We are in the process of renovating our training website, www.StagingAndRedesign.com with that comes a whole fresh new look at staging services.
I've been working on photos the last few days and I wanted to show you how sometimes photos can really change when you take a closer look...
This is a nice photo, but nothing that would ever really end up in my portfolio. It's just not interesting enough.....
Taking a closer look adds a lot more interest....
Same house, looking into another room from the family room. It wouldn't make the before & after cut most likely...
The cropped photos take a different, closer look. It shows less of the home, but more of the staging....
Sometimes we just need to take a closer look at our photos to maximize our portfolio. Staging is often all about the details. Take a look at your portfolio and see if you need to take a closer look at some of it....
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Melissa Marro, a published artist, now turned staging advocate and national speaker speaks her mind about real estate and the home staging industry. In her 'no holds barred' approach, audience members find real answers to the industries pitfalls and learn how to overcome them with tried and true information and guidance. With marketing as her passion, she turned a small home based business into one of the nation's largest home staging and training facilities. Selling her successful home staging company in January 2012, Marro is now a full time speaker and instructor for Staging And Resign and Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)'s trade events.
For more information on having Marro speak at one of your real estate functions, please contact her at 843.619.1593 or email at marro.melissa@gmail.com
Beautiful house and great work.
I have a model I'll be doing in a couple of weeks and I am using you, my dear, as a jumping off point. I love the relaxed (not too casual) traditional, airy feel of your rooms.
The dilemna for the Realtor (and why many of you may think their MLS photo choices stink aren't so good), is that they may feel they need to show more of the room and less of just the staging, although the staging makes the room look much more inviting. Sometimes a conflict when choosing photos for internet and mls....but no contest when choosing for your portfolio...Good post.
Melissa, you really have a keen eye. This is something I really want to get a lot better at.
Melissa, you are so right. I had not thought about the difference between photographs of staging and those of the house. I would really like to take all of my own photographs but it is certainly something I need to work on. I am going to start honing my photography skills or lack of skill!! BTW I was a red.
Melissa: Good information on how to improve photographs for our portfolios. Many stagers use the widest shots to show as much of the room as possible when a close up would actually show off the staging better.
That is really cool. I never thought to do that. It really makes a huge difference. Great job and thanks for sharing.
I agree....
we really need to take two sets of photos. One set for the MLS and one set for our portfolios.
I'm so concerned about the seller and them getting the best photos that I forget about my photos.
Great point, Melissa. So often I look at one of my photos and think it's good, but not "great". These are some wonderful examples that maybe I need to look into as I scope my portfolio. THANK YOU for detailed eye and suggestions!
Great photos. It makes me want to go retake lots of mine :) Photography is definitely a talent! I love getting great ideas like this to help me think outside the box. I'm learning. Thanks for the tip.
Wow! What a difference. I appreciate the tip.
Excellent tip! I love how you cropped those photos to direct the eye and create a whole new look!
Yes, Melissa-this is why you are such a great leader in this industry! Did you utilize Photoshop or some other software? Thanks for sharing.
I agree. Great shots! I love taking little vignette shots. They photograph so well. I feel it is kind of like photographing children. If you always take full length shots and done zoom in on their face, you will never capture their angelic little innocent faces. And they don't stay little for long! (Coming from a mother of 2 toddler boys!) Don't be afraid to zoom in!
Melissa - great shots and great information for taking our photos to the next level. I am guilty of trying to get as much of the room as I can. I'm going to try and scale back a bit.
Great post Melissa - I think the way you cropped the photos really helps to accentuate the staging and the room.
Kathy - I used the program that my computer came with... Microsoft Picture Manager
Thanks again for all the great comments!!
We now have uploaded all our cropped photos and are using them on the banner for our revamped website, www.StagingAndRedesign.com I hope you'll take a moment to check it out!
Your website photos look fabulous, Melissa! And thanks for sharing the software source.
Melissa, I checked out the new site... What a refreshing site to view. I love how you used your photos. Just great. I'm thinking you inspired me to start looking at giving our site a new, fresh look.
The editing makes all the difference to the feel. Good reminder that portfolio pictures and MLS pictures have two different objectives - to show off the staging and to show off the house. You have inspired me to play with some of my previous shots. Thanks! - Leah
Melissa, I have read your blogs and tried and tried, but I cannot make a picture look good. Just yesterday I finished a wonderful project. I was very excited about the results. I pulled out my camera took pictures from down low and it looks awful. I'm now going to try playing with them a little more to try and create what you have above. Wish me luck!
Melissa, Hey great tip. Are you just cropping those photos or taking two shots??? It was great meeting you at conference... Congrats on your award.
Diane Palazzo
Diane - I simply cropped these photos. They were high resolution to still have clarity after cropped.
I've been having a blast cropping photos in Picasa to make them better for newsletters and marketing. It's really amazing what a difference only using the core of the photo can make. Your photos give me inspiration for how to take pictures that will crop effectively. Thanks!
Love it! Great idea! I going to try this out for this month's newsletter.
Now you know how I like to hear about someone doing newsletters!!!!