How to Stage Your Maui Property for a Photo Shoot

You only have one chance to create the first impression. 

You have one thumbnail photo as your cover. 

You have a few seconds to capture your audience to click into your listings among all the other online listings.

According to the National Association of Realtors, “85% of those buyers say it’s the photos that are the most important factor in deciding which homes to go view.”

I often suggest to my clients, that if it is a home for sale, your main goal is to clean it very well. You do not need to be over-staged with things that are not even included in the sale. But if you have an empty house, you may want to consider staging it with furniture or have us virtually staged for your potential clients to visualize how the space can be used. 

If it is a vacation rental, give a little bit more effort to stage it. Your wine, fruits, and Aloha decoration will give off vacation vibes better than an empty home. If you are thinking of staging it yourself, check out these staging tips:

First task: Declutter & Clean

The very basic task before adding anything else is to declutter. Less is more. We would rather have fewer unnecessary plants, old books, and worn-out decorations than to have more. Throw away things that have been in your condo since you bought it over 15 years ago. Not everything there is what people want. Not every extra decoration adds value. If it looks too old, half-used, or almost falling apart, please get rid of it. 

Here is another article about how to clean and tidy your home for photos. 

Accessorize Smartly

One of the easiest ways to update a room is to accessorize it well. A few of our favorite main areas to stage are the lanai table, kitchen island, and coffee table. These are the areas that we would take the most photos of, and the more “colorful” it is, the more your photo will stand out. 

Here are some general suggestions, just pick a few, you do not have to do it all: 

Lanai:

• Place freshly cut colorful fruits on individual plates (mango, papaya, watermelon etc.) or cheese, and grapes on a wooden chopping board.

• Place one flower next to the fresh-cut fruit plate 

• Place a glass (be mindful of the wind)

• Place a centerpiece in the middle of the table (e.g. Pineapple or a bottle of wine or juice or flowers)

• If you have colorful table mats you can use them

• Set only for 2 persons for small size lanai table

*Some of these sample photos are staged by a professional stager or by our clients, and some photos are staged by us. Ideas credit to original stager.

Kitchen Island and Dinning Room:

• Place a bowl of colorful fruits (no need to cut) in a beautiful bowl OR

• Fresh flowers

• Your gift for guests: Aloha Chocolate + Special Complimentary Water 

• Set out the table for 2-4 persons if you have an island with a bar counter or for your dining room

Bathroom:

• Less is more, mainly to show super clean towels, remove any unwanted items

• Sometimes we put a single plumeria flower on the counter 

Pay attention to the bathroom

Along with kitchens, attractive and clean bathrooms are an important selling feature in a home and will be scrutinized when viewed online. Even if your bathroom is a little outdated, you can spiff it up for minimal effort: Clear everything off your sink top except for soap, roll up some towels and put them on an available shelf for display, buy a fresh, bright shower curtain, and perhaps most important is to make sure the toilet seat lid is closed. That last item makes a huge difference in photos.

Coffee table: 

• Maui book, or anything colorful that helps your photo pop, but not too much. 

Bedroom: 

Ask yourself, is it time to buy a new set of bedsheets? The color of the sheets itself would change how a bedroom feels in the photo. Some people may hate bright red or green color sheets, maybe changing the sheets itself can already help boost your booking. Choosing more neutral colors and ocean themes with a beach vibe is usually fitting for Maui. 

Potential suggestion for bed:

• A tray of “breakfast”/ bread with coffee mug

• A beautiful lei 

• OR nothing on the bed, because it could be visually too busy and unnecessary if you already have colorful sheets or room decor

• Appropriately display art on walls, and make sure it is in the photograph position to add color to your background that would add a wow factor to pictures viewed online. Note that grouping also looks best in odd numbers and at varying sizes. 

Yet, do not to over-accessorize

Accessorizing is important, but it needs to be tastefully — and minimally — done. Overstuffed shelves with various books and wall decor can create a visual nightmare. Sometimes, overly decorated with too many “cheesy” Hawaiian decorations would simply shout “too touristy” or “old school”. The main goal is to have a few items that enhance the overall colorfulness of your room, fresh flowers, fresh-cut fruits, some colorful plates, and a beautiful Hawaiian lei will do. 

Do not over-accessorize, just because you have bought those items does not mean you have to put them in the room. Some vacationers prefer a clean, modern look. If there are too many furnishings, where are they going to put their belongings?

We recommend skipping the oversized items or cheesy decorations, old worn-out floral decor which can become more of a distraction than an enhancement.

Do you include those items?

Another consideration is how much of the additional items you used to stage will be included in your actual vacation rental experience. Do you include wine? Do you include the Aloha chocolate as a welcome gift? If you do, YES! put them on the table when we are doing the photoshoot. But if you include nothing, you may not want to mislead your potential clients with high expectations. We also like those units that are tidy without too much clutter for looks. Staging is an enhancement, but it is not a requirement.

It is a fine line for us to promote your listing in the most aesthetic way possible and it is the owner’s decision and responsibility to consider what is a realistic representation of their condo. Do not sell something that you are not offering. That will just end up with poor reviews on your listing.

Don’t forget the small stuff

Remember, it’s those first impressions that are most important when buyers are viewing hundreds of photos of homes online. A few other photo prep tips:

• Hide your wires. Hide TV cords and other cables. 

• Check if your photos are on the wall. Are they placed straight or crooked?

• Move any trash cans (indoor and outdoor).

• Clean any glass and reflective surface (windows, slide doors, mirrors).

Clean everything

We’re not just talking about the counters and floors here. Everything in your home should get a scrub, from muddy siding or dingy carpeting to wood furniture and curtains. Don’t let your potential clients get distracted by a grimy door, walls, or windows — they might start to wonder what other home-upkeep tasks have been neglected.

Share with us what is your favorite staging items. We love to hear from you! 

Hope this is a helpful article for those who are trying to figure out how to stage their vacation rental.

Contact us for photographing your vacation rental in Maui! It’s your home, we do our job to show it off.

Maui Real Estate Photographer Reveals How Property Photos are done can Attract Clicks or Swipe away

What are the differences we can make to Sell your condo with new photos

Where do all eyes go first when perusing a vacation rental listing? The photos, of course.

Owners should never underestimate the importance of investing in a professional real estate photographer to get the very best pictures possible of their place. Because no matter how good an eye you have, owners tend to be blind to how their own home comes across on camera—and, as a result, might have listing photos that don’t show their home in the best light.

Since all it takes is one second for internet surfers to lose interest in a listing and swipe away, here is an example from our photographers on how to make the most out of your listing and how we present a condo different than others.

Recently, we got contacted by an owner who hired 3 photographers to do three differnet photoshoot for his vacation rental. He picked out the best photos out of all three photographers to compile them into his airbnb photos. Well, maybe he already got the best photos, why does it need to be redone? Is it really that hard to find a real estate photographer in Maui?

We made a few suggestions into what we can do differently and one of our photographers, Mark, he redid the photoshoot for our client. Below is a short video showing how we see things differently and what kind of images we can create to make the unit look totally different with better lighting and how we focus our attention to details.

Watch a side by side comparison between our client’s Existing photos —> Our photos.

You can get a better understanding of why quality matters.

“Those who works with their hands, they are Labors.

Those who works with their hands and their brains, they are Photographers.

Those who works with their hands, their brains, and their hearts, they are Artists.”

- Flora Rude, Flocus Studio -

Let us do the hard work, so you can get all the benefits and be proud of your listing. 

We are artists that do your property justice, create beautiful images with integrity so you can see the increase in booking.

If you need our advice on your existing photos, feel free to reach out for a free review on your property photos.

Contact Us

Maui Condo Photo Directory

We have recently updated our Maui Stock Photo Library with new property aerial photos and site photos.

If you are looking for just one or two photos of a specific property such as aerial or pool shots, come check out our online stock photo store. You maybe able to find just exactly what you need in a few minutes without scheduling another photoshoot and check out online.

We have aerial photos and site photos (grounds, pools etc) of almost every condo in Kihei, Wailea, Ma’alea and some of West Maui.

Generic Maui beach photos, tropical marketing images, upcountry, Kula, North Shores photos are also available for purchase for you to create marketing content.

Inquire if you have other photos needed, we are constantly updating our database and take new photos.

And please write to us if you cannot find what you need and have a project in mind.

Looking for a Maui Property Photo? Check out our store.

Need a Photographer? Here is what they need to know: Tips for hiring Maui Real Estate Photographer

I came across an article recently that covered things the writer thinks your photographer needs to know before hiring them, and I thought I'd give my take on this list.

1. Factor in the time of day when scheduling a photoshoot. This is a big issue that a lot of businesses, and photographers, don't give enough consideration to, but it’s worth considering the time of day for when you book a shoot to ensure that the sun is in the best position for taking your ‘hero shot’ outside.

Having said that, my experience with businesses in various industries, and I've heard this from a lot of photographers as well, is that it's usually the clients booking the shoot who aren't interested in making themselves available for a photoshoot at the time that best suits the location.

A lot of business owners expect the photographer to do some magic and create wondrous images in any situation, and they don't understand the important role that the light plays when shooting outdoors. A truly professional photographer will do the best they can regardless of what's happening, but they can't truly replicate what the great big light in the sky can achieve.

2. Drone shots aren’t always the best shots. I totally agree and I think this is important, especially with the rising popularity of drone shots (no pun intended). Now don’t get me wrong, elevated shots really can work well. Having said that, drone shots can sometimes make things worse, not better. You can check samples of different drone shots below.

The reason why very high exterior shots don't always work, especially when shooting homes in high-density residential areas, is because they'll show the roof and the yards of surrounding homes, and that's a look that is not necessarily appealing, especially if it makes the home we are shooting seem closer to neighbors than it really is. I have discussed a brief snippet for using drones for listings here.

3. It takes skill to make a twilight shoot work well. A lot of buildings look their best either just before sunrise or just after sunset. However, what's important here is the choice of photographer. A photographer with very little experience or the skill to shoot twilights will not necessarily create an amazing image.

A twilight shoot is something that takes a lot of work because the timing is so limited. The photographer will have maybe 10 to 15 minutes when the light is just perfect, and in that time they'll need to get enough exposures, and often multiple angles. That takes planning and a knowledge of what lighting is needed. Only the best photographers should be trusted to do this with a high degree of skill. You can also check my previous writing about adding a twilight photo to your listing here and on this feature property article.

4. Say no to excessively dramatic skies. The skies in your photos should look good, but they shouldn’t be too dramatic, such that they draw attention away from the focus of the image.

When an inexperienced photographer learns how to do a sky replacement in Photoshop (where they remove the sky that was there on the day and replace it with a different sky) they can get a bit too excited. That's when they go crazy, bringing in the most dramatic skies they can find.

What they forget is that the real estate agent or the business owner is not selling the sky, but the home or the business. The attention then needs to be on the building, not what's going on up above.

5. Don’t edit the images too much. As a professional photographer, I've had clients ask me to remove all sorts of items from a photo, and on many occasions, I've had to explain to them that it would be against the law to misrepresent a home or business in that way.

A good photographer should be familiar with the rules regarding editing an image in Photoshop, or they could get themselves and their client in a lot of trouble.

6. Have extra lights available to photograph indoors. A photographer should have some lights with them when taking interior shots and in a lot of situations, multiple lights are very helpful like this set-up or a simple one can be handier at certain times.

Sample shots with the help of extra lighting are shown below.

Having said that, some photographers can create wonderful images using purely natural light. However, even then it can be a good idea for them to carry a few lights with them so they are prepared for any situation. There are times when only an extra pop of flash will fix the situation.

7. Use a wide-angle lens when appropriate. Any experienced architectural photographer will have a wide-angle lens in their kit bag. We need to talk about the photographer or the client who feels that every photo needs to show the entire room, no matter how wide that might be.

This is a big problem for two reasons:

Firstly, showing an excessively wide room will make the room seem larger than what it really is. That kind of thing can be very damaging to a client’s reputation. In fact, I've had quite a few conversations with consumers who express their frustration with businesses, and photographers, who shoot far too wide.

This photo is from online source. Credit to original photographer.

This photo is from online source. Credit to original photographer.

Take for example these photos we’ve seen online, they may be fine coming from customer’s reviews but not necessarily ideal for real estate photo listings. We wouldn't want to mislead people about the real size of the space by using the wide-angled lens inappropriately.

Secondly, a wide shot is not necessarily the best shot to use in a marketing campaign. For example, a beautifully composed photograph that looks like something from a styled magazine photoshoot may do far more to attract customer inquiries than a wide shot with no soul. The goal, after all, is a sale, so the images need to be focused on that goal, not just on showing as much as they can.

8. Have a booking confirmation if you have a contract or at least something in writing that makes it clear what the photographer will be delivering so everyone knows exactly what’s going on. This contract or list of services could include:
- How long will the photographer be on site, and are there time limits?

- What will incur extra fees?

- Will the photographer style the room in any way, or will they shoot it exactly as it is presented?

- How long will it take to deliver the completed images?

- What kind of additional services / technology the photographer can provide?

Photo by FLOCUS Studio, Wailea Point

Those are all important questions, but a signed contract is not essential. Most photographers I know will include these details in their pricelist (so that the client is aware of these things before making a booking) or will communicate those issues in an email to their client before the shoot to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Be aware also that a photographer is trying to run a viable business and as such, they do need to charge more for doing extra work. A business that respects its photographer as a professional and is willing to pay extra when more is being demanded from them, will be better placed to ensure a successful photoshoot and marketing campaign.

Contact us today for your next photoshoot project.