How do you prepare a property for listing photos?
Most of what makes a listing photo work happens before anyone lifts a camera or a phone. Here is the short version of the checklist, room by room, and what an edit can and cannot rescue afterwards.
In progress · Updated September 2026
The short answer.
Clear every surface to nothing, turn every light on, open every blind, and shoot in the hour after sunrise or before sunset when the light is soft. Those four things do more for a set of photos than any edit.
Outside: bins away, cars off the driveway, hoses coiled, lawn cut. Inside: beds made with plain linen, benches clear, toilet lids down, pet bowls out of frame. Enhancement corrects exposure, verticals and colour; it is not a substitute for clearing the room.
What is coming.
The full guide walks the checklist room by room, with examples of what enhancement rescued and what it could not. The list above is the part worth having now.
Frequently asked questions.
Not physically. A clear, well lit room photographs well on its own, and empty rooms can be virtually staged afterwards. Clutter is the thing no edit fixes.
More guides.
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What real estate photography costs in Australia
Photography alone commonly runs $150 to $600 per listing, and a premium package with twilight, drone and video usually lands between $700 and $1,200. Here is what sits behind each band, what a quote normally excludes, and how to decide per listing.
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Disclosing virtually staged photos
Australian Consumer Law requires marketing not to be misleading or deceptive, and the major portals expect digitally altered or staged imagery to be identified. Here is how agents label staged photos in practice, and where staging stops being presentation.
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Getting photos in the right order on the portals
Portal uploaders generally sort files by filename, which is almost never the order you want buyers to scroll. Numbering the files before you upload is the whole fix. Here is a running order that works and how to stop doing it by hand.
Try it on the listing you are working on.
One module is $149 on a listing, the whole suite is $299, and your first listing is free.