How to Take Exceptional Real Estate Photos

How to Take Exceptional Real Estate Photos

The best professional-looking real estate photography captures the unique features of your property listing — and the imagination of potential buyers. Key elements elevate a real estate photograph: meticulous and balanced composition, strategic lighting for mood, close-ups highlighting craftsmanship, and curated staging that evokes a lifestyle. These features combine to create a photo that captivates viewers and enhances a property’s appeal.

Yet that’s all easier said than done. If you’re wondering how to take real estate photos, our step-by-step guide breaks down everything you need to know, from what equipment to use to how to best highlight each room.

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What you need to take the best real estate photos

Example of real estate photography featuring a one-story modern home with a pool overlooking mountains at dusk

If you want to photograph your listings instead of hiring a professional, the right gear makes all the difference. Here are the basics:

Professional-grade camera: Mirrorless cameras and DSLRs offer better image quality, higher resolution, and many other advanced features that your standard smartphone camera does not.
High-quality interchangeable lenses: The ability to change lenses multiple times while photographing a house gives you unparalleled flexibility as you move from room to room and from the interior to the exterior. Wide-angle lenses capture the grandeur of luxury properties while maintaining low distortion and high optical quality that ensure accurate proportions. Macro lenses are perfect for capturing intricate design details.
Tripods: Stabilizing your camera will result in sharper images, especially in low-light conditions or the long exposures necessary for those captivating sunset shots. They also help with precise composition and consistent framing.
Drones: Many high-end clients expect agents to use drones in luxury real estate marketing to capture unique aerial perspectives and stunning exterior shots of properties and landscapes.

How to take real estate photos

Luxury listings generally include photos that showcase the property in the day and evening. Daytime photography relies on natural light: think soft, diffused sunlight streaming through large windows, enhancing textures, colors, and architectural details.

Evening or nighttime photography lets you show off the home’s ambient lighting, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere. For exteriors, incorporate outdoor lighting such as pathway illumination and uplights to showcase the property’s nighttime allure. Indoors, use warm, dimmed lighting in living spaces, dining areas, and bedrooms to foster a cozy feeling.

How to frame real estate photos

You don’t have to have a degree in photography to use some basic composition techniques to your advantage. The rule of thirds divides the frame using vertical and horizontal lines to achieve balanced images. When photographing panoramas, align the horizon with a horizontal golden ratio line to balance sky and landscape.