Real estate photography takes skill. Those who don’t invest in professional equipment or hire external photographers often end up relying on the ultimate all-rounder: their own smartphone. The results for real estate listings vary depending on individual skill. With our simple pro tips, you’ll achieve high-quality photos that are virtually indistinguishable from professional camera shots.
The key to perfect property photos is lighting: Always turn on all the lights in the property (even in bright sunshine), and open all curtains, blinds, shutters, etc. Don’t worry if the weather outside isn’t cooperating; our AI-powered “fair weather” mode quickly and automatically creates a beautiful atmosphere inside the property during post-processing.
Once the lighting is in place, the next step is the condition of the property. Informing your sellers/landlords in advance about your requirements will save you time. Ultimately, the property should be presented in the best possible condition. This includes:
Another important point for creating a welcoming home for prospective tenants is that the apartments should be as depersonalized as possible. This includes asking owners to remove family photos and religious objects (such as crucifixes). Once this is done, you’re all set.
Hold your smartphone at approximately chest height to make the room appear larger. You can also kneel down and hold the smartphone slightly higher than eye level. Be careful not to tilt your smartphone forward or backward, and turn it to the right or left. In theory, this sounds quite simple, but in practice, it often involves some contortions. The goal, in any case, is to make the room (any room) appear as large as possible.
If you find it difficult to hold the phone straight at chest height, you can always use a tripod for your smartphone. In the camera settings, you can also display a grid and a spirit level on all iPhone and Android devices, which make taking straight photos much easier.
Avoid digital zoom and flash, as these significantly degrade image quality. Just like with a prime lens on your camera, footwork is also a form of zoom – just manual.
Those familiar with image development can also shoot in RAW format on their smartphone – for even better results and to have more flexibility during post-processing. RAW is a large, unaltered “digital negative” file with maximum image information, allowing for flexible post-processing, while JPEG is a compressed, smaller file that is already developed in-camera and immediately shareable. The advantages of RAW are that white balance, exposure, etc., can be adjusted more flexibly later, the color depth (12 or 14 bits per color channel in RGB) is significantly higher than with JPEG (8 bits per channel), and there is a greater dynamic range that reveals more detail in both bright and dark areas. The disadvantage is that these much larger image files in RAW format then need to be developed, e.g. with Adobe Lightroom, in order to convert them to JPEG, whereas JPEG files are immediately readable, since the compression/development has already taken place on the smartphone.
An interim solution is the so-called HEIF format (HEIC on iPhones). These files are more storage-efficient than JPEG files and therefore generally of higher quality, as they allow for a higher color depth (up to 16 bits per smartphone camera). However, they are not readable or processable in every program.
Our photo enhancement software currently only allows editing of JPEG files, but we plan to offer RAW and HEIF file editing in the future.
Another important feature that few people are aware of is the HDR mode on smartphones. This uses different exposure times for bright and dark areas of the image. This mode should ideally be enabled by default, and it is particularly useful when the sun is shining intensely into one part of the frame while the other remains relatively dark.
Pay attention to converging lines: Your image should contain reference lines on the left and right sides, such as a door frame or a wall. These lines should slope vertically downwards on both sides and not be slanted. While this isn’t always 100% achievable, it can easily be corrected later using perspective. Having at least one straight vertical and one straight horizontal line in your image is a good start. The grid displayed in your camera settings will help you with this.
Another important aspect of image composition is the rule of thirds: The ceiling should not occupy more than one-third of your image. Large pieces of furniture and highlights of the property should also never be centered, but rather positioned in the right or left third of the room. The best way to achieve this is to photograph diagonally into the room. The camera’s grid automatically divides the frame into thirds, making placement easier.
In small rooms, diagonal photography is the most difficult and often involves a lot of contortion. This is where your creativity comes in: Does a small, awkwardly shaped bathroom look best from the corner where the bathtub is? Then sit on the edge of the tub, lean back as far as possible (without falling in), hold your smartphone at chest height, and start shooting. Generally speaking, if you squeeze yourself as far into a corner of the room as possible, you’ll usually get the best pictures.
Whether to use portrait or landscape format depends on the medium: In most cases (website, brochure, etc.), we recommend pure landscape images in 4:3 format; alternatively, 16:9 also works.
However, the problem arises when you want to post on social media or run ads. Instagram, for example, requires portrait images. For Stories & Reelcovers, the 9:16 format (1080x1920px) is required, and for posts, at least the 4:5 format (1350 x 1080px), if not even 3:4 (1080 x 1440px – note that this currently doesn’t work with the Meta Business Suite or for sponsored posts). Facebook & LinkedIn are more lenient here; horizontal images in 1.91:1 format (1080 x 566 px or 1200 x 627 px) also work there.
As a general rule of thumb, portrait-format images are always necessary for social media. Since cropped real estate photos from landscape to portrait format usually don’t look good (apart from the significant loss of quality), you should take at least two photos from each angle of the property: one landscape for your website and property listing, and one portrait for your social media.
For portrait-format photos, be sure to also change your camera’s default aspect ratio from 3:4 to 16:9 to ensure the images can be used without loss of quality in Stories. However, keep in mind the cropping for other aspect ratios.
Especially with taller buildings, you often get converging lines in your outdoor photos. This is because you’re standing too low, which causes the building’s lines to appear to curve upwards, almost like a pyramid.
The only way to completely avoid this is to fly a drone halfway up the building and then take the photo. But of course, not every real estate agent has a drone (and the necessary license). If you simply take the photo from your usual vantage point and try to correct the converging lines in post-processing, a multi-story building can quickly become a bungalow because the image is distorted and flattened.
One way to at least improve these converging lines is as follows: Try to gain more space by standing on a nearby hill or rise; even half-height concrete walls work perfectly. Also, position yourself far enough away from the building so that you can capture it entirely in your frame without having to zoom in.
Then, hold your smartphone vertically as usual, set it to panorama mode, and then turn it upside down. Now, slowly and carefully pan from the bottom (approximately knee height) upwards (as far as you can comfortably stretch). This will at least improve the converging lines. This technique also works in landscape mode, but again, make sure the left side of the camera is at the bottom.
Photography, like many things in life, is all about practice. The more you work on a picture, the better it will become. The most important piece of advice for any real estate agent who takes their own photos is essentially: take your time instead of snapping away quickly.
Because often, post-processing a photo takes longer than the time it would have taken to take a better photo in the first place. If you critically review your photos on your computer in full-screen mode afterward, you’ll learn a lot for future photos and eventually develop your own feel for it. Simply go through these questions:
Regarding exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, dynamic range, and much more, don’t worry: these can all be improved later in post-processing. Simply use our photo beautification feature. Soon, it will also be possible to correct converging lines.
When marketing a new building, one is surrounded by a world of samples instead of the actual property. Model apartments, renderings, flooring and tile samples, product catalogs of optional extras. This article explores how the world of samples can be transformed into a comprehensive digital representation.
Almost five properties are viewed before a prospective buyer decides on one. However, only a third of all interested parties find their ideal home without compromise. Real estate agents could much more easily clarify these perceived compromises and thereby save valuable viewing time, which in turn would benefit the environment.
Especially in recent years, there have been increasing trends and changes in real estate marketing. What was sufficient to attract potential buyers for Baby Boomers and Generation X is no longer enough for Millennials and Generation Z. We provide a brief overview of the expectations of these generations.
Digitally furnishing and enhancing real estate photos using artificial intelligence is a trend that is primarily generating excitement. What renderings are for new construction projects—showing how the property could look—is now possible for existing properties thanks to AI. However, caution is advised with this type of presentation: After all, you certainly don’t want to disappoint your potential buyers with the reality, the current state of the property, during a viewing—we’ll tell you what you should pay attention to.
Real estate photography takes skill. Those who don’t invest in professional equipment or hire external photographers often end up using the ultimate all-rounder: their own smartphone. With our simple pro tips, you’ll achieve high-quality photos that are virtually indistinguishable from those taken by professional cameras.