Picture Taking Is a Picnic
Holly Schwartz (@hollyschwartzoc) is the Marketing Director for Torelli Realty,torellirealty) a boutique real estate company in Orange County, CA. She enjoys dishing up a daily blog about 365 Things To Do In Costa Mesa (“Like” the page on Facebook!) Prior to working at Torelli Realty she worked as a TV producer for the HGTV shows (@House Hunters and House Hunters International.
People love pictures! In real estate seeing pictures of a home is essential. Buyers use them to judge whether or not to go see a home in person. Sellers want to see them to see how their agent is marketing the property. Unfortunately, sometimes house photos just look bad. We’ve all seen bad pictures – ones where the colors are dull, the exposure is too light or too dark, the image is slanted, or the picture is pixilated. Does a bad picture do more harm than good? In some cases, most definitely.
I first heard of Picnik when I was at the Inman News™ Real Estate Connect® Conference in San Francisco this past summer. The samples of pictures that were modified using Picnik impressed me enough to give it a try. I’ve tested it and believe it is definitely worth a whirl because it has some perks that will make the life of many real estate agents/photographers a lot simpler.
- Picnik is free. You do have to sign in and create an account for the basic service, which has suited my purposes just fine. (However there is an option to upgrade if you choose to do so.)
- Picnik is extremely user friendly. All you have to do is upload a photo on their website. Then there are simple options for altering a photo like adjusting the colors and sharpening the image. Literally all it takes is a few clicks to make the adjustments.
- Because Picnik is a web-based platform you can “fix” images from anywhere. This is increasingly important as agents are mobile. It’s no longer necessary to be on a computer that has the editing programs you need because you can access this website on any computer, iPad or Notebook that has an Internet connection.
- One of the best things about Picnik is that it can resize photos for you. This is extremely important. Not only do you want the photo to be shown correctly but some MLS’s require the photo to fit special sizing specifications. With Picnik you can easily make these adjustments. This is also helpful for some social media sites that have size requirements for Gravatars.
Overall I think Picnik provides some terrific functions that real estate agents can use to their advantage. More and more the research is showing that potential homebuyers want to see pictures. In fact the research indicates that homes with the most photos actually get more views online (for instance when you go to Realtor.com the number of photos of each home is emphasized). Why is that? Remember, your first showing is no longer in person – in the majority of all showings it’s actually online. Home buyers are using photos as a screening process to determine if an in-person showing is worth their time.
Picnik is absolutely a winner in my opinion for real estate agents. We know that pictures are important to online house hunters because real estate and the Internet are both visual mediums. So give your audience what they want. Does your audience want drab, visually unattractive photos or will they be more impressed with bright, stimulating images? The choice is clear. Using Picnik is, excuse the pun, a picnic because of the cost-effectiveness and the user-friendly functions. For those real estate agents who are not able to invest in a professional photographer, Picnik is a great way to enhance the quality of your photos.
Are you using Picnik? If not, what tools do you use to modify your images?
Simon CAshman | Oct 27, 2010 | Reply
great article BUT the unfortunate thing is Picnik only do an auto exposure fix maybe an auto sharpen etc… you want the image to look as pro as possible when selling property. If the sky is rubbish – you should have it replaced. If the interior is dark and outside the window correct you only want the dark fixed. even if shot crooked – get it straightened up. Real estate agents sell property – they can take a photo sometimes but let a professional outfit retouch it for you.
Try Photoenhance.com.au – These guys do a complete photo fix BY HAND. trained graphic artist do the images for you returning the images in under 6 hrs – and for about $5 each. Love to hear an article on these guys to lit the quality of images for so many realtors out there.
Chris Simmons | Oct 28, 2010 | Reply
Free, user-friendly utilities like Picnik can’t be beat. Because buyers will likely begin their search online, property pictures are crucial to generate initial interest.
If you’re a bit more savvy (and have access), PhotoShop and ImageReady are two go-to tools for photo touchups!
Lani Rosales | Oct 28, 2010 | Reply
We posted a tutorial for using Picnik instead of Photoshop in 2008 (http://agentgenius.com/real-estate-coaching-tutorials/product-review/photo-editing-without-photoshop-tutorial/) and it is still a wildly popular article, supporting your theory that it is “a winner.”
Sidenote: agents, please don’t make the grass super green if it’s dead yellow and don’t do any crazy stuff… best tip for beginners: simply adjust contrast up a tad so it looks more like your eye naturally sees object.
Simon CAshman | Oct 28, 2010 | Reply
We are missing the point here. why are agents mucking around with property images? As I mentioend earlier for $5 these guys
http://www.photoenhance.com.au
will do it for you – with amazing results – im sure they offer free trials
Alex Cortez | Oct 29, 2010 | Reply
Simon, are you affiliated with the photoenhance site that you keep mentioning? Sure, $5 per photo sounds great until you take into account that many agents use 20-25 photos per listing.
Nevertheless, back to Holly’s topic, I have used Picnik in the past and I was extremely pleased. It is a very user-friendly platform.
Scott Stevens | Nov 1, 2010 | Reply
Another way to get picture-perfect listing photos is by utilizing the photo editing technique known as HDR or High Dynamic Range processing. This combines multiple exposures of the same image into one professional-looking photograph.
The only problem is that it is a complex and time-consuming process…until now. Exposio HDR is a Canadian firm that has automated the process. All you need to do is upload your “bracket” of photos to their server and it automatically processes them for you. If you like the result, you buy it from them for about a $1 each.
Exposio is launching this new service to the realtor community this weekend at NAR in New Orleans.
From someone who is used to doing his own HDR processing, I can tell you that Exposio is fast, easy to use and produces superior results. Check it out.
Mark Jacobs | Nov 2, 2010 | Reply
You have got to have great Pics in this market. I do mu own HDR processing on a Mac. It is easy and it get the home sold.
Mark Jacobs | Nov 2, 2010 | Reply
Take the time and learn to do your own HDR. It’s easy.
http://www.MarkJacobsRealtor.com
New Social Media | Nov 9, 2010 | Reply
Normally I use Photoshop CS (yes, I know there are later versions out). And I am using iPhoto (Mac) a lot more too it’s probably the easiest program with tons of options.
Thanks for the info on Picnik – Theresa
Greg Lyles | Nov 15, 2010 | Reply
I’ve done my own photography for years. Here’s a brief guide for agents who want great results. I’m afraid Picnik, as fun as it is, may be too basic to get the best results.
http://blog.conradlyles.com/2010/05/22/how-great-photography-can-help-sell-your-home/
New Real Estate | Nov 21, 2010 | Reply
The real estate agent, unless specifically contracted as a buyer’s agent, is working for the seller.