3 ways to improve your Real Estate Photos on your Cell Phone.

I heard a really great quote recently, and you’ll have to forgive me because I cannot remember who said it. But it was instructions on how to use your cell phone to take pictures of a Real Estate Listing. Are ready for this?

Step 1: Pick up your phone

Step 2: Call your local Real Estate Photographer.

Now before you roll your eyes at me, can we all address the elephant in the room? No cell phones will never get you results as good as your photographer can get. But I will admit, there have been major improvements to the tech and you can often get some usable results!

So let’s take a minute and address some of the big troubles I see agents having.

Make sure you are capturing the right file size.

If you’ve ever tried to load images straight from your phone onto the MLS, you may have run into some issues with file size. Some MLS systems have minimum file requirements in order to upload. If you’ve hit a stumbling block with this, the fix is easy. Simply navigate to your camera settings and take a look at what Rear Picture Size your phone is set to. You may need to increase the capture file size to hit those requirements. You may also want to adjust the aspect ratio here as well to make sure you are capturing the widest frame possible.

Try a 3rd party camera app.

I recently found this really great article from Digital Photography School where they shared some great camera apps that are heads above the default app on your phone. I downloaded a couple to try and can confirm that some of these apps allow for much more flexibility when taking pictures. Some allow for adjusting settings like aperture and ISO, and some can even let you shoot in HDR (a huge deal when working with architecture)! If you’ve felt limited at all with what your standard camera app allows, try giving some of these apps a chance.

Make sure you’re shooting at the right height.

One of the simplest adjustments a Real Estate Agent can make when photographing with their phone is to simply make sure they’re shooting at the correct height. Our eyes and are brain are really REALLY good at putting pictures together without us realizing it. But cameras aren’t so smart. They don’t adjust for things like lighting and perspective in the same ways. I always recommend anyone shooting architecture (with a phone or a camera) to keep the camera about chest height. This is typically a good height to catch bits of the floor and ceiling without looking wonky. With this, you’ll want to make sure that your vertical lines are as vertical as possible. Pay special attention to wall corners and door frames to achieve this. You may want to turn on your camera grid to use as a reference!

These may not seem like “ground-breaking” tips but I can promise they will make a big difference when they are seen on the MLS! That is one of our major goals right? To stand out above the rest? So let’s do each little thing we can to get the best results!!

Speaking of getting the best results, you may want to check out my article on Preparing a Home for Photography or Why Hiding Clutter is probably in your Client’s best Interest.