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Thoughts on these professional photos please.

282 replies

Therearetoomanyofus · 10/07/2023 20:07

We've just put our house on the market having just finished renovating it. The estate agent advised us to have a company come and take the photos for the brochure which we did and paid for.
I cant shake the feeling that they're just a little underwhelming. The estate agent has suggested we take some more 'lifestyle' photos that they could add to the listing but ive realised I'm no photographer and they just look a little crap!

Do you think it would be worth getting the photographer back or am I overthinking it and the photos are fine?
Here's the listing: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/137062946#/?channel=RES_BUY

Check out this 6 bedroom detached house for sale on Rightmove

6 bedroom detached house for sale in Ringwood Road, Burley, Ringwood, Hampshire, BH24 for £2,500,000. Marketed by Woolley and Wallis, Ringwood

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/137062946#/?channel=RES_BUY

OP posts:
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TheBellsToll · 11/07/2023 08:37

They’re ok, but some of the angles are weird - especially that dark green room. Quite off-putting.

I’m not a fan of staged photos, I think they look a bit daft.

ImDoingThisNow · 11/07/2023 09:04

torthecatlady · 10/07/2023 21:26

Lovely house - I like the first picture, but I don't think the other photos do much for the listing.

There's one of the garden and the grass looks a bit brown and dead in places. Also why is is captioned number 24, when it's the 4th picture of 22? Confused

I hate this photo - did you say it was an annexe that you own? It looks like the neighbour's property is spreading over into your garden and in front of your house.

ImDoingThisNow · 11/07/2023 09:13

ImDoingThisNow · 11/07/2023 09:04

I hate this photo - did you say it was an annexe that you own? It looks like the neighbour's property is spreading over into your garden and in front of your house.

I like the house, though. I think new photos will make it look totally different.

Therearetoomanyofus · 11/07/2023 10:00

@ImDoingThisNow yes it's our cottage. The in laws live there and wanted a separate garden which I completely get as she is amazing gardener and I can barely keep a pot plant alive!

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legalbeagleneeded · 11/07/2023 12:59

Your house looks lush, but those photos have not been taken by a decent professional photographer and they have managed to either make rooms look too big or awkwardly shaped. I can see from the floor plan that they are neither.

Take the kitchen for example, in one picture it looks vast and in the next it looks cramped with an oversized island. Its actually pretty perfectly proportioned so god knows what the photographer was doing.

100% get the photographer back - a house like yours should be staged and it should look like a magazine shoot.

LIZS · 11/07/2023 13:01

They don't show off the positives. One bedroom looks small as the angle is all bed. Are you living there or is it staged?

Indigotree · 11/07/2023 13:04

If I were a multimillionaire I think I'd be put off by the emptiness and lack of books. It looks a bit bland and not very homely. But that's just my personal taste: the house itself looks spacious and in good condition from the photos. Perhaps you just need some more, to show details and get more of a feel for the place.

DrySherry · 11/07/2023 13:38

We plan on buying in that are hopefully in a couple of years time. It's a super house - but the location is not great. The Burley Manor enterance is busy and that Ringwood road is ridiculous - particularly just where you are in the summer as its usually blocked by holiday makers who dare not pass the horses that always seem to be be stood around in the road. You would need to be very tourist friendly to live there. The cottage looks great and is prime for a good holiday let income.
It doesn't compare to this one though at a similar price on a triple size plot in a more peaceful location.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136204208

Mirabai · 11/07/2023 13:53

DrySherry · 11/07/2023 13:38

We plan on buying in that are hopefully in a couple of years time. It's a super house - but the location is not great. The Burley Manor enterance is busy and that Ringwood road is ridiculous - particularly just where you are in the summer as its usually blocked by holiday makers who dare not pass the horses that always seem to be be stood around in the road. You would need to be very tourist friendly to live there. The cottage looks great and is prime for a good holiday let income.
It doesn't compare to this one though at a similar price on a triple size plot in a more peaceful location.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136204208

That’s a better location but the house needs a shit ton of money spending on it - only 3 bed in the main house.

TomorrowToday · 11/07/2023 13:56

@Mirabai been removed

Mirabai · 11/07/2023 14:00

Sorry what’s been removed?

DrySherry · 11/07/2023 14:05

Mirabai · 11/07/2023 13:53

That’s a better location but the house needs a shit ton of money spending on it - only 3 bed in the main house.

Location location location. Plus triple sized plot.

Opinions may vary of course. They are both top notch properties in a lovely part of the country.

Mirabai · 11/07/2023 14:11

Better location, bigger plot but a small and dated house that needs and extension and complete renovation.

ReadingSoManyThreads · 11/07/2023 14:17

Museya15 · 11/07/2023 00:13

She only put it on for you lot to drool over it! It worked suckers!!

Well I'm not drooling over it. It's not to my taste at all (no offense OP), and if I was spending that budget, I'd be getting something very different. I'm into properties, which is why I'm interested in the post, but wouldn't buy this property personally.

DrySherry · 11/07/2023 14:19

Mirabai · 11/07/2023 14:11

Better location, bigger plot but a small and dated house that needs and extension and complete renovation.

True, but I would still choose it over the location issues I would (personally) have over the op's house. With a couple of years investment and effort put in, its not in the same league, for what floats my boat anway.
However if you like busy and want to take advantage of the considerable tourist "honey pot" that is that roadside location, the op's house takes it.

Bobbielikespeas · 11/07/2023 14:22

Angles are odd, especially photos 2 and 10. Who takes a photo from the back of a sofa.. Doesn't look any better than a bog standard set done by an agent on their phone.

Mirabai · 11/07/2023 14:38

It’s undoubtedly a great investment - potentially a £4 million+ property - but for that you need cash and experience and the desire for a project.

Tigertigertigertiger · 11/07/2023 14:52

Not sure about the swishy angles. Genuinely aghast at the price

Therearetoomanyofus · 11/07/2023 15:37

@LIZS yes we live here and we have a lot of stuff so not sure how he has made it look so bare!
@DrySherry I disagree, there is hardly any traffic up to Burley Manor and we are just before where the traffic builds up in summer so actually the house you have linked will be more affected if they're coming from Ringwood. We have found the house is in a great position for the village- I can dash over to Shappens when we've run out of tea bags. As you say, its what you want from a property- the next one we buy will likely be a little more remote as we need different things from that one so I'll have to get used to making a proper shopping list! 😁
@ReadingSoManyThreads no offence taken at all.
@Tigertigertigertiger it's a stupidly expensive sought after village in the New Forest. It's nuts really.

OP posts:
Saddlesore · 11/07/2023 16:30

I wouldn't be happy with those photos. Why all the shots of the backs of sofas? That just creates a "blocker" to the view of the room. Also, the reflection of light off the wall in the dark room is offputting as it makes the wall look shiny. I suspect your house is gorgeous, but the photos are a bit "meh". It's all down to the angles that the photographer used.

SabrinaThwaite · 11/07/2023 16:35

Out of interest, the details say it might date back to the 1780s - so it predates Burley Manor, which was built in the 1850s? Or was there a building prior to the current Manor for which this was the lodge house? You can see it on the 1871 OS map marked as “lodge”.

user2155340308842 · 11/07/2023 16:46

First of all, don't do lifestyle photos! I hate them and they put me off because I feel like we wouldn't be a good fit with an estate agent that thinks they're a good idea.

I agree with pps that the angles aren't doing you any favours. The photographer seems to have concentrated on weird things and empty space, both of which throws off the sense of perspective.

We recently had the experience of having our house photographed for an architectural magazine and one thing they did was twitch around the furniture for pretty much every shot - moved a bench and some end tables from one place to another, took some books off the shelves and piled them up, pulled some furniture so it was closer together, had big vases of flowers they moved around, because what looks appealing to the eye, when you're taking in everything in a room, doesn't always come across in a still photo - I suspect that's why some people are perceiving yours as looking unlived in.

I don't actually think styling sells houses, but in your shoes, I might bring out a little kitchen stuff - utensil jar, a bottle of olive oil, a coffee maker, a bowl of fruit, and clear a bit of the stuff out of the dining room. I think it just seems a bit jarring because the rest of the house is so uncluttered. I also think photos that better show the flow of the house would help.

Do you have any area rugs, by any chance? They can really help visually define larger spaces while adding warmth.

Therearetoomanyofus · 11/07/2023 16:50

@SabrinaThwaite honestly, I couldn't answer you that. We bought it from the family that once owned Burley Manor and all the land surrounding (many moons ago) and this is what they told us. I'd actually love to find out more about the original lodge but my superficial Google searches have proven fruitless.

OP posts:
SabrinaThwaite · 11/07/2023 17:14

Therearetoomanyofus · 11/07/2023 16:50

@SabrinaThwaite honestly, I couldn't answer you that. We bought it from the family that once owned Burley Manor and all the land surrounding (many moons ago) and this is what they told us. I'd actually love to find out more about the original lodge but my superficial Google searches have proven fruitless.

Maybe the Burley Historical Society can help? It’s website says that the original Manor House was pulled down, and it has a copy of the 1840s tithe map?

http://burleyhistoricalsociety.weebly.com/1846-tithe-map.html

Therearetoomanyofus · 11/07/2023 17:17

@user2155340308842 that's interesting. It has shocked me how bare the house seems in the photos when its not like that at all.

I had flowers and a fruit bowl on my kitchen island and the photographer removed them- I thought he knew best! I'm kicking myself now that I wasn't more pro-active in checking the photos before he went.

We have a disagreement over rugs so we currently only have one in the whole house. I may have to just sneak some in 😆

What magazine was your home in-I used to love looking at other people's homes!

OP posts: