Companies that sell products tend to be meticulous about the photography of the merchandise they’re advertising — the pictures are almost always crisp, detailed and attractive.

If you’ve surfed online for houses, you know what I’m talking about — the offending photos are so dimly lit you can’t tell how big the family room is. Or toys and family clutter are all over the place. Couldn’t they even bother to take the dirty dishes out of the sink before they photographed the kitchen?

A good understanding of color temperature, having proper lighting, quality, high-end equipment and a trained eye makes all the difference when creating professional marketing photos for any home that’s for sale. This photo is of a home I took in the Golden Eagle area. All Photos © George Martin, Jr., Hallmark Idaho Properties

Brian Balduf runs a company that provides photography services to real estate brokerages, and he has seen it all. He said the quality of real estate photographs didn’t used to matter much, but the growth of online real estate marketing and the advent of the iPad and photo-sharing sites has changed that. Balduf, chairman of Chicago-based VHT Inc., explained how it’s crucial these days that photographs of your house must really sell it:

Q: I suppose it’s easy to blame the real estate agents for poor real estate pictures — after all, they’re agents, not photographers. But why are so many of the photos so bad?

A: Agents, in the past, just marketed homes to other agents (by generally only placing photos on their multiple listing service). They weren’t marketing to consumers. Then the Internet came along, and (the photo quality) still didn’t matter a lot.

Until the iPads and tablet displays became really popular recently, all real estate photos on the Internet originated from the MLS, and the images just weren’t very detailed. But as soon as you started presenting them full screen on iPads or people were able to look at them on 50-inch, flat-panel television screens, consumers started realizing, gee, these photos are really bad.

It’s interesting, because consumers aren’t used to seeing bad (marketing) photos. Every other product they see online, even if it’s a $2 bucket at Wal-Mart, is going to have a good photograph.

And the photos are going to be critical for grabbing the attention of the people who are cruising through houses on the Net — if you didn’t get them with that first impression, you may never get that buyer back.

Q: If you’re listing a home for sale, what should you ask an agent about photography?

A: First, ask to see samples (of photos of previous listings), just like with any other service provider. And ask for photos (of current listings) that are being used to market the houses you’re competing with. If you’re selling a three-bedroom, two-bath, ask to see the photos of other three-bedroom, two-baths nearby.

Ask if the agents photos are optimized for the newer high-resolution displays such as Apple’s Retina displays used on most of their newer products.

The good, bad and ugly thing about these newer HD screens is they automatically make a great photo look even better, but really make a bad photo look even worst. What do you want the photos to say about your property?

Photo above is a lower priced home in Woodside, Hailey Idaho

You’re starting to see more progressive real estate firms saying this is important, and they’re having their listings professionally photographed. But it varies a lot, regionally, and the number of professionally shot houses is small, maybe 10 to 20 percent of the market. Chicago is fairly good about using professional photography. It’s starting to pick up more on the coasts. On the West Coast, you probably see the most professional photography in San Diego.

I took this photo from apx 30 feet in the air – Gimlet Area of Ketchum Idaho

In Florida, you’re seeing it more, and you’ll see more aerial photography there — that is, they might shoot a house from a crane or boom because buyers want to see what’s behind the house — a waterway, a pond, the Everglades.

Q: What goes into good real estate photography?

A: It’s harder than most people realize. Room photography is lighting, lighting, lighting. And when you photograph a home, you may be dealing with every kind of lighting — exterior lighting, incandescent, fluorescent — so without controlled lighting, every room is going to come out different. You may see a lot of bluish bathrooms and kitchens.That’s were a good understanding of color temperature comes into play.

Another challenge is balancing the light so you have a good photo of the interior while allowing the exterior views to shine through. Luxury contemporary home located in Sun Valley

Outside, you want to time the photograph to control for weird shadows; you also want to get rid of parked cars or garbage cans in the driveway.

Another aerial photo taken from apx 30 feet in the air. This home overlooks both Dollar and Baldy in Sun Valley Idaho and recently sold for 5+ million. The out of state buyer said the photos, aerial maps, etc. I posted on the internet for another agent played a large role in viewing the home prior to deciding to call a local realtor and fly into town to see the it in person and ultimately purchase.

And it takes a real camera. Technology is making it easier to shoot bad photos — camera phones don’t have enough flash or depth of field (for rooms). Your drunk friend at a Cubs game, a camera phone is great for that. But if you have a room that’s deep, you want to be able to see it.

A room needs to be shot on a tripod — it’s a must, because the shots have to be level. It can be a gorgeous home, but if the photos are dark or crooked or pixilated, you have either helped the buyer pass your home up or they’ll place less value on it.

Q: What if you have a very simple, ordinary, unadorned home? It may be a great place to live, but what if there’s nothing in it that would look particularly “gorgeous,” by room photography standards?

A: If you don’t have anything that’s unique about your property, then you want to make it look as good as possible. Good, clear photography of a neat, clean home may be your one competitive advantage if you’re on the market and competing against 20 similar starter homes. You may be able to make it sell before the guy who has the same house across the street.

You don’t have to own an expensive home to expect high quality marketing photos. One of the photos above is an affordable home in Woodside and another in Della View.

F.Y.I. The Della View property was just listed this past week and had 4 offers presented within 72 hours of posting the HD Photo Tour online.

Another picture perfect street side view in downtown “Old Hailey” Idaho

Local community and lifestyle photos also help people outside our area get a better understanding and feel for what Sun Valley and it’s surrounding communities are like.

Finally, quality photos are important, but they won’t make a difference if nobody sees them.

It’s critical for your listing agent to have the proper tools, knowledge, networks and syndication’s to give your property maximum exposure by reaching buyers outside the immediate area.

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune / Hallmark Idaho Properties