Also, if you want every window in the home to look crystal clear,  requires adjusting each window pane independently to get the optimum view quality. Many high-priced homes have multiple panes with  50 or more panes in each window. This is very time-consuming, but doing it any other way gives inferior results.  It easily triples the post production time.(AKA Photoshop).

The bottom line is this, when you call up with a view home you may experience a little sticker shock, but believe me, you’re getting a deal.

See my next posting for what a good interior view shot should look like.

Today’s featured photos. The top photo is from the Bothell area. The bottom one is a staging photo taken in a Greenwood area listing.

This beautiful brick home is located in Seattle’s Magnolia area. The whole property is in pristine condition inside and out. Even with all the updates which include an updated Master Bath, the house still retains all the charm of the time it was built. It was a rainy gray day, so the exterior shots got a sky replacements.

Most weeks I shoot around 10 homes and  average about 200 miles in my car. My top capacity is 3 homes a day.

I always laugh when one of my fellow real estate photographers from out of state, emails me to say that their shoot was rained out.  One friend who works on a Mediterranean Island, says that they won’t shoot if there is a single cloud in the sky. Here in Seattle we have so many rainy and gray days, that if we didn’t shoot in bad weather, we wouldn’t be able to shoot most of the year. As a result of all this bad weather, northwest real estate photographers have had to learn to make a gray rainy exterior shot pop.

I shot this east side home yesterday. I waited to do the exterior front shot till the very end, in hopes that the weather would improve. It didn’t and although it’s hard to tell, It was raining pretty hard when I fired off this shot. On average I spend about 6 minutes making a gray drab shot look like this.

I included a few interior shots so you could see what they look like on a low light level day.

This 4 bedroom, 2 and a half bath home has nicely updated kitchen and bath areas, and a great private garden just right for entertaining. It’s listed for $535,000.

This is a typical 3 story townhome in north Seattle. Like this one, many of these have a small courtyard  which is the entry way to the home.  This homeowner gave the drab little courtyard a English county garden treatment. It really sets this little townhome apart from all the rest.

Yesterday I went to shoot this house for one of my agents. I noticed that it had been shot before, and the shots looked really good. I was thinking to myself “Damn, I don’t think I can do better than these shots”. I mentioned to my agent, “Who shot the photos that are up now, they look really good”? She told me, “You did”. I don’t know why, but I don’t remember shooting it, but now that I look at the old shots, it’s definitely my work.  I’m sure that it was 300 or 400 homes back when I shot it the first time, but it still bugs me that I can’t remember it.

It’s hard for me to understand why people who sell small, less expensive homes, feel the need to save a couple of hundred dollars on photography. Gone are the days when agents drive all over the country previewing homes for their buyers. Both the agents and the buyers are previewing homes on line, and selecting the ones they want to see based on the photos. If your photos make your home look small, and dark, and if the buyers and agents can’t get a good idea about the layout and the condition of the home, then it might be your neighbors home that gets the visit and the offer, and not yours.

The home above  is in Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood. It has 4 bedrooms, and a bath and a half on the main floor, with a giant family/bonus room in the basement. I thought this one was a great value.