Blogue · 26 septembre 2026 · 4 min de lecture

Photographing a condo in Montreal: how to make 700 square feet look their best

Wide angle, camera height, common areas, the view: the techniques that make a Montreal condo look spacious without misleading the buyer, and the mistakes that make it look tiny.

The condo is the best-selling product on the island of Montreal, and the worst photographed. A 550 sq ft studio can look airy or suffocating depending on camera height and the angle chosen. And unlike a house, a condo buyer compares dozens of near-identical units within a two-kilometre radius: the photo is often the only sorting criterion.

Here is how we photograph a small space so it looks its best, without crossing the line into misrepresentation.

Rule number one: do not overdo the wide angle

The beginner's reflex is the widest lens possible. The result: an 8-foot kitchen that seems to be 20, lines stretching in the corners, and a buyer who, at the showing, feels they were fooled. That gap costs offers.

A 16 to 18 mm lens on full frame (or the equivalent) is the reasonable maximum for a condo. Wide enough to show a whole room, not wide enough to distort it. Verticals are straightened in post-production: leaning walls make the space look unstable.

Camera height

It is the setting that changes the perception of space the most, and the least known. A camera at eye level (1.60 m) shows the ceiling and flattens the furniture. A camera too low gives a "child's room" effect. The right height, for a condo, sits between 1.10 m and 1.30 m: roughly counter height. At that height you see the surface of counters and tables, furniture keeps its true proportions, and the room looks deep.

Shoot from the corners, towards the light

In a small room, we stand in a corner, on the diagonal, to capture the two longest walls. We frame towards the window whenever possible: natural light and the view add depth, and HDR lets us show the outside without blowing out the window.

What we avoid: the frontal photo from the doorway, showing three walls and turning the room into a box.

The view and the balcony are rooms

In a condo, the view is often selling point number one, and it is often missing from the gallery. One photo from the balcony, one from the living room towards the window, and if the view is spectacular, one at twilight. The balcony itself is photographed furnished, even minimally: two chairs and a table are enough to make it one more room.

Common areas: the buyer buys the building

A condo buyer evaluates the building as much as the unit. The lobby, the elevator, the gym, the rooftop terrace, the pool, the indoor parking, the basement storage: each deserves a photo. In a well-kept building, these images reassure about condo fees; in a recent building, they justify the price.

Plan the access: some areas need a key or the syndicate's authorization. It has to be coordinated before the session.

Preparation, condo edition

The preparation checklist applies, with extra intensity: in 700 sq ft, every object counts double. The critical points:

The kitchen counter empty, no exception. In a condo the kitchen is often in the living room; a cluttered counter clutters the whole living area.
As little furniture as possible. A dining table for six in a space meant for four shrinks everything. Removing two chairs changes the photo.
Curtains and blinds open. The window is the only source of depth.
Mirrors clean and positioned so they do not reflect the photographer.
The bed made, with a plain, light bedspread if possible; busy patterns shrink the room.
Nothing on the floor: shoes, baskets, yoga mats, pet bowls.

The empty condo: furnish it or not?

An empty condo looks smaller than a furnished one. It is counterintuitive, but without furniture the buyer has no sense of scale. Two options:

Virtual staging: $30 per photo with us. A living room, a bedroom and a dining corner furnished virtually are enough to give the scale. We cover it in our article on virtual staging for vacant condos.
The 2D floor plan: $50 for a condo. It gives exact dimensions and makes up for the lack of references. On an empty condo we place it second in the gallery.

How many photos?

Twenty to thirty. Beyond that it is redundancy: a 700 sq ft condo has four or five spaces, and each is photographed from two angles at most. We add the view, the balcony, storage and four to six photos of common areas. Our condo package covers up to 25 photos for $175, or 30 photos with common areas for $195, and it is designed exactly for that.

The most expensive mistake

Choosing the wrong first photo. On a house, it is the facade. On a condo, the building's facade says nothing: forty other listings show the same one. The first photo of a condo must be the strongest interior, the living area with the window, or the view. That is what separates unit 1204 from unit 1104.

In short

A condo is photographed at counter height, from the corners, towards the light, with a reasonable wide angle. We show the view, the balcony and the building. We prepare more than for a house, because every object counts double. And we choose a first photo that belongs to this unit alone.

A condo to list? The condo package books in one minute in the online estimator, 2D plan and virtual staging optional.

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