The Modern House - why do their photos look so amazing?

[rirette]

We're having our house photographed by the estate agents this week. The EA are not the Modern House, sadly, but I'd like them to photograph our house in that style. Can anyone help me direct them?

MH uses only natural light, and photos tend to be taken face on rather than the classic corner shot. What else? I've removed as much clutter as I can, and hidden all cables etc.

Thank you!

Anybody please?

I don’t know, but I love TMH so watching carefully!

I think the answer is money and production. They do it like a proper shoot, with Elliott their in-house photographer www.themodernhouse.com/about/

Don’t think anything we do to our houses will help the estate agent with a digital camera huddling into corner makes pics like TMH!

MH uses only natural light, and photos tend to be taken face on rather than the classic corner shot
Is it natural light or do they use lighting, like they do on fashion shoots, to look natural? They often photograph 'statement' windows so there must be some technique involved to stop there being too much contrast with the rest of the room.
Their photos seem to focus on an angle that highlights low-level furniture with a hint of ceiling which makes you think "oooh, high ceilings". As opposed to "here's a picture of the ceiling". I've just had a play with my camera - you need to have the camera about a foor from the floor, not eye-level.
It's all very de-cluttered and white. The whiteness could be lighting or isn't there some filter that you can apply? (I'm not a photography geek, can't remember the proper term for it)

Ahem, that would be a foot from the floor.
This website says "In the living room and family room, the camera should be set anywhere between 36” – 48” ... In bedrooms the camera should be 15” – 20” higher than the bed, and in the kitchen the camera should be 15” – 20” higher than the kitchen counter."
Scroll past the usual instructions to vendor ("declutter!") and you will get to the photography tips.

Thanks so much @senua absolutely re getting down low. I used to photograph our place for my interiors account on Instagram, and I think my angles were good but I never cracked the lighting. It was always too dark or too high contrast.

You can arrange for a professional photographer to take the listing photographs rather than the estate agent - it’s certainly common in a lot of parts of London, and many agents also have an independent photographer on retainer so that it isn’t just the office junior showing up with a digital camera to do it all in ten minutes. Worth looking into.

@ComtesseDeSpair that's what worries me a bit. Our EA has their own 'in house' photographer. Which makes me think they are not a professional photographer at all. I'll see how they get on tomorrow.

For the full Modern House effect you need a freestanding piano in the middle of your living room... without any music or evidence it's ever played (I'm sure it's a prop they bring in).

We have a toy xylophone- that'll do, right?

My house would still look like a hole compared to those houses. I’d need a magician, not a photographer

When selling our house a month ago, I used a professional house photographer, rather than relying on our agent (who admits photos aren't their strong point!).

The pictures were so amazing, similar to TMH, and we sold the house in 3 days, so I reckon it was the best £150 plus VAT spent!

@Starseeking are you in London by any chance? If so who did you use?

I think if I'm going to pay the EA their 1.5% then surely they should do the photos as part of that and do it well

They use professional interiors photographers who also do magazine shoots etc

Do you just want the really nice photos for Instagram? So if someone tries to find you on right move the photos look nice?

Not sure why you would need extra special photos, normal ones would be fine.

Photos can be edited naturally well on snapseed, try that.

They are very careful to avoid tilting the camera up or down, so vertical lines stay absolutely vertical and parallel to each other.

They don’t always use the same lens, which avoids photos looking too samey. They also avoid using ultra-wide lenses which introduce too much distortion and would give an unrealistic sense of space.

The photos are well lit and thoughtfully composed, using techniques like the rule of thirds, symmetry and lead in lines.

It also helps that the houses themselves are usually very photogenic!

They also know that it's not always necessary to show a full snap of the room, instead they hone in on important features that give a sense of what it would be like to live there like a beautiful window, or well engineered staircase or whatever. They're very good at what they do, I'd buy almost any property they're flogging (if I could afford it)

They do also sometimes use stylists when the vendors aren't stylists themselves.

[quote rirette]@Starseeking are you in London by any chance? If so who did you use?

I think if I'm going to pay the EA their 1.5% then surely they should do the photos as part of that and do it well [/quote]

The company I used was this one https://swiftaspect.co.uk/, they are actually based in St Margarets/Twickenham in West London, if you know it?

They also did a 3D dolls house, plus a video tour as well as the professional photographs. I was surprised at how reasonable the whole thing cost, but to be fair they did say they'd be raising their prices soon. I'd love to post my rightmove link here, but obviously it would be outing

Also I negotiated with my EA to take the cost of the professional pictures off their fees, so the only negative was cash flow, as I'll get it all back when the sale completes next month!

@rirette

We have a toy xylophone- that'll do, right?

LOL!

@Starseeking oh brilliant that your EA agreed, that's great! Would you be happy to PM me a link at all?

I'd say our place is well styled already, so no stylist required. It's just a case of photographing it well.

@Nesbo @Sanchez79 thank you both - really good points there.

[quote rirette]@Starseeking oh brilliant that your EA agreed, that's great! Would you be happy to PM me a link at all?

I'd say our place is well styled already, so no stylist required. It's just a case of photographing it well. [/quote]

I have tried to PM you, I hope it has worked, please let me know if not!

We sold through TMH. They have professional photographers (the guy who did ours was a freelancer who worked for TMH amongst other clients). All natural light (in our case), but they scheduled the shoot on a good, sunny day. No particular styling other than clearing stuff off surfaces and making sure there was a focal point (eg a bowl on the table) but yes to PP who said they don’t try to capture the whole room. It’s all about details/ views from particular angles. But mostly the houses are very photogenic!

I sold with The Modern House they use a professional photographer who has a very good eye and has been working with them for a long time so knows how to make the most of the houses.
We didn’t have our house styled, he moved a few things but not much, most of the houses they take on are already quite stylish in some way or other.
Brickworks also have great photos and very styled interiors.
I think some Winkworth offices are doing a reasonably good job, but most agents don’t do that well.
I must say I quite like all the videos that many now have, they give a really good feel.