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Nando Harmsen

Tips for photographing houses for sale

Monday 24 October 2022, 20:10 by | 7,724 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

When a house is going to be sold, photos need to be taken. These are really promotional photos, intended to show the house at its best. So what should you look out for as a photographer?

Nando tidy front garden

You don't often find a house this tidy. So then it's a matter of waiting to see what it's like inside.

Photographing a house for sale, for Funda, seems very easy. And indeed, taking a photo is quickly done. Put your camera on a tripod, use a fairly wide angle, a large depth of field, and take the photo. Do this for all the rooms, and of course the outside of the house.

If it's too dark inside, use flash via the ceiling for even lighting. If there's bright light outside, make an HDR image to reduce the dynamic range. Or use both, because that's possible too.

Although you can end up with a successful photo, there's a good chance that the photos still won't really invite people to buy the house.

Nando untidy kitchen

A messy kitchen. Look at the tea towel, the coffee cups and other items on the worktop, a pan on the hob, and an open extractor hood.

Take a look at any advertising photo. The product is shown at its best so that we immediately fall in love with it and want to buy it. At least, that's the idea.

The same applies to a house. It also needs to be shown in the most attractive way possible.

There's just one major problem. The house shows signs of use, it's lived in, it's been used. It may even show signs of decay.

So how can you still make it into an attractive set of photos? You may have guessed it. Make sure it's presentable.

Nando untidy bedroom

At first glance this looks tidy. But look at the photo frames above the bed. Always try to remove these personal items. Taking these frames down before you take the photo is less work than blurring the faces in post-processing.

You won't get there by just taking photos, no matter how good you are with flash, HDR, composition and post-processing. You need to have the rooms in the house in order. It needs to be clean, and there must be no distracting elements in the frame.

And yet it should still show a certain degree of homeliness. After all, an empty house isn't attractive either.

When you get started, take the following things into account

Outside



  1. Keep bins out of frame
  2. Keep bicycles out of frame
  3. Move the car off the drive
  4. Close doors (front door, garden door, garage door, back door can remain open if necessary)
  5. Keep the garden tidy (but don't overdo it)
  6. Put away any toys if necessary
  7. Put away empty plant pots, the hose reel and loose garden hoses
  8. Tidy away any distracting elements
  9. Make sure nobody can be seen inside through the window
  10. Watch out for your own reflection in windows


Nando tidy garden

This garden looks tidy. That's how it should be.

Inside



  1. Remove personal items (photos and similar things)
  2. Remove religious items (crosses, statues of Mary and similar things)
  3. Open curtains, shutters, blinds and similar window coverings
  4. Put away remote controls and hide cables where possible
  5. Keep ashtrays out of sight, and don't leave smartphones or magazines on the table
  6. Remove cushions from sofas and chairs, unless they belong there of course
  7. If possible, remove rugs from the floor and furniture
  8. Clear the kitchen worktop as much as possible
  9. Move furniture if possible to create a clear view through the room
  10. Push chairs in neatly and remove unnecessary chairs
  11. No pets, cages, baskets or food bowls in the frame
  12. Tidy away shoes, coats and umbrellas as much as possible (you can leave a few things on the coat rack, but not too many)
  13. Turn off lights, blow out candles and remove them from the frame (avoid two colours of light, daylight and artificial light)
  14. Keep tea towels and hand towels out of frame, and keep the bin out of frame
  15. No clothes in the frame, on chairs, beds, laundry baskets and so on
  16. Remove as many bottles, ointments, shampoos and creams as possible
  17. Put away toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs and brushes
  18. Make the bed neatly and tightly
  19. Put away the ironing board and remove bath mats
  20. Close the toilet lid, put away the toilet brush, and turn the open end of the toilet roll inwards
  21. Tidy bedrooms, remove cuddly toys, and keep toys to a minimum while still keeping the room tidy
  22. Keep room doors open to create a clear view through the house
  23. If necessary, put a small bunch of flowers on the table to dress up the room


Nando untidy living room

Can you see how the chair blocks the view? Remove it, along with the reading lamp, cushions on the sofa, coasters on the table, cables in the TV cabinet and the guitar behind the sofa. The room will then look much calmer, clearer and therefore more attractive.

Other things to look out for


Good preparation makes for a successful photo session. If you stick to the list above, you will prevent distracting things from being in the frame. It takes a lot of work beforehand, but it prevents even more work afterwards.

Don't use too much wide angle either. You quickly get distortion at the edges, or a room is shown as much more spacious than it really is.

Nando tidy bathroom 2

This looks tidy. No bottles, ointments or shampoo, a neatly folded towel and the toilet lid closed.

Also be especially careful not to appear in the frame yourself. Reflections in mirrors are obvious, but also watch out for windows, shiny surfaces such as bathroom tiles and chrome surfaces. Even the door of a fridge or an oven can be enough to show your reflection.

There is of course more


If you go through the list of things to look out for and make sure everything is in order, the house will soon look attractive. And you'll see that immediately in the photo.

If the occupant already says that the house looks very attractive like this, you know you're on the right track.

Nando tidy bathroom

A neat, clean bathroom. No reflections in the tiles or mirror, no distracting elements, apart from the mat on the floor. Remove it so the tiles can really stand out.

It's then down to your skill as a photographer to take successful photos of it. The right height, position, depth of field and angle of view, as well as avoiding perspective distortion, you need to consider everything. And of course the right lighting.

Can you think of anything I haven't mentioned that you should also look out for when photographing a house? Share it in a comment below this post.

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Nando Harmsen

About the author

Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.

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2 comments

  1. Gerrit
    Gerrit wrote on Tuesday 25 October 2022 at 17:39  | reply

    I think the white balance is also very important. Maybe explore this next time. Just a tip.

    Translated from Dutch.
  2. Nando
    Profile Nando wrote on Thursday 27 October 2022 at 09:17  | reply

    @Gerrit:
    White balance is indeed very important. Just like exposure settings, the right focal length, the position where you stand, the height of the camera... These are all things covered in the Real Estate Photography course.

    Translated from Dutch.

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