Photographs of a house or apartment should help someone understand the space: its rooms, their relationship, the light and the surroundings. This matters whether the photographs appear on a property’s own website or an accommodation listing.
Prepare the space
Before the shoot, clean and arrange the rooms as they will normally be offered. Remove temporary clutter and check details such as bedding, cables and reflections. Preparation makes more difference than trying to repair every distraction afterwards.
Choose the light for the room
Natural light often gives a useful starting point. Open curtains where appropriate and choose a time when the contrast between the interior and the windows is manageable.
Artificial light can also be part of the photograph. I prefer a set that shows how a place looks in different conditions, rather than treating daylight and room lighting as competing rules. The aim is to retain believable colour, texture and shadows.
Examples with artificial light
Examples with natural light
Show the whole accommodation
- Establish the building and its immediate surroundings.
- Show each bedroom, the living spaces, kitchen and bathrooms.
- Include balconies, terraces, gardens and views where they are part of the accommodation.
- Use wider views to explain layout and closer photographs for relevant details.
- Keep a consistent sequence so that a reader can understand how the rooms connect.
Edit without changing the space
Colour, exposure and perspective adjustments can make a photograph easier to read. They should not make rooms appear to have features, dimensions or views that they do not have. A virtual tour can add context where still photographs do not explain the layout sufficiently.
See the property-photography service and the combined Milonas Home website and photography project for related work.