5 tips for composing your property shots like a pro

1. Shoot in landscape, not portrait

There’s no place for portrait photos on the property market. No – not even if the house has a tiny bathroom. Not even if the house is a mid-terrace. Landscape it, all the way, all the time. Can’t fit it all in? The answer is a wide-angle lens, not turning your camera sideways. You hear me? No portrait.

Always shoot in landscape, never portrait

2. Shoot from waist height

Common sense dictates we stand there with the camera at head height – and we press click. Don’t listen to common sense, it hasn’t got the brains it was born with. What you want to do is crouch down and take both internal and external shots at waist height. It just makes for a better picture and will prevent leaning walls. Try it and see.

Crouch to take shots from waist height

3. Take external shots from an angle

Sadly you can’t Photoshop out the neighbour’s house from the photo but you can make sure your property is in the centre of the frame. If you shoot face-on you’ll get no sense of depth, so always shoot from an angle. One exception is mid-terraces which can look good when taken front-on but you mustn’t forget the crouching trick here.

Shoot externals from an angle whenever you can

4. Take internal shots from a corner

How do you make your internal shots pop? Answer, you take them from the corner of the room looking out towards another corner. Try to get a window in the shot if you can. You do not want to take a face-on shot of the wall unless you want a terrible end result, don’t make the same mistakes these agents made!

Photos usually look better when shooting towards a corner

For small rooms and bathrooms take the shot through the open doorway. Zoom out to get it all in. If you’re using a wide angle lens and zooming out makes the tiny space look like an aircraft hanger, zoom back in just. Misleading photos won’t butter any parsnips.

Shoot small rooms through an open door

5. Use corners of things to frame the shot

To make the most impact you want to get at least three walls of the room into your shots. So that means you need to think about the corners of the room and try to align at least two of them with the corners of the frame. If this isn’t possible you can align the corner of a door frame or window frame.

The top left corner of the window is used to frame the shot

Want more tips on composition?

Aren’t you just dying to whip your camera out and try out some of these tricks? Trust me, your photos will thank you and bonus – you could sell more houses, for more money, and quicker if you do! Yeah, it’s a pretty sweet bonus. Download a FREE copy of our Ultimate Guide to Property Photography to discover even more simple tips for sensational shots.

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