How to take real estate photos with your phone

Photos are the first thing buyers look at, and the phone you already carry can take good ones. Most of the work happens before you press the shutter. If you’re working out how to take real estate photos with your phone, start with the rooms themselves, then the camera settings, the light and the order you shoot in.

Get the place ready first

Walk through the place as if you were seeing it for the first time, and put away anything you wouldn’t want a stranger to look at.

• Clear the kitchen and bathroom counters, and tuck cables out of sight.

• Put away family photos, mail, toiletries and anything with your name on it.

• Make sure no shot shows where you keep spare keys or security cameras.

• Take out a chair or a side table if a room feels crowded.

• Put the toilet seat down and move the trash cans out of the room.

• Outside, clear the path to the door and tidy the lawn and flower beds.

Then open every curtain and blind and switch on every light, lamps included. If some bulbs are warmer than others, swap them so they match. Last, wipe the camera lens with a soft cloth, since a smudged lens makes photos blurry.

Set up your phone

The camera app that came with your phone has every setting you need.

• Turn on the grid. On an iPhone, open Settings, tap Camera and turn on Grid and Level. On a Pixel, it’s under Grid type in the camera’s own settings; on other Android phones, look for Grid in the camera settings. The lines help you keep the walls straight.

• Hold the phone horizontally. A landscape photo shows the room from side to side, while a vertical one fills the frame with floor and ceiling.

• Turn the flash off. It lights a room unevenly, so use the daylight and the lamps you’ve switched on instead.

• Leave HDR on. It helps when a bright window and a darker room are in the same shot, and iPhones use it by default.

• Set the brightness. On an iPhone, tap the part of the room you care about, then drag up or down to make it lighter or darker, and touch and hold to lock it for the next shots. On Android, it depends on the brand, so look for a brightness slider in your camera’s controls.

If you own a small phone tripod, bring it. It keeps the phone steady and at the same height in every room.

Pick the time of day

Shoot the inside when the rooms get the most daylight. For many homes that’s late morning to early afternoon, but walk around once and check: a living room that faces west may look its best later in the day.

Shoot the outside in the golden hour, the hour after sunrise or before sunset, when the light is soft and warm. If you arrive while that light is still good, do the exterior first and go inside after.

Shoot the rooms in the order of a visit

Before you start, plan a route and follow the path a visitor would take: the outside and the entrance, the living areas and the kitchen, the bedrooms and bathrooms, then the garden, balcony or terrace. That way you won’t skip a room, and the photos are already in walking order when you sort them later.

Take a few angles of every room as you go. Picking the best shot later is easier than coming back for one you missed.

Frame each room

Stand in a corner or a doorway, so you get as much of the room in the shot as you can. Hold the phone at about chest height and keep it level, without tilting it up or down. Then look at the grid: the edges of walls, doors and windows should run parallel to its vertical lines. If they lean, the phone is tilted.

If a room still won’t fit, try the 0.5x ultra-wide lens. It fits more in, but it can bend straight lines near the edges of the frame. On an iPhone, the Lens Correction setting, which is on by default, adjusts ultra-wide photos so they look more natural.

Before you move to the next room, check that you’re not reflected in a mirror, a window or the oven door, and that there are no people or pets in the shot. Make sure the room’s best feature, like a fireplace or a view, is in the frame.

Mistakes to avoid

• Shooting before the place is ready. If the rooms aren’t tidy yet, wait and shoot another day.

• Leaving the curtains closed and the lights off. Dark rooms look smaller in photos.

• Holding the phone upright or at an angle, which cuts off the room or makes the walls lean.

• Taking one photo per room. If it turns out blurry or crooked, you have nothing else to use.

If you’d rather walk through once

The same prep applies if you film the place instead: tidy rooms, open curtains, lights on and a slow, steady camera, held upright or sideways. Lisly works from that kind of video. You walk through once and talk about the place as you go, and Lisly takes the listing photos from your video and writes the listing around them. You check all of it before anyone else sees it. If you sell or rent out your own place, see how Lisly works for homeowners and landlords.

FAQ

Can you take real estate photos with a phone?

Yes. A phone with a good camera is enough for listing photos, as long as the place is tidy and bright, you hold the phone level and horizontally, and you take a few angles of every room.

How do you take pictures of a house for sale?

Tidy each room, open the curtains and turn on the lights. Turn on your camera’s grid, hold the phone horizontally at chest height and shoot from a corner or a doorway. Do the outside in the golden hour and the inside when the rooms get the most daylight, following the route a visitor would take.

Should real estate photos be horizontal or vertical?

Horizontal. A landscape photo shows the room from side to side, while a vertical photo fills most of the frame with floor and ceiling.

What is the best time of day for real estate photos?

Inside, shoot when the rooms get the most daylight, often late morning to early afternoon. Outside, the golden hour, just after sunrise or just before sunset, gives the softest light.

Should I use the flash for real estate photos?

No. A flash lights a room unevenly. Open the curtains and switch on the lights instead.