How to photograph your property with a phone for a listing film

You do not need a camera to get a good property film: you need the right 8 to 15 photos. This is the brief we give every client, and why each rule is there.

Before you start

• Shoot during the day. Open every curtain and switch on every light, even in daylight: lamps make a room look lived in and lift the dark corners.
• Tidy each room: clear the counters, hide cables, make the beds, put away bins and towels.
• Wipe the lens. A phone lives in a pocket, and one smudge softens every photo.
• Keep people and pets out of the frame.

How to hold the phone

• Landscape, always: hold the phone sideways. We can cut a vertical film from a landscape photo, not the other way round.
• Keep it level and at chest height. A tilted phone makes the walls lean.
• If the ultra-wide lens bends the walls near the edges, step back and use the main lens instead.

What to photograph

• Each room from a corner, so we see two walls and the depth of the room. For the main rooms, a second photo from the opposite corner is even better.
• 2 to 3 photos of the outside: the building or the house from the street, the entrance, the garden or the terrace.
• 1 photo of the view, from the window or the balcony.
• For a Drone Film: the outside from several sides, each corner of the house, so we can move around it.
• For a Before / After: stand in the same spot, at the same height, for both photos.

Common mistakes

• Photos taken at night or with the curtains closed: the film comes out dark and flat.
• Vertical photos: the sides of the room are lost in a landscape film.
• Only close-ups of details: we need the whole room to move through it.
• Screenshots of photos: they lose detail. Send the photos themselves.
• People, cars or pets in the frame: we cannot use those shots.

If the property is empty, or you are abroad

Empty rooms are fine: we show them as they are. If you want them furnished, virtual staging is an add-on at $10 per room, and those shots say "Virtually staged" on screen. If you are selling from abroad, a relative or the building's concierge can take the photos with this brief and send them; the preview comes to your own WhatsApp.

How many photos each film needs

How to send them

Send the photos on WhatsApp as photos, not as documents: WhatsApp then converts them into a format we can read. iPhone photos sent as files (HEIC) cannot be read by our pipeline. Add the property name and area, the facts for the title card (bedrooms, area, view), and your logo and phone number for the end card.

What happens next

We check the photos and ask for any missing room or angle. Within 24 hours you get a watermarked preview. If you like it, you pay and receive the clean film in 16:9 and 9:16, plus a copy small enough for WhatsApp. One round of changes is included: music, title, order of shots, or one retake.

The film below was made from 6 listing-style photos; its page shows all six next to the film.