Visual marketing is quickly becoming one of the most important selling tools for your business. Luckily for you as a remodeler, you’re in the business of making customers' homes look and feel better. How can you take professional-grade photos to feature your work without hiring a professional photographer? You can take high-quality photos on your smartphone using a few simple tools. Here are our tips for to making the most out of your photos.

Plan your Shot

Before you take a picture, make a quick mental plan of the spaces you’d like to feature in your photos. Having a clear plan before you start makes the entire process smoother and prevents you from having 30 randomly-taken photos. Do you want to feature the whole room to showcase the open floorplan? Or perhaps you’d like the shower featured on your site to promote a certain product? Whatever’s on your wish list, plan it out for a few minutes before you take photos. That way you’ll have a diverse selection that you can use for multiple purposes.

Use Gridlines

Photography in its basics follows the rule of thirds. This means breaking a frame into 9 parts, with 4 intersecting lines. Luckily for us, most smartphones have a gridline feature that breaks up the photo for you. If you have an iPhone, simply go into your phone settings, click “Photos & Camera”, scroll down and switch on “Grid”. When you enable this feature, your photos will have gridlines that you can use to balance your shot. Place points of interest along the lines or in intersections to add interest to your photos. Instead of taking a straight-on shower photo, move your shower to the left side of the frame so you can also feature the tile detail, creating a more professional-looking photo.

Know Where Your Light Is

The most common problem we see in non-professional photos is the lack of light. Dark photos hide details and typically look unappealing when showcasing a space. The easiest thing you can do to avoid this is to understand where your light is coming from. Taking a picture with the sun in the background is a surefire way to wind up with a dark photo. Instead, orient yourself so that the light faces your photo subject. Quick tip for shooting interiors: For interiors that are east-facing, the best time to photograph is in the morning, and for west-facing spaces, the ideal time is in the afternoon. For rooms that look north or south, you can shoot whenever the light is bright. Utilizing natural and artificial light is one of the most advantageous things you can do to sell your projects. Bright light adds depth, warmth, and gives any room a high-end feel.

Play with Exposure

Natural light can completely transform a room, but if you’re still faced with dark areas or you’re working with limited natural light, adjusting the exposure will make a big difference in your photos. With your iPhone, hold your finger on a dark part of the photo and a box with a sun will appear in that area. Simply swipe up or down on the sun to lighten or darken a photo. On an android phone, change the exposure values in your camera settings. Take a few pictures with different levels of exposure to see which exposure level photographs best.

Market Your Photos Online

Having a library of high-quality photos not only makes your website more visually appealing, but is a valuable selling tool for your business. With high-quality photos, potential customers can expect high-quality work from your company. As your digital marketing experts, we can take your photos and integrate them on your website and in ads across different marketing platforms. Talk to your Account Manager about using your photos to increase lead sources and grow your business!