by Holden Lewis
July 21, 2025
When you see awful pictures in a real estate listing, you can bet that a pro didn’t take them — the homeowner or real estate agent did, and usually with a phone instead of a camera. Amateur picture-takers don’t always know their limitations.
“It’s a skill set,” says Cliff Freeman, an eXp agent in Dallas, adding that photography is not always something busy real estate agents will have time to learn.
For that reason, most agents hire pro photographers. “I consider that part of my marketing expense and part of what my commission is paid to me for,” says Kate Ziegler, an agent with Arborview Realty in the Boston area.
The agent you hire will likely, in turn, choose the photographer. So conduct job interviews with at least two or three agents. Ask to see listings of homes that they sold in your home’s price range so you can get a sense of the quality of the pictures.
Even when you take care, you’re not guaranteed satisfaction. I sold a house recently after interviewing three agents, and the photos disappointed me. The shot selection showed the house well, but the images were aggressively processed. Pink pieces in a stained-glass window looked colorless, while the white walls looked like they were aglow with radioactivity. Everything looked slightly unreal, like a low-dose acid trip.
That’s not how Ziegler likes it. “I do feel very strongly that photos should be very realistic,” she says. “You don’t want things over-photoshopped.”
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