That's a little more than staging... new paint in every room and an entire house of new and higher quality furniture.

The wide angle lens is a good idea.

Staging is so important. That is one of the big differences between the two sets of photos.

However so is good photography. Shooting in HDR and with a wide angle lens is crucial to make the space appear as large as possible and so the space is evenly lit.

I took my own photos for my condo and both those things made all the difference. My condo which is considered a luxury condo, went into contract 3 weeks ago.

Before Photos

After Photos

Lazy-gardens, great comments and wonderful illustrations. Thanks for posting.

lazy gardens

Frankly I don't see much difference -except for dumping the obnoxious palm treat and picking up the kid stuff.

THe dining room and room with the chairs weren't even shot at the same angle (you can tell by the windows in the photos.)

First groups - photo on left shot from right of room and further back and the after photo shot from the left and further up the room

DItto the 2nd set -shot from opposite sides of the room

Get carried away with the wide-angle stuff and you make the photos a lie as to what it is really like. Tends to annoy buyers when they see it in person.

I love to look at real estates sites but I have no practical experience in buying and selling as we've lived in our house over thirty years. My daughter and family bought a new house in another state and I had studied the real estate pictures until I had them memorized. I thought it was a huge house and was so pleased for them. Imagine my surprise when I walked into it for the first time in real life. The rooms were just ordinary in size, very nice, but nothing like the pictures. I guess it was the wide angle lens used. I look at house pictures in a whole new light now. I would be very annoyed if I was house shopping and was fooled like that.

Edited to add: I wrote my post before looking at the pictures Cpartist posted. Even with the wide angle lens I didn't feel they were deceptive. Just wanted to make that clear.

The change in furniture and picking up kid stuff and rugs makes a huge difference!

Actually I agree with peaceofmind and Ann that some wide angle shots really make the rooms look larger than they are. The ones that irk me the most are the ones where the 36" wide refrigerator looks like it's the size of a football field.

You can take a wide angle shot that is not deceptive and will not annoy buyers.

Agree about some listings way overdoing the wide angle. I don't know why they do that, either. I mean if I went to look at some of the houses listed locally based on the pics, I'd be really annoyed at having my time (and the agent's) wasted.

Not talking about you, lazy_gardens. You did a great job!

"You can take a wide angle shot that is not deceptive and will not annoy buyers."

That's the difference between a photographer who specializes in taking such pictures and someone who's just playing around with hardware.

I am a real estate photographer. Taking great pictures is more than just showing up with a WA lens. It involves a little "cleanup" (tidying up the half-dozen towels and potholders hanging off the stove, moving the kids' toys out of camera view, etc.) and some careful shooting (get past the door jamb, don't blow out the sunny window in an otherwise dark room, take pictures that echo the copy or main selling points of the house).

Hardly anyone these days will set foot in a house for sale they haven't seen in pictures somewhere. Images make an impression, good or bad. The careful photographer can take a picture that flatters the property without outright lying about it.

From recent experience, I can say most of the houses I looked at around here did not understand how to use a wide angle effectively. Most of the pictures made the rooms/homes seem much bigger than they really were, so it was really annoying to see how small some of the houses were.

Showing enough of a room so you can see what it connects to is important. That's what the original listing photos did not have (It's the combined photos from two owners' listings). Yes, the change of paint and decor helped, but backing up with a moderate wide angle lens to show more of the room helps the viewer understand.

Wide angle can be revealing or deceptive ... I had to use a wide angle lens to get the vaulted ceilings and the airy feeling when we sold the Phoenix house. But I corrected the distortion with GIMP, and didn't make any room look bigger than it was.

One of the things I teach is photography, and these are great examples. The biggest difference I see is better lighting; the original pix are a bit overexposed. With proper exposure, the colors appear more rich and the room looks significantly more appealing.

The angle definitely matters. I think most people, when they set out to photograph the room, are influenced by the furniture; that is, they take a picture of the table, when they should really squat down and get a long wide shot of the flooring to show just how big the room is.

And, yes, we cannot discount the importance of simply cleaning up. Pack up half the kids' toys and your rarely used kitchen items, put your winter clothes into storage -- consider it getting ahead on your packing. This is one reason magazine pix appeal to us so much: So much space! So much room in which we can live! If we stop to think about it, we might note that the room has no trash can, etc., but we don't -- we just take in "the feel" of the place.

Hmmm, perhaps this is a retirement job for me. Taking pix of houses ready for sale.

"Hmmm, perhaps this is a retirement job for me. Taking pix of houses ready for sale."

Do it if you love the idea. Don't do it for the money.

In this area, few RE agents (typically those selling upper-bracket homes) can differentiate between good images and poor images. And the ones who can't tell the difference are not interested in paying for better.

Who should be responsible for staging? Does the photographer, the real estate agent or the homeowner do this?

Who should be responsible for staging? Does the photographer, the real estate agent or the homeowner do this?

Yes. Meaning whoever has the best eye should do it. I did most of my own staging with just a few suggestions from my RE agent and then I posted my pics here. I was given a few other good ideas with regards to removing some smaller items, etc. Whatever we did, it worked.

The photographer can do some minor object moving, or tell the homeowner what to clear out of the background, and bring better lighting. But they are not decorators.

But if the homeowner wants "staging" as opposed to clearing clutter and cleaning, it's their job or they can hire someone. Some realtors in high-end markets probably stage because their clients expect it.

steve_o -- I just have to ask!

How often do you improve a bathroom shot by simply closing the the lid on the toilet?

Do sellers not notice this Ick Factor because they live that way? They don't routinely *close before flushing*?

chisue, that's happened on occasion. Usually it's more in the realm of moving clothing out of view. :-o

Then again, closing the lid is my preference: even when they are spotless, I don't find the insides of toilets that attractive to look at. So I always put the lid down at home, too -- even if I'm not taking pictures. So I always do it.