How to Best Capture Your Commercial Real Estate Properties for Potential Tenants, Buyers, and Investors Alike

THE WESTMOUNT INSIDER Presents:

How to Best Capture Your Commercial Real Estate Properties for Potential Tenants, Buyers, and Investors Alike

Peter Hsiao, Senior Associate – Marketing, shares four tips for planning, staging, and photographing commercial real estate properties.

First impressions are formed within seconds, and in the world of real estate, it is often property photos that form these first impressions. Whether you’re a potential tenant on the verge of booking a tour, a possible buyer imagining your new home, or a potential investor searching for your next opportunity, quality photos can make all the difference in showcasing a property’s features and accelerating the sales process.

Real estate photography encompasses a lot: from aerial photos to interior and exterior photos. However, you don’t need to know a lot about photography to ensure that your photoshoot goes smoothly. Here is a quick, easy-to-read guide on photographing commercial properties.

Cleaning & Staging the Space

Preparing the property is a crucial step in the planning process. It is important to work with the local management team(s) to ensure proper landscaping and cleanliness prior to the photoshoot. The last thing a photographer wants to see when they arrive is a construction/landscaping team on site, incomplete renovations, or litter on the property.

Staging interior spaces is an excellent way to breathe life into your photos. Some simple furniture and décor goes a long way in helping the viewer imagine the space’s potential. This strategy is very effective for multifamily renters and is the premise of model units. If you do not have staging furniture, some companies will rent out prop furniture for photoshoots. Alternatively, virtual staging apps and programs allow you to “drag-and-drop” furniture and décor into empty images.

Original Space

Staged Space

Ground-Level vs. Aerial

Aerial (drone) and ground level (tripod) photography are the two main techniques utilized by commercial real estate photographers. Their use cases differ based on the needs of the client or property. What will the photos be used for? What area(s) of the property need to be photographed? Will the viewer care more about the property grounds or its surroundings? These are all questions to help determine whether aerial or ground-level images are more appropriate.

Aerial photography showcases the entire property and its immediate surroundings. Viewers will have a better sense of the property’s location, the general condition of the exterior, and the nearby roads and neighborhoods. Aerial photos help potential tenants and investors visualize the accessibility of the property and proximity of nearby amenities.

Ground-level photography showcases specific areas on the property, the general spacing of the property grounds, and the overall condition of the property. Viewers will be more able to more accurately gauge the layout and size of interior suites and units with these types of photos, making them especially valuable for potential tenants. Ground-level photos are also valuable to potential buyers because they capture the property’s condition with greater detail.

Ground-Level

Aerial Photography

Multi-Exposure for HDR Photos

Have you ever noticed that on extremely bright and sunny days, the shadows that you see outside appear darker than normal? This phenomenon is the basis of a photography term called “dynamic range.” Dynamic range refers to a camera’s ability to retain detail in both the brightest and darkest parts of an image. Though camera sensors and technology have improved tremendously over the years, no camera can perfectly process both ends of the spectrum (bright and dark) in a single exposure.

This is where multi-exposure comes into play. Multi-exposure is a common strategy employed by real estate photographers that involves taking several images from the same point, all at different levels of brightness. This allows the photographer to capture the details in the darks, the mids, and the brights separately. The photographer will then “stitch” the several photos together to create one HDR (high dynamic range) image. This method allows photographers to retain an incredible amount of detail in all parts of an image.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Final HDR Photo

Timing the Shoot and Essential Pieces of Gear

The two hours immediately following sunrise and the two hours immediately before sunset are the optimal times to photograph property exteriors. During these hours, the sunlight is soft and even. The most difficult time of the day to shoot is midday when the sun is at the highest point in the sky because it casts very harsh shadows. If you have the flexibility, try to knock out all the exterior photos in the early morning or late afternoon and reserve the interior photos for mid-day.

In addition to timing the photoshoot, there are several pieces of gear that are essential to real estate photography:

• ND filters → short for “neutral density,” ND filters help reduce the intensity of sunlight. They are essentially “sunglasses” for your camera sensor and can be used on drones and handheld cameras. ND filters reduce the “distance” between the brightest and darkest parts of an image, aiding your camera in capturing photos for HDR merging.
• Tripod → photographing with the camera mounted on a tripod eliminates the possibility of camera shake. This allows photographers to shoot using slower shutter speeds and is most essential when photographing property interiors because they tend to be darker.
• Wide-Angle Lens → more applicable to ground-level photography, wide-angle lenses enable photographers to capture the entirety of a room or area. They are a must for photographing interiors, especially in multifamily properties. A focal distance of 12-24mm is recommended, though 16-35mm will work for less-cramped spaces.
• External Flash → necessary for interior areas with poor or uneven lighting, an external flash is a handy piece of kit that also be utilized for exterior shots to remove harsh shadows. The caveat to shooting photos with a flash is the inability to employ the multi-exposure method mentioned earlier.

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Author: Peter Hsiao

Peter is the Senior Associate - Marketing at Westmount Realty Capital, LLC. Peter is responsible for photographing all properties within the firm’s portfolio and managing the firm’s content calendar across all digital channels. He earned his B.S. in Business Administration and Psychology from the University of Texas at Dallas.?

To learn more about Westmount Realty Capital or for additional information, contact us at?[email protected]?or find us at?https://westmountrc.com/.

This article, and Westmount Realty Capital blogs in general, is intended for informational and educational purposes only, and does not constitute a solicitation or offer by Westmount Realty Capital, LLC to buy or sell any securities, futures, options, foreign exchange or other financial instrument or to provide any investment advice or service. Westmount is not your advisor or agent. Please consult your own experts for advice in these areas. Although Westmount provides information it believes to be accurate, Westmount makes no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information contained on this article.