When you think of filters, your mind may immediately go towards something like what you see on social media platforms that give a certain look or feel to your images. When it comes to professional real estate photography, there is only one filter that we use and it probably isn’t what you’re thinking of right away.
Instead of adding a filter to images after we take the photo, we put a filter over our lens before we even take the pictures so the results we are left with already have the filter’s effect. The filter is called a Polarizer. We use it to achieve the highest of quality when it comes to our photos because it reduces the amount of glare from light outside of the home.
In areas with lots of windows like living areas, dining rooms, or kitchens; the windows let in so much light that areas like the countertops and floors become so overexposed with light that it just appears white. No texture, no color, and no details. The only way to fix this problem is to either pull curtains or blinds, which we never want to do for reasons we explain here, or use the same kind of filter you may see fishermen using to cut through glare on the water.
A variable polarizing filter works by filtering out the specific wavelengths of light that are causing the glare, but keeps most of the light passing through to the lens. We think of it as the filter organizing light into a single-file line instead of being scattered all over the place. This is the easiest way to achieve that high-quality look that we want your listings to have; plenty of light, no glare. Our professional real estate listing photo packages are designed to give you an advantage over other listings in the area, and reducing glare in photos is only one of the many steps we take to make you stand out as a real estate professional in a market like southwest Montana.
When it comes to using filters after the fact, we simply don’t believe in it. It is difficult to slap a catch-all filter on photography that is very personal to the home. For this reason, we hand-edit each individual photo to give it that polished professional look. While many real estate listings have the same shot-list from exteriors to kitchens, bedrooms, dining areas and so on; each home will have a different lighting situation. The only thing we can control is the amount of light our cameras pick up, and the strength of our polarizing filter.
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