28 September 2026 · 6 min read · Oscar Markham
What property photography actually has to do
A buyer decides in a few seconds on a phone whether to click a listing, and decides on the photographs whether to request a viewing. In a market where the portal shows your listing beside everyone else's, the images are not presentation — they are the whole first round of the competition.
The first image decides the click
It is the only one most people see. It should be the most compelling accurate view of the property, which is frequently not the front elevation everybody defaults to.
For a coastal or rural house it may be the setting. For a renovated terrace it may be the kitchen. Choosing it deliberately rather than by habit is a free improvement on every listing you run.
Light is most of the job
Irish weather makes this harder and more important. A house shot on a flat grey afternoon looks like a different property from the same house shot in decent light.
Waiting for a better day costs a few days and routinely saves weeks on the market. Agencies under pressure to get the listing up tomorrow make this trade badly and repeatedly.
Shoot the rooms people actually care about
Kitchen, main living space, main bedroom, bathroom, garden, and the outlook from the principal rooms. Buyers look for those and get uneasy when one is missing.
An absent room reads as something being hidden, whether or not it is. If a room is poor, show it honestly — a viewing that ends in disappointment costs more than a click you did not get.
Floor plans and video earn their cost
A floor plan answers the question photographs cannot: how it fits together. Listings without one generate viewings from people who then discover the layout does not work for them.
Video matters most where the buyer cannot easily view — coastal property, rural houses, overseas buyers. It is the difference between a listing that sells to people already nearby and one that reaches the buyer who is not.
Get the required information right
A BER rating belongs in the advertisement, and your PSRA licence details belong on your materials. These are requirements rather than marketing choices.
They also signal competence. A listing missing the basics tells a careful vendor something about how the rest of the sale will be handled.
Written by Oscar Markham, founder of Dublin Growth Digital. We run lead generation for Irish estate agents and trades, reported every Friday in enquiries and booked work.