HIGHLIGHTS:
Ensure that the photo is centered, in focus, and has good lighting. The photos should be representative of your business while protecting your confidentiality.
Whether your listing’s photo is one you took personally or found online, there are some general rules for selecting the right picture for your listing. If your business has real estate or operates from a physical space, using a good photo of this space for your listing can make your listing more attractive, professional and effective in communicating to buyers the value they would receive upon purchase.
While you do not need to hire a professional photography service to have good photos of your space, any photo you take should look professional and appealing. By following the steps below, you can take some great photos directly from your phone.
1. Protect confidentiality
Before anything else, protect your business’s confidentiality by ensuring that logos, branding, and other identifying information are not visible in any photos. Relocate any identifying objects that can be physically removed from the camera frame.
If the identifying information cannot be removed, like your business’s name painted on a wall, you can physically obscure it by covering it with paper or sheets, or digitally obscure it by using photo editing software to paint over it or crop it.
2. Good camera quality
Ensure that the camera you use can capture a high-resolution and good-quality photo. Newer phones in the market come with high-quality cameras.
3. Use sufficient lighting
Ideally, you want to take your photos in bright lighting or during the day. This makes photos clearer and more attractive, giving buyers a better understanding of the state and nature of the physical space.
4. Represent your business
Photograph areas and angles of the space that provide an accurate representation of your business. When deciding on which space you are going to photograph, consider what the key areas of your business are. For example, while a hotel may have a kitchen, a photo of the lobby would be a better representation of the business as a whole.
Take into consideration the angle of your photo. While the lobby would be a good representation of a hotel business, an angle that captures the front desk as the focal point and includes as much of the lobby as possible gives the buyer a good representation of the space.
5. Good photo quality
Hold the phone steadily when taking photos to prevent them from being blurry or crooked. If you have trouble holding your phone steadily, you can stabilize your phone against a surface, like putting the bottom of your phone against a table or using a tripod.
Make sure that the photo is in focus. Generally, your phone’s camera will automatically focus on the focal point. Hold your phone up to the area or object you wish to photograph, and wait a few seconds to allow it to autofocus before taking the picture. If your smartphone is struggling to autofocus, try to manually focus the camera by holding your phone up to the area or object you wish to photograph, and tapping on the screen on the area you want to focus on.
While you can improve these aspects through digital editing, aim to have as high-quality a photo as possible. Though editing your photos isn’t as complex as it might seem, the overall process is much easier when you have a good base photo to work with.
