If your community isn’t using social media to market residences and your community atmosphere you’re already behind the curve. One of the top social media platforms for marketing today is Instagram, which focuses primarily on photo and video content alongside short captions and hashtags. Whether you’re marketing on Instagram, or you’re taking your community to Facebook or Twitter, the quality of your photos makes all the difference. A poorly taken photo isn’t going to catch the attention of your audiences and it’s not going to set you apart from your competition. At OccupancySolutions.com we want to help you to get the best quality photos for your community whether you’re hiring a professional photographer or simply taking them yourself.

The first thing to keep in mind is that you don’t need to have an expensive professional camera to take great photographs. With the advancement of today’s smartphone technology, many can take excellent quality pictures by simply using their phone in a strategic way. The right angles, lighting, and editing tools can allow the average iPhone to take pictures sure to perfectly highlight any space.

First and foremost, your best friend in taking excellent quality photographs is lighting. A dull, dim, or dark room won’t be easy to see, and it certainly won’t grab the eye when placed alongside photos taken by competing communities. The best course of action is to figure out when the “golden hour” is for any particular room or unit and to make use of this natural lighting as you’re photographing the space. If you’re unable to work with golden hour lighting, using artificial light is your next best bet. Artificial light should be warm, inviting, and most of all – bright.

Next you may wish to stage your photos for your photography session. Staging photos with furniture allows prospects to see the real size of your space, it lets you continue to communicate your brand personality, and it shows viewers what your residences look like when they’re turned into a home. Staging efforts don’t need to be expensive or laborious, and even just a small couch with some throw pillows and a coffee table can really transform a living space in a positive way.

Lastly, finding a corner of a room and photographing at a wider angle helps to make the room look spacious, complete, and proportionate. If you’re unable to photograph from a corner, standing in the entrance of a doorway and photographing the entire space works well also. Once you’ve taken your photos, you can use editing software on a laptop or your smartphone to play with lighting and brightness to open up the space even more.

At OccupancySolutions.com we want your photographing efforts to make a real difference in attracting residents to your community. To learn more, contact us at OccupancySolutions.com today.