How to photograph a flat for a listing: 12 tips you can follow with a phone

Photos are the first thing people see in a listing. Within a few seconds they decide whether to read on or scroll to the next property. The good news: you don’t need a professional camera for great listing photos. With a current phone and a little preparation you can take pictures that show the property at its best and still tell the truth.

Here are twelve tips that matter to us too: we turn photos into videos, and the difference between a well and a badly photographed flat shows straight away.

Before you start: prepare the property

1. Tidy up and take things away

Put away everything that isn’t part of the home: toiletries by the sink, magnets and papers on the fridge, shoes in the hall, cables, a drying rack full of laundry. Fewer things make a room look bigger and help viewers picture themselves living there. A simple rule: if a hotel wouldn’t leave it in the room, don’t leave it in the photo.

2. Remove personal items

Family photos, certificates, children’s drawings, work papers on the desk. They distract from the space, and taking them away also protects your privacy. Thousands of people will see the listing.

3. Fix the details the camera will see

Make the bed and straighten the pillows, close wardrobe doors, put the toilet lid down, line up the chairs and check that every bulb works. A photo shows more than you’d expect, and small mess reads as neglect.

Light matters more than equipment

4. Shoot in daylight

A day with even light is best. Strong sun shining straight through the windows creates harsh contrast and blown-out patches, so photograph a south-facing flat in the morning or under light cloud. Rooms facing north usually look best around midday.

5. Turn on every light and open the curtains

Open curtains and blinds and switch on the lamps as well. Artificial light fills dark corners and adds warmth. Just avoid mixing very cold and very warm light in one shot, or the colours will look unnatural.

6. Facing a window: HDR on, flash off

When you shoot towards a window, the phone either turns the window white or makes the whole room dark. HDR mode balances this, and on most current phones it switches on automatically. Don’t use the flash: it creates hard shadows and reflections on shiny surfaces.

Angles and composition

7. Shoot from the corner of the room

Stand in a corner or a doorway and point the phone at the opposite corner. You’ll show two or three walls and the room will look spacious and easy to understand. A straight-on photo of one wall looks flat and cramped.

8. Landscape, level, at chest height

Shoot in landscape and hold the phone level at about chest height. Vertical lines such as corners, door frames and wardrobes should stay vertical in the photo. The grid you can switch on in the camera settings helps. Tilted shots or photos taken from above look amateurish and distort the room.

9. Careful with the ultra-wide lens

The ultra-wide mode (usually 0.5× on a phone) shows a lot of space but stretches the edges, making a small room look bigger than it is. Try the standard lens from a corner first and keep ultra-wide for genuinely small spaces like bathrooms. A viewer who finds a smaller room than expected at the viewing is a disappointed viewer.

Tip: Take two or three shots from each spot with a small shift between them. You’ll have a choice later and won’t need to go back for one photo.

10. Photograph everything a buyer or tenant cares about

Two or three photos of every important room from different angles, plus the details that sell: the kitchen, the bathroom, storage, the view from the window. Don’t forget the outside of the building, the entrance, the balcony or terrace, the cellar, parking and the neighbourhood. Then choose the best for the listing: more photos aren’t better if they repeat each other.

After the shoot

11. Edit lightly and honestly

Straighten, crop and brighten a little if needed. Avoid filters that change colours, and never retouch defects such as damp or cracks. Photos should match reality, otherwise you’ll disappoint people at the viewing and lose their trust and your time.

12. Order the photos like a viewing

The first photo decides whether anyone clicks on the listing at all. Put your strongest shot first, such as the living room, the view or the terrace. Then follow the route a visitor would take: entrance, living room, kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, and finally the outdoor space and the area.

Quick checklist

• Tidy, personal items away, details fixed.
• Daylight, curtains open, all lights on.
• From the corner of the room, landscape, level, at chest height.
• HDR on, flash off, ultra-wide only when you must.
• Two or three photos per room, plus details, the exterior and the area.
• Light edits only, best photo first, then the order of a viewing.

The same photos can become a video

Good photos can work twice. We turn property photos into a short AI video with smooth camera movement and music, landscape for property portals and websites, portrait for Instagram and TikTok. We need at least 5 photos, ideally 6 to 20, and if your listing is already online, just send us the link. To see where a video helps most, read Video for a property listing, or see how it works.