5 Tips for Photographing Houses

A Guest post by Joseph Osborn from Online Photo Resource.

Most of us don’t drive through neighborhoods looking for houses to photograph because, let’s face it, houses can be pretty boring. But from time to time we have a good reason to capture a particular house. It might be a childhood home we want to remember or a current home we are trying to sell. Regardless, when the time comes, you may find out that making a house look good can be a challenge. Here are five tips to get you headed in the right direction.

Tidy Up

This may seem obvious, but mowing the grass and cleaning the weeds out of the gutters will make a house look a lot better. A few minutes with a broom can save you from an hour with Photoshop’s stamp tool.

Pick an Angle

Shooting from an angle rather than straight on gives the house dimension and character. It also gives you at least two choices of what to include in the background, so pick the angle that is flattering to the house and provides the best backdrop.

Watch the Weather

Shooting on a cloudy day will give you the best lighting for a house. The light will be even and diffused so you won’t have harsh shadows to deal with.

Balance the Light

To make a house look cozy and inviting, there is nothing more important than balancing the light from the windows with the light outside. The key to achieving this balance is picking the right time of day. Even with all the lights blazing inside, nobody will notice them in the middle of the day. But as the sun sets, there will be a window of time when the exterior of the house can be properly exposed while the interior appears to glow with warmth (thanks to man-made lighting.) This may only last for ten minutes, so make sure everything is in place in advance.

Shoot in Raw

Because of the challenge of balancing natural light outside with electric light from the windows, this is a great time to use your camera’s RAW setting. With your RAW converter you can tweak the balance between the lighting and adjust the white balance to emphasize the warmth.