You know how digitalization has completely changed industries, right? Well, so has it contributed to the evolution of the real estate market. Now, you can access all sorts of services online, from holding meetings to making purchases. Property hunting is no exception.
High-quality property photos are an important factor in sealing the deal in real estate. They can make or break a sale. The good news is that you no longer need fancy cameras; your iPhone can do the job just fine.
In this article, we will share some useful tips on how to take attractive real estate photos with iPhone to attract more potential buyers. We will highlight the best features of the property you are selling and make your listings pop.
How to Take Real Estate Photos with iPhone
We will cover three crucial topics to enhance your iPhone photography skills for real estate:
- Essential iPhone settings for excellent shots.
- Simple tricks for creating stunning real estate compositions.
- Techniques to maximize your shots using apps like Lightroom Mobile.
Pre-Photo Considerations
If you consider the following suggestions, your experience will be all the more rewarding.
Ensuring a Fully Charged Battery:
Frequent usage, such as checking listings, making customer calls, and reviewing documents, significantly depletes your phone’s battery. To avoid such situations, investing in a car charging cable is highly recommended, allowing you to charge your phone on the go.
Consider Buying a Tripod:
Investing in a good quality tripod can significantly improve the clarity of photos taken from iPhone, especially in low-light conditions or when using external lenses. Moreover, some tripods come with flexible legs that can be bent and wrapped around posts or railings, proving to be highly advantageous.
There are affordable tripods designed for iPhones, like the GripTight GorillaPod Stand.
Getting an External Lens Set
Add-on lenses enhance iPhone photography, overcoming limitations. Wide-angle lenses are excellent for real estate photos, capturing more space in one shot. Overall, they expand the phone’s camera capabilities and lead to better photography outcomes.
Essential To-Dos while Taking Photos with Iphone
Following is an easy-to-follow guide for taking accurate photos with your iPhone.
Capture in RAW files
Shooting in RAW format is essential to capture the highest level of detail and gain maximum editing flexibility in real estate photography. Unlike JPEG and HEIC files, RAW files preserve all the information captured during the moment of shooting. This allows for editing adjustments, such as recovering highlight and shadow details that may be lost in JPEG/HEIC formats.
The iPhone 12 and 12 Max feature a ProRaw setting in the native camera app, accessible through Settings > Camera > Formats > Apple ProRaw. For other iPhone models, third-party apps like Lightroom Mobile, ProCamera, or ProCam 8 offer RAW capture options, delivering similar results.
Improve Your Shots with HDR Mode on Your iPhone
Real estate photos often face extreme lighting challenges. HDR technology in iPhones blends multiple shots with different brightness levels, preserving detail in highlights and shadows. The result is a well-exposed image with enhanced quality.
Recent iPhones (e.g., iPhone 11, 12) use Smart HDR by default. Older models (e.g., iPhone 8) have Auto HDR. To manually activate HDR, go to Settings > Camera, disable Smart HDR (or Auto HDR), and use the HDR icon when taking photos to capture HDR files.
Choose Day Light Photography
To achieve the right lighting for real estate photography with your iPhone, aim to shoot during the middle of the day under bright overcast, or sunny skies. This offers consistent light and color, resulting in better product listings and easier post-processing.
Midday light provides ample illumination for interior shots where additional light may be required. To maximize light levels, open all curtains before photographing a room, but be mindful of potential harsh lighting conditions.
Use Your Tripod or Third-Party Camera App
Real estate photography in darker rooms might result in your iPhone automatically slowing down the shutter speed to capture more light. However, this can lead to blurry photos if your phone moves during the long exposure time. Consider using a tripod to avoid blur and get sharp images in low light.
Alternatively, you can use a third-party camera app with manual controls to adjust the shutter speed and ISO settings for better results. Remember to use the self-timer function to prevent vibrations from touching the phone while taking the photo.
Hold Your iPhone Properly
A common mistake is not providing proper support for sharp images. Instead of holding your iPhone at arm’s length, stabilize it by bringing your elbows inward and resting them on your chest or knees. Use the volume button, not the screen-based shutter, for better grip and stability. Avoid digital zoom, get closer to the targeted object; this enables clearer real estate photos and avoids pixelated ones.
Position Your iPhone Horizontally
When taking real estate photos from your iPhone, holding it sideways in a landscape-oriented view is more beneficial. This applies to exterior shots and interior ones, as it allows for a broader perspective of the room and its details in one frame. While some situations call for vertical photos, horizontal orientation provides a clearer and more detailed view for potential buyers.
Opt for a Corner Angle Photography
A significant challenge is the phone’s narrow-angle of view, capturing less of the room in one image. To overcome this, position the phone in the corner to expand the sense of space. Alternatively, use the panoramic setting or wide-angle lens, which can increase the field of view by up to 2x.
Enhance Photos with Foreground Interest
When composing real estate photos with your iPhone, consider adding foreground interest for increased depth and visual appeal. Incorporating something interesting in the foreground, such as a table, couch, or chair, draws the viewer into the frame and creates a sense of depth. This contrast with the background enhances the overall composition, giving the home a more inviting and immersive feel.
Capture Wider Views for Better Perspectives
In real estate photography, consider framing your shots with two walls whenever possible. This composition offers a roomy touch without making it look narrow or cramped. Positioning the line between the two walls along a rule of gridline creates a dynamic composition. Go to Settings > Camera and toggle on the Grid to enable the grid overlay.
Focus on What Enhances Beauty
When taking pictures of a room, don’t just randomly snap real estate photos with your iPhone. Think about what makes the room look great. It could be a stunning chandelier or beautiful bay windows. Make that the main focus of your picture, but don’t put it right in the middle. Try placing it slightly to the side, following a simple grid rule, which makes the photo look more interesting.
Remember, highlighting the best parts of the room will make your pictures stand out and look fantastic!
Conclusion
Now that you have gone through this article, you are all set to snap some fantastic photos of your house with just your iPhone.
Just remember to choose the right settings, find the best lighting, pay attention to your compositions, and give your photos a little edit at the end.
Follow these tips, and I bet you will be amazed at the dazzling results you will get. Happy photographing!
