Good Listing Photos: Keep Listing Photos Simple

Listing photos should help potential buyers sell themselves on your home for sale. It’s hard to accomplish this goal if the images are too complex. Here’s an example:

The problem with this shot is that the main subject – a living room – is obscured by several kinds of distractions:

There’s a lot of clutter, with knick-knacks filling all available shelving and wall space.
It’s not clear what the furniture in the foreground is and whether it belongs to the room or is located in an adjacent space.
The furniture colors are bright while the room is dark, drawing the eye to the furniture, rather than what is being offered for sale, the room.
The old rule of thumb – that all lights should be turned on – ends up adding another distraction to this photo – the ceiling light pulls attention in yet another direction.

The main attractions of the room, which are the fireplace and mantle, the hardwood floor, and the corner windows looking out to a green landscape, end up getting lost in the complexity of the overall scene.

The photographer could have made this image more persuasive by making a few simple changes:

Persuade the seller de-clutter in advance. (I know, sometimes sellers can’t see that their clutter is clutter. This job should fall to the listing agent, not the photographer.)
Change the furniture arrangement so that the room looks more like a place where people gather rather than a TV room. The TV in the corner should be removed for the photo.
Look for a different camera angle that emphasizes the room’s attractions and de-emphasizes the distractions.

The de-cluttering and furniture re-arrangement can seem like a lot of work but will make for a much more presentable image.

Here’s an example of a living room photo that works well, not just because the furnishings are nice but also because the arrangement is tasteful and the photo composition is simple. Buyers can easily understand the purpose of the room and can imagine themselves entertaining in it.