The shot on the right has had fake trees added outside the window.
Real estate photos are so important these days that some agents are deliberately making homes look better than they are. Think of glamour photography, but apply it to a house that’s up for sale. Usually it’s just a matter of adding a bit of makeup and photographing a home from its good side, but sometimes real estate agents will go too far.
At least that’s how it was for one Sydney buyer who looked at a house that seemed perfect … when viewed online. When she got to the property she found that the view of bushes outside the lounge room window is in fact not there. What is there is a two storey house, and that’s just wrong.
An article at Domain.com.au discusses this issue:
“Real estate agents have long used colourful language to sell a house. But as the Sydney property market quavers some have taken to touching up photographs in advertisements, to make the sky “bluer” or add a fire in the fireplace.”
– Doctoring of real estate photos continues
I’m a real estate photographer, and yes, we do touch up the photos. If it’s an overcast or rainy day, we’ll add a blue sky, and instead of lighting a fire in the fireplace some of my colleagues will just add one in digitally, and I have no problem with that sort of thing. If it had been sunny the day the photographer took the photo, then that’s what the house would have looked like, so that’s legitimate. Seriously, is there anything wrong with that?
However, sometimes things do go too far. I’ve been asked to take a photo of the view from on top of the roof, even when there’s no chance of the home being raised to that height. I’ve been asked to remove large power lines from in front of a home, and one client has even asked me to “paint over” other homes with foliage if they can be seen in a photo of the home that’s up for sale. All of these things are wrong, and I’ll say no each time, but the requests are still made.
At least it’s better than the old days. One large local agency used to have the one stunning city view shot that they would use on all properties that had even the slightest city view. It was a bit odd seeing the same shot being used for homes in completely different suburbs, but then some agents don’t like to let the truth get in the way of a good real estate marketing campaign.
Im continually amazed at the distortion lenses used by Real Estates and RE Photogs. I have been to visit hosues that look large and spacious only to find them tiny and boxy. I went out of my way to review the property, spend the money required to phone agents and actually visit the property.
I have a list of agents on my local area who I consider devious as a result. They are deliberately trying to fool me, and I intend to drive a hard bargain with them. i go to those meetings with an expectation that they are going to trying every trick in the book.
I can understand using a lense to show as much of the property as possible, but when the lenses are used to (obviously) change the depth of a room, its downright frustrating and annoying. Id be interested to know whether these lenses can be argued to be ‘false advertising’. It sure feels that way to me.
You’re absolutely right, G. Some agents and some real estate photographers do use deceptively wide lenses or angles, and this can make rooms appear larger than they actually are. As a photographer, I think it’s important to show the reality of the room, and I do use a pretty wide angle lens. However, it’s got to be realistic.
On the other hand, maybe we just have to get used to it. When you go to a McDonald’s restaurant, and see the pictures of their Big Mac’s, they look far, far better than what you’ll get when they hand it to you over the counter. Why? Because they spent 6 hours getting things just right for that shot, ensuring they had the most perfect Big Mac ever. When you order yours, it’ll still be a Big Mac, it just won’t be quite as good as the marketing shot.
Same with real estate marketing. Yes, a room might look larger than it would if the real estate agent had used their mobile phone to take a shot, but it’s still the same room.
I’m not trying to excuse some of the deceptive marketing that goes on in real estate … and yes, some of it is ‘false advertising’. I’m just trying to balance this out by suggesting that some of this is “marketing”. You want whatever it is you’re selling to look as good as it can, whether it’s a hamburger (photographed with perfect ingredients and presentation), your second hand car that you’ve got up for sale (you’ll clean it up and make those tyres shiny black for the photo, won’t you?), or a house (make it look as good as possible so that people actually come and take a look).