Are you ready for your close-up home sellers?

Before it’s listed or a potential buyer steps in, sellers should pour their best effort into making their home picture-perfect. After all, when the home is photographed — usually about a week before listing — is when hundreds of potential buyers will see it. The better the home looks in online video tours and slide shows, the more buyers will want to visit or make an offer.

With the uptick in pandemic online shopping, photos pack more importance than ever. More than 90 percent shopped online before the pandemic, now nearly all do and some buy without a physical visit.

But a survey of 310 real estate photographers by HomeJab, a photo service, reveals that more than half say sellers aren’t putting enough effort into preparing for their shoot.

“Agents may be assuming their sellers know what they need to do to have their home ready for a photo shoot,” says Joe Jesuele, HomeJab CEO.

An informal survey of agents shows they typically offer various levels of help to sellers. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) site offers a handout for sellers, “How to Prepare for the Photo Shoot,” that provides tips, most of them familiar with traditional advice for preparing for showings, such as decluttering, except stepped up a level.

That’s because the camera magnifies. Besides clearing clutter, it usually helps to remove some furniture, for instance. The National Association of Realtors suggests sellers snap some photos on their own to get a feel for what fixes are needed.

Cindy Chen, a Compass broker in New York City whose clients often sell apartments, says, “We rearrange furniture or move around items in the apartment between shots.”

Light results in a better photo. “We try to schedule all photos for a sunny day,” says Kent Rodahaver, broker, NHSouthPointe, St. Petersburg, Fla.

In the interior, plenty of lamps and overhead lights, plus sunshine, help the camera capture a room at its best, agrees Darrell Plummer, broker/owner of Sierra Nevada Properties, Reno. But he also recommends turning off some interior lights when there’s a nice view outside a window to capture.