How to photograph rooms for virtual staging

What a good photo looks like

Four photos from one real listing, each beside the mistake that would have spoilt it. A phone is enough; what matters is light, a level frame, the floor and focus.

Every photo here is from a real listing we delivered, shown with the agent's permission. The “not like this” versions are the same photos, altered by us to show each fault.

Nine checks before you send

Run through these on site. Each takes seconds.

1. 1

   Shoot in daylight, with curtains and blinds open

   Detail lost in a dark corner cannot be brought back later by any amount of editing. Daylight first; add lamps only if the room still reads dim.

2. 2

   Hold the phone level, at about chest height

   Level keeps walls and door frames straight. Chest height shows the room the way a buyer standing in it would see it.

3. 3

   Stand inside the room, just off a corner

   Corners show the most floor and the true shape of the room. A photo taken through the doorway cannot be furnished convincingly.

4. 4

   Get three walls in the frame

   Three walls tell us the true size and proportions of a room, which a flat two-wall view cannot. They also give our team more surfaces to work with, so the finished room is furnished rather than just filled.

5. 5

   Show the floor

   Furniture has to stand on something. The more floor a photo shows, the more convincing the finished room; a frame that is mostly wall or ceiling gives our team very little to work with.

6. 6

   Landscape, not portrait

   South African portals are built for wide photos, and a wide frame leaves room to furnish.

7. 7

   Brace your arm against a wall, and tap the screen to focus

   Blur is the one fault nothing can rescue. Out-of-focus photos stage poorly, so check each one before you send.

8. 8

   Turn HDR on when a window is in frame

   HDR keeps the view through the glass. A white, blown-out window can only partly be recovered, and only from detail the photo actually captured.

9. 9

   Send original files, with nobody in the room

   WhatsApp compresses photos heavily, so upload originals or share them by email or file link. And photograph rooms empty of people: to protect privacy we do not stage photos with people in them.

Where should I stand?

Inside the room, just off a corner, with the phone level at about chest height. Send every angle of each room: each comes back staged with the same furniture. Make sure at least one photo shows the whole space. Step into the room rather than shooting through the doorway.

Which rooms are worth staging?

Bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, studies, entrance halls and covered patios respond best: they are the empty spaces buyers struggle to picture furnished. Kitchens and bathrooms are already fitted, so they get styling and enhancement rather than furniture, and gardens, exteriors and pools are enhanced only. Photograph every room anyway: a complete set helps buyers trust the listing. The before and after examples show how finished rooms look.

How do open-plan rooms work?

Send every angle of the space. A wide photo showing the zones together sets the furniture plan, and the other angles come back staged with the same pieces. Stand where the living, dining and kitchen zones read as one space, usually from the corner that faces down the length of the room.

What resolution or file do you need?

The original photo your phone saved. What hurts is compression on the way to us: a photo forwarded through WhatsApp arrives at a fraction of its size, so upload originals or share them by email or file link. We like about 1,200 pixels or more on the long side, which every recent phone produces comfortably.

For reference, Property24 and HelloHouse recommend listing images of 1024 by 768 pixels or larger (their guidance, as read on 2026-08-11).

What if the room has furniture or people in it?

Furniture is workable; people are not. An occupied room can be decluttered and refurnished, but furniture hides the floor, so clear what you can first. To protect privacy, photos that show a person are not staged, and a framed photograph of a person on a wall or shelf counts: put family photos away or out of frame.