Do you need to take on a professional interiors photographer to help market your property?
We have all noticed the trend towards do-it-yourself digital marketing as we are constantly bombarded by tech companies who can sell your widgets to the highest bidder. Here the question is, do you need professional interiors photography help you to market your property?
More people are realising that they can market their property for themselves without using the traditional estate agent. They wish to avoid those marketing fees.
Of course, there are disadvantages to this if you own a well-appointed property as phone images would not really show your property at its best.
This is where hiring a professional interiors photographer can really save the day.
I was recently commissioned by a property developer who wanted to sell her own home. She was very particular about how the house was to be presented. A large investment of time and effort went into making it look exactly right.
She could see the advantage that professional interiors photography would bring the best sale price. It was considered that this was a worthwhile investment.
Things to focus on
Of course, you need to think about dressing the property. The minimum requirement would be to have a good tidy up. There are certain areas where this is a necessity such as the kitchen and bathroom.
If you wish to show that the property is really loved, then you should bring in some fresh flowers and set out some fresh ingredients in the kitchen. Also consider whether there is a need to freshen things up with a little decorating.
Some people go even further by enlisting the help of a professional dresser. They know the way to make the best of any property and will be able to hire in furniture or artwork to make the property look amazing.
It is up to you to decide what would be best for your property, if there is value invested you may wish to take things further. It could make all the difference to the final sale price.
Are you in a position where you would like to do-it-yourself? If you wish to enlist professional help, please contact me to see how I can help.
I just love working with new interior design clients. Perhaps it is down to how much I can help them with their marketing images. My latest project is for Alessandra Garcia of Orsetto Interiors. She hails from El Salvador and now has established a practice in SW London.
Background to the interiors shoot
I met Alessandra through the power of business networking. This was a chance meeting. All because a networking colleague persuaded me to visit another group. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and she just happened to be searching for a specialist interiors photographer.
Alessandra has been developing her website for a while. Her problem was that not having completed a project meant that she had nothing to show the world.
Now that she has a finished project, it was full steam ahead for the photography. The day was set and Alessandra arrived early to dress the property. This is so important for the designer as they wish to show the interior as it was intended. You do not want so much everyday clutter on display.
Of course, the property needs to look lived in too.
The brief
Fortunately, Alessandra loved my style of interior design photography and the brief reflected this. Alessandra wanted the look of the property to be bright and airy. This was easy to achieve here because there were skylights installed, bringing an abundance of natural light into the space.
The interiors shoot
Arriving at the location, the first thing to do is to gain an overview of the property. It is important to be clear about what is required and which rooms to shoot.
This forms the basis of the shot list and gives the order of shooting. Alessandra also wanted some shots of herself in the property too.
As the light levels were so good in the property the photography was easier for this shoot. I still went through my usual routine of taking a number of exposures with the aim of blending in post-production.
This gives the opportunity to fine-tune the ambience for the property, just as the designer intended. As usual, I bring some emphasis to the details so that the client has plenty of choice of images.
It is really important to provide a whole set of images for the client. Some wider shots to be used as hero images, some closeup for detail and others with space for the copy too.
am always aware of the multifunctional nature of the images as they may be used for social media as well as the website. Some even wish to produce brochures as well.
Thoughts about post-production
While on-site you need to think about post-production later. You need a good range of images with varying exposures so that everything is captured. The skill is then to form a perfect blend to give the effect required. This has to look natural too as there are many images around that look completely false, often with garish colours.
Of course, post-production is completely necessary as you need to compensate for the limitations of the camera to capture everything. Our brains are remarkable in how they process information. This is something that even in these technological times still remains elusive for the camera manufacturers.
The results
Alessandra was so excited about this shoot as this was to key to unlocking her interior design business. She was delighted with the results. So much so, She has already recommended me to another designer who will require a similar shoot too.
With climate change at the top of everybody’s minds now, I thought that I would share some behind the scenes of a recent PR photography shoot.
Background
A PR agency commissioned me to conduct a PR photography shoot for Ionity, a company that operates high powered electric vehicle charging stations.
IONITY is a joint venture of BMW Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes Benz AG and Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche. Their goal is to build a high-power charging network for electric vehicles along major highways in Europe with plans for up to 400 sites.
Their stations can charge at 350 kW which means at maximum capacity, the charge can be completed in around 15 – 20 minutes. They also automatically sense the power capacity of the car, so if you are not lucky to own a prestige car your car will still be charged at its optimum rate.
The brief and shoot.
This shoot was organised in conjunction with Porsche. They had arranged for a film crew to video one of their Tayan cars at Cobham services, near to where I live.
The brief was to capture stills once the film crew had finished their first takes. This meant a reasonable amount of waiting around. It did give me the opportunity to be a little more creative with my photography. It helped that I had a prestigious subject at my disposal.
They wanted some interesting angles and if possible, some action shots too. I decided to take some shots of the car being driven around and arriving at the charging station.
The advantage of working alongside a film crew is that they usually use multiple takes to cover every angle. This gives me more opportunities to get the shots I need.
I did ask if I could borrow the model so that I could get some shots with her using the equipment to bring some extra interest. The answer was obvious because the model politely declined as she had been contracted by Porsche for the day. The moral here is if you do not ask you will never get.
I do have a reputation for being cheeky occasionally, as I like to capture something different. Examples include the local mayor on a Segway and our local MP sporting a stainless-steel bra.
This gave me an advantage as the sample shots sent were of rather more mundane vehicles and the sun was shining too.
To see more of my PR and Events photography work or are looking for professional photography work to promote or capture your events, visit my PR Photography Page!
There is an adage when it comes to the retail environment. “Retail is detail”, which was attributed to James Gulliver, the head of Fine Fare/ Safeway in the ’70s. This was very important when I was recently asked to help with some marketing photography for an upgraded farm shop within a local garden centre.
Background
This is very true when my client took advantage of the recent lockdowns. Their circumstances changed when Edinburgh Woollen Mill closed their outlet within the building. The extra space allowed them to relocate their successful farm shop into the main premises.
This gave me the chance to help them with their marketing photography. They needed to inform their clients of this change.
Kat, the marketing lady, wanted to emphasise that the farm shop had nearly doubled in size. She was excited to announce that their popular ‘cook’ range of frozen dinners had been expanded to eight freezers from the original four.
The brief
The brief was therefore aimed at showing the overview of the space. They wanted to show the context of its position within the rest of the shop.
There was a definite need to show the details such as the vegetable displays, the refillable cereal containers and the expanded range of wines. They particularly wanted to emphasise the range of locally sourced produce, as clients are more aware of reducing food miles.
Kat was also very keen to show that they were operating in a more sustainable manner. Kat wanted to show that they were serious about a reduction in the use of packaging and that this packaging was environmentally friendly.
Of course, when it comes to this kind of marketing photography you need to allow time to capture everything. The shop was open and the staff were still stocking up. Patience was the order of the day.
The premises were well lit so it was possible to get a lot of the shots in one take. However, some shots with differing exposures were merged later to create the appropriate ambience.
Kat was delighted with the results, and this allowed her to take out a full-page advertisement in a local magazine.
If you have updated your offering I would love to be able to help you to publicise this for your valued clients.
Please contact me to arrange a consultation regarding marketing photography or to book a shoot.
During the COVID-19 pandemic whole areas of our lives have changed. An amazing statistic recently revealed that there has been a 750% increase in searches for take-away afternoon teas.
What has changed in your business? How have you pivoted in these challenging times?
So many have now made the shift to online sales. This has become their norm. Others have no option but to remain in physical premises where takeaway is the solution during the latest national lockdown.
A client’s story.
I recently helped a garden centre to produce fab images of their lovely take-away afternoon teas. They can remain open however the café must remain closed for seated customers. To create some cash flow they have decided to offer take-aways and included are afternoon teas.
To be environmentally friendly they ordered in some great packaging which is completely recyclable. It is ingeniously designed to make sure that the tea is perfect after its journey home.
Overcoming the photographic challenges
On arrival for the shoot, I was directed to a dark corner of the cafe which was out of the way of any customers. Looking at the scene, I decided that the way to go was to introduce some artificial lighting. I often use a Lastolite highlight panel which is designed to be a pure white background for portrait shoots. This is a fantastic large source of soft light, which resembles that produced from a window. I always want the images to look as natural as possible and will mostly steer away from using flash.
It was obvious after the first few test shots that this was not going to work. The light was too harsh and with a dull day outside, the images had a very dark background. This is where it is best to admit defeat to your client and suggest something else.
On my way in I spotted that the first part of the seating area was more like a greenhouse as it was totally glass. I suggested that it would be best to set up there a I was confident that the whole shoot could be carried out using natural light which is always my first choice. The cafe was quiet so this would not cause any issues.
This turned out to be a brilliant move as I was soon up and running producing lovely bright images which is my general style.
The shoot was a huge success, and the client is delighted with the images which they can now use to promote themselves on their website and social media.
Can I help you?
If your business needs marketing images of your take-away offering in SE England, then I may be able to help you too. Just contact me or else use the chat function on the site.
The marketing mix has definitely changed over the years. Never more so in the latest crisis. There is increasing emphasis on online content and social media awareness.
This makes it so important that you make the best use of your marketing and PR photography.
The immediacy of modern platforms and the sheer quantity of data being put out there means that your post can disappear in moments.
The key to success is consistency and regular posting. This means that there is a continuing requirement for PR and marketing photography.
There are a number of ways to achieve this…
You could enlist the services of a professional, who will give you the right quality of image to make your business stand out. Another is to keep things in house, although this may compromise things somewhat as quality and consistency may vary.
To mitigate this you can train the operatives and give them exact criteria and briefs. Of course, photography training is another service that I provide and I have recently run one to one sessions for an estate agency and a catering organisation.
For more information about 121 training please visit my tuition page.
As it is now the right time to think about and book this type of shoot, I thought that I would showcase a case study to highlight where I can help.
For more information, please check my Events & PR page.
PR & Marketing photography – case study
Ground Control – Childrens Garden at Kew
I was contacted by the designers and installers of the new childrens garden at Kew Gardens. They required publicity shots of their big reveal to the families of people who work at Kew Gardens.
The benefit for me to receive a fully detailed brief for PR and marketing photography is that I have a reference point to work to. This means that I will capture all of the shots required by the client. The brief given was to capture publicity shots of the newly designed and built childrens garden.
They wanted an overview of the gardens before the official opening and also required images capturing the children enjoying the garden. This was for their website, social media and PR. My point of liaison was the marketing manager.
The garden was designed to be a fun interactive space to encourage children to climb, run, jump and explore. It was based around 4 zones featuring the things needed to thrive and grow – earth, air, sun and water.
The central feature of the garden is a 4m high canopy walk around a 200 year old oak tree. There is also a bamboo tunnel and a water feature that represents a stream, including water pumps and dam gates that open.
