If the seasons change while the home is on the market, her photos will as well, she said.
The ease of using digital cameras has empowered many agents and sellers to take photos themselves. As good as the pros? High-quality? Depends. Some are excellent.
Others, agents say, may be sufficient for the type of listing, presenting the home's features well and showing buyers what's in the house.
Professional fees can vary widely from under $100 to several times that. Many agents reserve investing in experts for their pricier listings, or supplement the professional photos with ones agents or other staffers take.
Preferring a sunny day, photographers shoot overviews of rooms as well as frame their accents, show off their views and include features important to buyers. The house should already be clean and uncluttered, lights on.
The pros shoot every room, but they know the public spaces, especially the kitchen and family room, are the ones that most interest buyers.
"I take four angles, one from each side of the room," Westerman says, moving among rooms with his camera and flash. But he takes more to show size, cabinetry, countertops, layout.
"Whatever is unique to the house, such as architectural details, I take those," he says.
He shoots up from the front door to include the coffered ceiling, and from the kitchen through to a great room to show the molding of the arch between the spaces.
If needed, photographers adjust images for color, brightness, sharpness and background; they work with the agents on photo selection.
The sky may be added in, glare taken out, fireplace flames enhanced.
"In some instances, there are little things," said Bill Iampieri, who operates VirtualToursNow in Ellicott City and does other Internet marketing. "On the lawn, if there is a brown patch, I can take a piece of grass from one section and cover that, but I always check with the agent on that."
Some homes lend themselves to multiple photo shoots, especially for spectacular views.
"I made the mistake of saying 'this is really a dawn shot,' so I had to come back at 5 o'clock in the morning," Westerman said of his work photographing a luxury high-rise condo.
Terri Westerlund, owner of ReMax Le Reve in Highland, recalled supplementing the photos of an upscale house with an aerial view as well as with a dusk photo.
Photographers won't make the bed, but they regularly move items out of sight. Extraneous objects distract, and the viewer doesn't focus on the house.
