How to photograph your car or home

The first photo decides whether anyone opens your listing. Make it your sharpest: the whole car at a three-quarter angle, or the main room seen from the doorway. Shoot in daylight, never into the sun. The best time is early morning or an hour before sunset; at midday the shadows are harsh and the colours burn out. Clean before you shoot. Washing the car or tidying the room raises perceived value more than any description, and costs nothing. Take personal items out of the frame. For a car: eight photos are enough — front, rear, both sides, dashboard, front seats, rear seats, boot. Photograph existing scratches rather than hiding them: hiding them kills the deal at handover, showing them attracts a serious renter. For a home: every room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the entrance, and the view if it is good. Shoot from the doorway, slightly low, so the space reads as it really is. Do not use a lens that enlarges rooms — the renter will see the truth and walk away. Landscape, not portrait. Listings display in a horizontal frame, and vertical photos get cropped top and bottom: you lose half the room. Finally: no text, no phone number, no border on the photos. The number appears automatically in its own place, and a photo with writing on it looks lifted from somewhere else — it is the first thing review rejects.