How do I take good photos of my business with my phone?

Use soft natural light, clean the lens, hold the phone steady and level, shoot from the angle a customer sees, and take several versions of each shot.

A recent phone camera is good enough for most website and Google photos. What makes the difference is light, steadiness and showing the real thing a customer will see. Google's own guidance for Business Profile photos asks for images that are in focus, well lit and not heavily filtered, which is a good standard for your website too.

Before you start

Wipe the camera lens with a soft cloth. A smudged lens is the most common cause of hazy photos.
Tidy the space. Clear counters, straighten signs, turn on the lights you normally use.
Choose the time of day. Soft daylight from a window or an overcast sky is the most flattering.

Steps

Turn off the flash. It flattens faces and products and creates glare.
Stand with the light behind you or to the side, not behind your subject.
Hold the phone with both hands, elbows in, or rest it on something steady.
Keep the phone level so walls and doorframes look straight.
Tap the screen on your subject to set focus and brightness.
Use the main camera at 1x. Digital zoom lowers quality; walk closer instead.
Take each shot both wide (landscape) and tall (portrait).
Leave space around your subject so the photo can be cropped for different screens.
Take several versions of every shot and keep the sharpest.
Send us the original files without filters or heavy edits.

What to photograph

The outside of your building and entrance, so people recognize it when they arrive.
The inside, as customers see it.
You and your team at work, with permission from anyone in the photo.
Your products or finished work, close up and in use.

We can do this for you. Open a request in your client portal with your photos attached or a share link, and our team will pick, crop and prepare the best ones.

Common problems

If photos are blurry, clean the lens, hold steadier and use more light.
If faces are dark, move so the window or light source is in front of the person, not behind them.
If colors look odd, turn off mixed lighting (for example, warm lamps plus daylight) or shoot near a window.
If you sent photos by text and they look soft, send the originals by share link instead. Texting often shrinks photos.

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