Before someone calls you to sell their house, they look you up. They check your website, your Zillow profile, maybe your Instagram. By the time they reach out, they’ve already decided whether you seem like someone they’d trust with one of the biggest sales of their life.
Your photos do a lot of that work for you. A ten-year-old headshot or a photo cropped out of a wedding picture doesn’t help.
Headshots vs. branding photos
A headshot is one photo of your face. Branding photos are a full set: a clean headshot, some full-length shots, a few photos of you in a home like the ones you sell, and some with your team if you have one.
You walk away with 20 or 30 photos you can use everywhere for the next couple of years, and they all look like they belong together.
Where you’ll use them
Once you have a good set of photos, you’ll see them everywhere:
Your website and About page
Zillow, Realtor.com and your brokerage profile
Listing flyers, postcards and open house signs
Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn
Email signatures and newsletters
Billboards, bus benches and yard signs
When every one of those shows the same person in the same style, people start to recognize you. That’s really the point.
Shoot in a real home
This session was done in a staged home. Good window light, nice furniture and a kitchen people would actually want. It says “real estate” without anyone holding a SOLD sign.
If you have a listing that’s staged and empty, that works great too. We just need a couple of rooms with decent light.
What to wear
Bring two or three outfits. One more dressed up, like a suit or blazer, and one more relaxed, like a nice sweater or blouse. Solid colors look better than busy patterns. Navy, gray, white, soft blue and earth tones always photograph well.
If you’re shooting with a partner, pick colors that go together. You don’t need to match.
Get some team photos
If you work with a partner or a team, take a few photos together. Clients like knowing who they’ll be talking to, and a photo of two people in a kitchen says more than a logo does.
How a session works
Before the shoot we talk about where the photos will go, so we get the right mix of tall photos for social media and wide ones for your website banner. On the day, I’ll tell you where to stand and what to do with your hands. You don’t need to know how to pose.
Afterward, every photo is edited and color matched so the whole set looks consistent, and you get files ready for the web and for print.
Ready for new photos?
If your headshot is more than a couple of years old, or you don’t have photos you actually like using, let’s fix that. I’m based in Reno and work with agents across Northern Nevada and Lake Tahoe.
Call (775) 233-6174 or email ciprian@luminamediaproductions.com.