As a real estate agent, you know just how important having the right photos of a listing is when it comes to making a sale.

The only problem?

Your own photography skills aren’t exactly helping to show your homes in the best light. In fact, you’re afraid that the photos you take make the homes look cramped, don’t emphasize the right features, or just aren’t realistic representations of the property.

We can help you with that.

In this post, we’re sharing five of our very best real estate photography tips.

From telling you what kind of lens to invest in, to teaching you more about the perfect lighting, by the time you finish reading, you’ll be a master in how to take real estate photos.

1. Get the Home Ready for Its Close-Up

Before we get into the specifics of how to take real estate photos, let’s make sure you’ve taken the required steps to get the home looking its best!

First of all, eliminate any excess clutter, or pieces of furniture that make the room look smaller and cramped.

Next, consider the details. Do the bookshelves have books and old magazines piled up on top of each other? Time to fix that.

Does anything in the home look dated, or is there anything that’s blocking doors and windows? If so, do some more rearranging.

To make sure everything is ready, examine the room from different angles, where you plan to stand when you take your photos. Even do a few test shots on your phone.

If all looks good, you’re ready to go.

2. Try Using a Wide Angle Lens

Now, let’s talk about how the kind of camera and lenses that you use play a part in our real estate photography tips.

Especially if you’re photographing a larger space, it’s a good idea to invest in a wide angle lens. This will work to give your photos a sense of depth, in addition to allowing you to capture the entire room.

Refrain from using a fisheye lens, which can easily distort the look of the home.

3. Getting the Right Lighting

If you want to master how to do real estate photography, then you know that lighting plays an enormous role in how your photos turn out.

One of the best times to take real estate photographs is during the magic hour, sometimes referred to as the golden hour.

In most cases, the golden hour is the hour right before the sunsets, though in some cases, it can be the first hour of sunrise. This is the time when you’ll have the best natural lighting for your photos — so, especially if you want to shoot the front and back yards, or if your home has lots of windows, do it now.

However, if you can’t get the magic hour to work for you? Don’t sweat it.

Instead, you can actually edit your photos and change the daylight to a dusk setting.

Additionally, you can find the right lighting by taking photos of the interior of the home using HDR photography.

This actually allows you to take three pictures, but all using varying shutter speeds. Then, the three photos are blended together for the perfect lighting!

4. Consider Drone Photography

We know that you’re especially interested in tips for real estate photography that help your listing to really stand out from the rest.

Sure, you want to take beautiful photos of a home’s exterior and interior.

But have you considered what shooting from a bird’s eye view could do for you and your clients?

Yes, we’re talking about drone photography.

It’s one of the trendiest new ways to photograph a house — so trust us when we tell you that your competitors are already doing it.

This allows you to show how much space the home takes on the lot, as well as what the surrounding areas look like. Plus, it helps to create the perfect sense of depth and perspective.

Especially when it comes to larger homes, as well as houses with pools and impressive backyards, drone photography is your new best friend.

5. When in Doubt, Go with a Pro

So, even after reading these real estate photo tips, you’re still not quite sure you can master photography.

Or maybe you know you’re a pro with the camera, but just don’t have the time to do a full photoshoot for every home you’re showing.

First of all, remember that there are tons of photography classes that you can enroll in to sharpen your skills.

But sometimes, there’s nothing quite like benefitting from the skill set of a professional. They’ll not only have all the equipment you need (saving you some serious costs.)

They’ll also be able to edit your photos to perfection, and even feature them on their website or social media pages. That exposure could lead to more potential buyers for you!

Use These Real Estate Photography Tips to Close the Deal

We hope that this list of the most effective real estate photography tips has helped you to learn how to make your homes look as beautiful in photographs as they are in person.

Looking for more real estate buying and selling tips?

We’ve got you covered.

Be sure to keep checking back with our blog to learn more about things like where and how to market your homes, what to consider when you’re ready to sell your house, and even understanding how to get a mortgage.