Enhance Your Land Listing With These 4 Simple Phone Photography Tips

When it comes to real estate photography for land listings, you’re in luck. You’re likely carrying one of the most versatile and powerful tools you could ask for in your back pocket—your smartphone. Getting the most out of photos you take with your phone can be such a simple process, with impactful results every time. 

1. Showcase the highlights.

It’s important to make a listing’s photo portfolio pop. One of the best things you can do is make sure to showcase the most compelling parts of the property. These are typically the property’s most desirable or unique features, and having high-quality photos of these features is a surefire way to draw the eye. 

This is also your opportunity to take photos at different scales. Macro, or close-up, photographs can be used to show off a listing’s flora and fauna. Wide shots of sweeping vistas and multiple property highlights can be used to give viewers a sense of a listing’s scope.

2. Quantity and quality.

Take lots of photos. Not all of them will be winners, but your odds of finding a really great angle or a particularly motivating shot go up with every shutter snap. Once you’ve amassed a good number, review them for your top contenders. The best photos will have good lighting — those taken in the morning or evening are usually best — and will offer a wide array of what the listing has to offer. 

When actually snapping your photos, ensure that they’re level and taken horizontally. You can refine these choice photos with the next two tips.

3. Straighten, crop, and resize.

Once you’re satisfied with the photographs you’ve taken, you can begin to edit them. Doing so is fast and simple, but can yield impressive results. Start by straightening your photos. Doing this makes the picture easier to interpret and understand at a glance. Like with everything else you’re doing to take high-quality photographs, your goal is to make it easy for interested parties to assess the property quickly.

Next, make sure your photos are cropped and resized to include only relevant details and emphasize the aspect of the property that you’re trying to highlight. Resizing a photo can also help enlarge finer details.

4. Adjust the colors and shadows.

You can finish off the editing process by dialing in the balance between brightness, shadows, and colors in your photographs. When you change these elements of a photo, it allows you to bring details into focus and make a listing almost jump off the screen. It’s important not to go overboard with these tools, but emphasizing the rich earth tones of soil or deep greens of plant life are surefire ways to convey a listing’s desirability.

Final Thoughts

It’s never been easier to get high quality photographs of a property, and with the tips found here, you can help your listings stand out. Be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide to Land Listings for even more tips on property photography and templates for listing copy!