How to make professional-looking pictures using a smartphone

Learn how to take professional pictures with a smartphone

Morgan

1 minute read

·

Updated on 17 Sep 2024

Adding high-quality photos to your listing is one of the best ways to catch the eye of a prospective tenant. Having a variety of pictures sets realistic expectations and helps tenants make up their minds about your property faster.

Getting professional pictures of your property can be costly and time-consuming. Luckily, all you need is a smartphone and good lighting to take a great photo!

Here's how you do it:

• Cleaning and tidying your property is crucial, allowing you to take stunning photos and offer a positive first impression.

• Take pictures of all the rooms, including the kitchen, bathroom, toilet(s), corridors etc. This will ensure that your potential tenants can make an informed decision and speed up their decision process.

• If you have poor natural lighting in a room, switch the lights on to capture a brighter, clearer image.

• For best results, try to take photos during the daytime, taking advantage of natural sunlight. On most smartphones, you can find the best focus for the light by just touching the screen. Try focusing on different areas of the photo, to find the best exposure.

• Turn your smartphone horizontally to take photos from a wider angle. Keep your camera as straight as possible.

• Take pictures from different perspectives to find the most flattering ones that show the room at its best. Shoot from below eye level. In fact, waist level shots are usually the most flattering.

• Windows are important. Make sure they are included in the pictures, as this shows how bright and airy the room is.

To stand out even more, add media such as a video or 360° tour and a floor plan to your listing.

To give you a better understanding of how your photos should look, let's compare 2 photos.

Poor quality photo

The photo above provides very little clarity and context. The lighting and angle don't look flattering. It looks dark and uninviting.

To improve this shot, a good place to start is to rotate your device into a horizontal position. Position your phone slightly lower to get more context into the shot. Aim your camera straight so that the corners of the walls and furniture make straight parallel lines.

To avoid underexposure because of the bright light coming from the window, try taking a photo from a corner and not directly towards the window. If the light is still too bright, use curtains. Tenants must see what your room looks like clearly.

Good quality photo

Even though the room is pretty narrow, the low wide angle and good lighting make it look inviting. As you can see, the landlord half-closed the curtain and turned on a lamp to create an evenly lit, bright photo.