You know a picture is worth a thousand words. But not everyone wants to read 1,000+ words which means you have to make every picture count – or risk losing a potential buyer’s interest. Hiring a professional photographer is one option, but why not make sure your smartphone lives up to its name? After all, the camera is one of its more impressive features.

No matter how smart your phone is, a little advice on the subject will certainly go a long way when it comes to creating perfect pictures. Here are four helpful hints to make sure potential buyers don’t lose focus before looking at every picture you share.

1. Be Smart – Use Your Smartphone to Full Advantage

Smart phones come with so many features: cropping, panoramic images, brightening, enhancing, straightening, filters and more. If your smartphone’s camera is short on features, download a photography app to make each shot picture perfect.

2. It’s all About the Angle

Aiming the camera towards the corner creates an image showcasing an open, airy room. Do this instead of taking a closed-in, one-wall shot to make even small rooms look bigger. Focusing on the corner also highlights large windows. Windows can be a major draw, but if you take a picture of the window straight on, lighting can be an issue. By focusing on the corner instead of the window, the buyer will be able to see how the window brightens the room in a much more visible fashion.

And don’t forget this angle – taking a picture of the view from and around the house can also encourage buyer interest.

3. Focus on Lighting

Get as much light in pictures as you can by opening curtains and blinds to let in as much natural light as possible. If there aren’t any windows or it’s cloudy and you need the pictures ASAP, staged lighting works too. Keep daylight bulbs with a color temperature of 5600k on hand to switch with the bulbs in the room. This will give a dreary room a brighter more cheerful perspective for pictures.

If the room has good natural light, don’t turn on any lights. If the room needs staged lighting, keep the curtains closed with all the lights on. You don’t want lamps to appear dull or the daylight to take on an eerie cast by mixing the lighting.

4. More is Better

More pictures mean more choices to pick from when making the final choices. But posting more pictures for your listing is also a good idea as there is a direct correlation between the number of photos provided and the effectiveness of online tours.

So snap away – your picture perfect home just became a very attractive reality.