How to Take Beautiful Apartment Photos

Great photos can make your listing pop. Here’s how to capture your apartment in the best light:

• Natural Light is Your Best Friend: Schedule your photo shoot during the day when natural light floods your space. Open curtains and let the sunlight showcase the best features of your rental. Also, turn on all the lights. More light will make your place look bigger and cleaner. 
• Organize and Clean: A tidy space is inviting. Be sure to remove as many personal items from photos as you can. The bed should be made nicely. Tables should be cleared and cleaned. Kitchen should be clean with clear counters and bright light. A well-organized space looks more appealing. Guests want to feel like they can feel at home for their stay, rather than feel like they’re in your home for their stay. 
• Highlight Unique Features: Does your rental have a great view or a cozy reading nook? Make sure these features are featured in your photos. They can be the deciding factor for potential guests to book your apartment. 
• Use a High-Quality Camera: While new smartphones can work wonders, a DSLR camera can take your photography to the next level. Pay attention to resolution and focus to capture crisp, clear, bright images. 
• Don’t Edit Too Much: Keep things simple with editing. Less is more. A little tweaking of brightness or saturation can make photos pop. But overly edited photos can look too saturated or blown out which can give an amateur impression and could make potential guests mistrust the accuracy of your listing photos. 
• Consider Angles and Composition: Take photos from corners to give a sense of space. Use the rule of thirds to compose interesting, dynamic shots. Make sure each photo tells a part of your rental’s story. Use Google for some more tips on great photo composition. 
• Consider the Sequence: When uploading photos to your HousingPanda listing, think about how each photo leads into the next. Lead with your best photos. You may also want to create a flow that mimics how someone would walk through the apartment, offering a virtual tour that feels natural. This will help draw people in to the space and help them visualize how it would feel to call the apartment home for a few months. 

Some advanced photography tips include investing in a wide angle lens for capturing more of each room in your photos, as well as using a tripod for stability and capturing natural light photos. 

Lastly, you may want to consider hiring a professional photographer. Many hosts are glad they hire a professional. It might cost a couple hundred dollars, but the results will often be much better than you can do with your phone camera, and you can ask for a higher monthly rent amount if the photos are really good. Fortunately, every major city has so many great photographers!