Real Estate Camera
Hire a professional real estate photographer for luxury or large homes and any listing that needs drone shots, true twilight photos, video, floor plans or a 3D tour. For an apartment, a starter home, a rental or an FSBO listing in a well-lit property, a recent phone and an editing app will usually be enough, provided you shoot in good light and keep the camera level. A professional typically charges several hundred dollars per listing. Doing it yourself takes an hour or two.
Below are actual published prices, what the extra spend buys, and how to identify the type of listing you have.
What it costs to hire a professional photographer
Prices vary widely by market and floor area, so here are two published sources rather than an invented national average.
Thumbtack's price guide, which is based on its own platform data and labelled 2025, puts the national average at $150 an hour, with a range of about $123 to $272. The average for photographing a single property is $286. It quotes one firm's pricing tiers as $130 for 13 photos, $165 for 25 and $195 for 40.
Estate Photos L.A. publishes a full price list titled "2024 Services and Fees." Los Angeles is an expensive market, so treat the figures as upper-end prices:
| Service (Estate Photos L.A.) | Published price |
|---|---|
| Photos, under 1,000 sq ft | $295 |
| Photos, 2,000 to 3,000 sq ft | $450 |
| Photos, 4,000 to 5,000 sq ft | $650 |
| Drone add-on, up to 10 images | $295 |
| Twilight add-on, up to 10 photos | $295 |
| 2- to 3-minute 4K video, under 2,000 sq ft | $550 |
| 2D floor plan, 2,000 to 2,999 sq ft | $250 |
| Matterport 3D scan, up to 2,000 sq ft | $300 |
A 2,500 square foot house with photography, drone and twilight add-ons comes to $1,040 on that list, before any video.
Zillow also sells packages. Zillow Media Experts Essentials includes around 30 HDR photos, an interactive floor plan and a virtual tour. Premium adds 5 to 10 drone photos, virtual twilight and a short video for social media. Zillow lists starting prices for each market on its availability page, so check your market's prices.
When a pro is worth the money
Luxury and large homes
For a large home, photos do more of the work in justifying the price, and large rooms are harder to photograph. Mixed lighting across an open floor plan, double-height ceilings and long sightlines are where a photographer's flash, lens and editing earn their fee. If the commission is substantial, a few hundred dollars for photography is a small proportion of it.
Drone photos
Acreage. A view. A pool. A block of land that backs onto something appealing. You need airspace for those shots. The FAA says flying a drone for commercial purposes falls under Part 107, which means you need a Remote Pilot Certificate. If you don't hold one, hire a pilot who does. Thumbtack lists example drone photography packages from $200 for eight shots to $249 for unlimited aerial shots.
True twilight
A true twilight shoot means returning at dusk with every light on and working quickly while the sky holds its colour. Phones struggle in that light. Studios also sell "virtual twilight" (Zillow's Premium package includes it), which is a daytime photo edited to look like dusk. Estate Photos L.A. charges $25 per photo for that edit. The sky has been altered. That has disclosure implications, explained below.
Video, floor plans and 3D tours
Different skills, different software. And buyers use them. In NAR's 2025 Generational Trends report, 57 percent of buyers who searched online rated floor plans "very useful" and 41 percent said the same about virtual tours. If your market expects them, outsource the work.
When you can't capture the home in the right light
A photographer arrives at the booked time with lighting equipment. If the only time you have free is 7 p.m. in November, that alone can justify the fee.
When a phone and an app are enough
Most properties aren't mansions. A two-bedroom apartment, a first home, a rental between tenants or a vendor selling without an agent: buyers want to see clean, bright, true-to-life rooms. A modern smartphone can do that.
Zillow has made both points over the years. Its seller photography guide lists "using a cell phone to take pictures" among common mistakes and puts the cost of professional photography at $150 to $200. Its agent guide, from the same year, describes a smartphone as a perfectly reasonable camera. Both date from 2019. Phones have improved since then. The problems that make phone photography unworkable haven't changed: you still have to fix leaning verticals, yellow rooms and blown-out windows.
Phone photos work if you do the following:
- Shoot horizontally, at chest height, keeping the phone level.
- Use the 0.5x lens, but keep furniture away from the edges of the frame.
- Turn on all the lights and open all the blinds.
- Shoot in daylight, with the sun behind you when photographing the front of the house.
- Straighten the verticals and correct the colour afterwards.
Our iPhone guide explains the settings, while the shot list shows you which rooms to photograph.
What a phone and an app won't do
Be realistic about the limitations. Real Estate Camera corrects lighting, white balance and verticals, removes furniture and virtually stages empty rooms. It doesn't fly, shoot video or draw floor plans, and it doesn't replace skies or fake a twilight look. These limitations are by design, so you won't get the blue-sky hero shot included in a studio package.
That last point cuts both ways. Zillow's Essentials package says "blue sky enhancements are included." Under California's AB 723, a changed sky is an added or changed element, and the Bay East MLS rule lists sky replacement as digitally altered. If your photographer swaps the sky, you may need to add a disclosure label and a link to the original image. Our AB 723 guide and guide to disclosure wording explain what to write.
What DIY costs
A phone you already own, an hour or two at the property and some editing. With Real Estate Camera, Enhance costs 1 credit per photo, and each edit takes 20 to 60 seconds. A 25-photo listing uses 25 credits, which fits within the 60-credit pack for $24.99 and leaves credits for the next one. Credits never expire, and the first credit is free. Declutter and Virtual staging cost 2 credits each if needed.
The real cost is your time and eye. Can't stand taking the photos? Do they keep coming out crooked? The fee takes you out of the equation.
A quick way to decide
| Your listing | My pick |
|---|---|
| Luxury or top of the neighbourhood | Professional, with drone and twilight shots if the property suits them |
| Acreage, water, a view | At least a drone operator |
| Your market expects video or 3D tours | Professional |
| Apartment, starter home, townhouse | Phone and app, shot carefully |
| Rental between tenants | Phone and app |
| FSBO on a budget | Phone and app |
| Vacant property, tight deadline | Phone, then Virtual staging with a disclosure label |
You can also split the job. Hire a drone operator for the exterior and shoot the interiors yourself. Or book a professional for the property shoot and use your phone for the rental next door.
Whichever way you go, the same mistakes can ruin a photo gallery. Our list of listing photo mistakes is worth reviewing before the shoot, and the FSBO guide and the rental guide take you through a DIY shoot from start to finish.
If you go DIY, see the real estate photography app.
Try the DIY approach on one listing and judge the results for yourself. Start free: 1 credit.
Questions
How much does a real estate photographer charge?
According to Thumbtack's price guide, the national average is $150 an hour, with an average of $286 for one property. One Los Angeles studio's published price list ranges from $295 for a home under 1,000 square feet to $650 for 4,000 to 5,000 square feet, before any drone, twilight or video extras.
When is it worth hiring a professional photographer?
For luxury and large homes, and whenever you need drone photos, true twilight shots, video, floor plans or a 3D tour. These require equipment, licences or software that a phone can't replace. A professional is also worthwhile if you can't be at the property when the light is good.
Can I photograph a listing with my phone?
For an apartment, a starter home, a rental or an FSBO listing, yes, provided you keep the camera level, shoot in good light with all the lights on, and correct the colour balance and straighten the verticals when editing. An older Zillow guide for sellers says using a mobile phone is a mistake, while its guide for agents lists a smartphone as a camera option.
Do I need a licence to fly a drone for listing photos?
In the US, yes. According to the FAA, flying a drone for work or business falls under Part 107, which requires a Remote Pilot Certificate. If you don't have a certificate, hire a pilot who has one.
