thank you for sharing! The difference is huge, especially on the wall colors, in your shoot it looks cream yellow while it’s white!
I do not think I would be nearly as successful if I did not have pro photos. The ones I have done just do not compare.
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Always go with pro photos. This is the best investment you can make for your listing.
Once guests are on the search page, all they see is the main photo and the title. If these don’t grab their attention, you won’t be booked no matter how awesome your apartment actually is.
I’m considering hiring a pro photographer. I have a condo to rent out in St. Thomas, USVI and one in Park City Utah. Does any body know how to find a pro photographer (other than Airbnb)
Look for local business listings for photographers. Call and ask them what kind of photography they do and if they do indoor work in homes. Then go look at some of their work.
Or ask around with people you know. There are lots of people who are great photographers, like my oldest daughter, and my other daughter’s boyfriend, who even has his own darkroom, but they aren’t professional photographers, i.e they don’t do that for a living. But they’d be happy to have a little gig doing that.
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Ask realtors who they use for their listings. Get a few referrals and ask the referrals for links to their best work. The photos by the pro in this posting are pretty mediocre, and only slightly better than the OP’s pictures. I think a number of folks have been beating around the bush about it, but if your listing is about being comfortable in a personal space, your personal photos might give the listing credibility. If you have a place where you want to emphasize its uniqueness or beauty, a pro might work better.
What the pro brings is balance to an image, and some technical chops to achieve that. They will likely have a very wide angle lens, and will know how to manipulate the HDR so that you can see everything clearly. They’ll also pay attention to composition and to color correction, and eliminate foreground or background objects that might distract from the image.
If you don’t see a dramatic difference, the pro is not working very hard.
The thing you have to be aware of if using a real estate photographer is that most real estate photos are staged. My daughter had one come to photograph when I was staying with her and her house was going on the market. We had to put basically all the everyday things of life away, leaving the place furnished but looking like no one lived there.
As a lot of Airbnbs are about a place feeling homey and cozy rather than high-end hotel-like, you wouldn’t want those type of photos, plus an Airbnb has to look basically exactly in the photos like it will when the guest arrives.
So a real estate photographer will certainly have the skills for indoor shots with nice lighting, you just have to make sure they understand the difference between real estate and str photos.
Yes. Under promise, over deliver, something that’s difficult to do with “Pro” images.
Just my opinion…
JF
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Yes, my photos aren’t the greatest, and I do plan to update them before I open to bookings again once the COVID threat passes, but I have had several guests say “Oh, this is way nicer than I expected” and that has come across in reviews, as well, which is kind of what we’re aiming for, yeah?
I’ve read way too many reviews where the guests say the place was way smaller than it appeared in the photos, or that the photos must have been taken years ago when everything was new, because the furniture and carpets were worn and damaged and that the place needed some serious TLC.
And these weren’t generally complaining reviews from overly fussy guests, as they made mention of the host being really nice and helpful, the location being great, the amenities and little extras appreciated, etc.
This reminds me of a fellow who posted pictures of his place. I think every poster told them the place looked dumpy and cluttered. He really didn’t seem to understand the tips we were trying to give him. I tried doing a search using the term cluttered but it returned too many results. LOL.
So one person’s “homey, perfect shared house” listing might strike a guest differently.
People definitely have different definitions of things. When I say homey and cozy, I mean somewhere that looks like you could find a comfy chair to cuddle up in and read for the afternoon, that reflects a host’s unique decorating style, with maybe the art work on the walls being done by the host, their kids or artist friends, where things have been designed with comfort foremost in mind as opposed to trendy decor.
Cluttered, or messy, for me, would be the opposite of that, it makes me feel agitated to be in an environment like that and not relaxed at all. On the other hand, I dislike souless, sterile-looking decor done up with the latest trendy colors and furnishing styles and no imagination.