sells an evening — the table laid, the lamps on, the balcony at dusk. Say which it is when booking, because the same ninety minutes produces a noticeably different set and the two are not interchangeable.

The order matters more than people expect. Exteriors first if the light is good and last if it is not, interiors from the doorway of each room rather than the corner, and the best room photographed twice. Thirty retouched photographs from $295, with a commercial licence for the listing. Where a building or an HOA requires a photographer to be scheduled in advance — which most managed condo towers do — that is arranged before the date rather than negotiated in a lobby.