How to Take Great Photos of Your Property and Attract More Applicants

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It’s important to know how to take good photos of your property. Even a great apartment can be difficult to rent if the pictures don’t quite do it justice. Luckily, there’s a way to fix that. Show people how perfect your home or apartment with quality property photos that are well thought-out, use the right equipment and lighting, and accentuate the great parts of the unit.

Here are six steps to taking great property photos that will attract applicants.

1. Get the right equipment

Taking pictures of your property will require a few pieces of equipment: a camera, lens, tripod, and flash. Once you have the right camera, choose your lenses and flash to go with it. We’ll talk more about lenses later, but it’s best to grab a wide-angle lens.

Use a tripod to get a steady shot of the interior and exterior; it will rule out the chance of your pictures turning out blurry. When setting up your shots, try raising the tripod to different heights; eye level and waist level produce very different feels, so get the one you like and stick with it.

2. Find the best lighting

Consider what time of day you’ll be taking the photos. Using natural light usually produces the best pictures, and natural light is an often-sought after quality in a rental, so try to get your pictures taken during the day when sunlight is at its peak. Try to avoid taking head-on pictures of windows. If you have to shoot pictures at night or in the early morning hours, take advantage of your flash.

It’s important to note that the weather might not be working in your favor the day you go to shoot photos. In that case, you’ll need to be flexible and wait out the rain or inclement weather, or come back and shoot again when the lighting is better.

3. Choose your lens and angles

A wide-angle lens is your best best, especially for larger rooms that have a lot of space. They can capture more of the room than a regular, zoom lens. Even for smaller rooms, a wide-angle lens might make the most sense, but be sure to try out a few different lenses before settling on one.

You’ll want to take photos in the corner of the room, preferably getting three of the walls into the shot. This will help show the width of the area and give others a better feel for what the space really looks like. Try shooting smaller rooms from inside the door frame to get a full view of the room.

4. Use different exposures

Some experts recommend taking multiple pictures with different exposures and stacking them.

Try taking a few pictures of the room with the exposure set for the interior and a few with the exposure set for the exterior. Then, use editing tools to stack the photos on top of each other. The result will be a balanced photo that is neither blown out or too dark.

5. Add some decorations

Seeing a photo of an empty room isn’t always the best way to get someone to picture themselves living in it.

Spruce up the place and add some staging furniture, decorations on the walls, and some indoor plants to make it look like a home. A throw rug and some small tables in the living room, a bed and nightstand in the bedroom, and some small appliances in the kitchen will help bring the place to life, and you’ll get better quality pictures.

Getting an emotional reaction out of a potential tenant is key in selling them on the place; the more they can see themselves living in the apartment, the more likely they are to sign a lease.

6. Hire a professional

If you find that you’re no Annie Leibovitz and don’t want to go through the hassle of learning photography basics, you can always hire a professional photographer. Someone who knows how to work the lighting, get the right angles and edit the photos is worth the money. They’ll provide you with high quality, professional-looking photos that you won’t have to worry about taking yourself.

Once you have the photos you need to make your rental stand out, it’s time to post your listing. Using Zumper will allow you to easily post your rental to millions of users. When you get potential renters, you’ll also get access to our easy-to-use tenant screening product. Let your quality pictures speak for themselves and get ready to rent out your property.