Marketing Your Rental: Great Photos Make All the Difference

[John Mireles]

As a landlord who also happens to be a professional photographer, I thought I'd share some tips for taking photos that really helps your property to shine. Most of the photos I see on Craigslist are poorly done at best. The good news is that it doesn't take too much to make your photos - and your property - stand out from the crowd.

- The first point I'll make is that if you're not including photos, you'd better have a darn good reason. We're a visually driven culture who wants things now. You're losing so many potential renters who won't even consider a property without a photo. The bigger the applicant pool, the more chances of getting the tenant you want at the rate you want.

- Next up, most photos come out too dark. There's usually a couple reasons for this and both have to do with how cameras set the exposure. Without going into the technical details, if you point your camera at a white subject (as most rental rooms are), it will underexpose the shot because it thinks the walls should look dark gray. The other reason photos look dark is because there's a window in the background with a lot more light than the interior room. The camera is then tricked into exposing for the outside - thus making your interior look dark. Here's a couple of examples:

In the shot above, the camera exposed for the background sky thus making this room that's actually probably pretty bright into a dark cave - which most renters don't like.

Here the white surfaces of the bathroom fooled the camera into underexposure. One easy cure for this is to take the photo into a photo editing program and lighten it up. For this image, I used iPhoto. Took about 20 seconds to lighten it up and export it out again. Looks more like a bathroom I'd want to shower in now!

If you're shooting photos with your iPhone, an easy trick is to touch the part of the photo that you want to be properly exposed and the camera will make the adjustment. It's not a perfect solution but it does come in handy.

- Next up, avoid using your flash if at all possible. The hard light is not flattering and it tends to leave a black hole wherever it doesn't reach. Here's a couple of photos that just sort of kill the subject:

Better to stick with available light as it tends to be more rich and natural looking. Here's a shot from a unit of mine in what's actually a fairly dark kitchen using light from just the windows.

- Use the widest lens you can get your hands on. The best way to make a small room look big is with an ultrawide angle lens. Using a wide angle, I can make this cramped bathroom look workable:

- Crop out the junk. Don't feel you need to show everything. Showing the sign out in front is not going to help sell the property.

For this shot of my little cottage, I got in nice and tight to crop out all of the landscaping that has yet to be completed.

I'll finish up with a couple of other pointers. Be sure to hold your camera steady. Houses are often dark places for the camera which means slower shutter speeds. Relax and don't rush when you're snapping the photo. If you're not uploading the original photo, be sure to resize your images to at least 1,000 by 1,000 pixels. I hate looking at small 200 pixel images since I can't tell what the heck I'm looking at. Use the full resolution that Craigslist has to offer.

That's all for now. Feel free to add more.

John