As it’s the first thing many people see of your home, a quality photograph can make it stand out from the crowd.

In our image-hungry world, photographs often form the cornerstone of marketing campaigns whether that’s for a new phone or car – and with homes it’s no different. A great image needs to not only showcase your property in the brochure, but also stand out on busy social media feeds and in search results on property websites.

Here are our tips for creating the perfect property photograph…

Go pro

While selling a property can be expensive, many of our agents say that one area not to cut corners is with photography. You should always use a professional architectural photographer.

The property industry has changed so much in the last 20 years, with both sellers and buyers now more savvy when it comes to what works and what doesn’t with photography.

Just because you’ve got a great camera or are a whiz with your mobile phone’s snapper, don’t feel you can automatically capture a high-quality property photo.

Professionals bring the right kit – which means more than just the camera, so wide angle lenses, poles and even drones to help capture the right angles and lighting. A professional can help break the mould and be artistic.

Get it spot on

If you’re just happy with the photos, ask the photographer to take some more – you shouldn’t just be happy, you should be delighted.

Our agents often will often take a look at all the photos taken – and if one doesn’t jump out from the bunch they’ll ask for some more. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes - if the images can’t get you to look twice, why would the buyer?

To get the right image, consider using new techniques like drone photography. These can be great when it’s difficult to get everything in one shot, or if it’s close to a tree making wide shots difficult. But be wary that these shot might capture things in the background you might not want, like pylons or roads.

Bespoke photography should pick up on what’s important about the house. In rural homes you’ll want your images to showcase the space and location, whereas with a townhouse you might want to focus on the smaller details, such as the quality finish or period details.

Night photography can be used to highlight specialist lighting, or elevated shots to take in gardens.

Adjusting photos

While a professional photographer will add some post-production to an image to bring out the best of it, there is a fine line between this and doctoring photos.

For example, you can add in a blue sky to make it feel brighter, though sometimes a gloomy photo with blue skies and fake clouds can make the house look even darker. You must not misrepresent a house, and in reality any computer generated images must be marked as such.

Many agents and photographers try to avoid significant photo-editing as it can make them seem unreal and mislead the buyer. You are better waiting for the perfect time to take the photograph.

Night shot or not?

Night time shots are coming back into fashion as they can work really well with contemporary homes that have lots of windows.

With a recent shoot for The Priory in Odiham, Hampshire, the night shoot images generated the widest reach of any of our properties ever on Instagram, grabbing audiences previously unknown.

They need to be used appropriately, with developments in a city setting showing the red car lights below, creating an atmosphere of a cosmopolitan, busy city. And they can also work for winter and Christmas shoots.

But not everyone loves them, and a night shoot for a country cottage or suburban semi is probably not the right look.

Moving pictures

With the rise of social media, the power of images is being surpassed by that of videos. We’ve been exploring videos in a variety of forms to showcase our properties – with positive results.

Virtual reality-style 3D walkthroughs were once just for the super prime London homes but are now being used in all our offices and for properties including thatched homes in Devon and townhouses in Exeter.

We’ve also used short films to help with marketing homes when pictures sometimes just aren’t enough. For a good example of how this can work, watch the film created for St. Milburga’s Oratory.