Practical checklist

Commissioning photography of a property

Most of the outcome is decided before the camera comes out of the bag. These are the parts that are worth getting right in advance.

Preparing the building

Gutters, wheelie bins, parked cars and satellite dishes read far more strongly in a photograph than they do to the eye standing in the driveway. The lens has no ability to ignore clutter, and a print will show it for as long as the print hangs.

Interiors improve when roughly a third of the objects come out of the room. What looks sparse in person usually looks correct in the frame, because the photograph compresses depth and pushes everything forward.

What a commission usually includes

  1. 1

    A survey visit

    Walking the building at the hour it will be photographed, to find the angles that work and rule out the ones that do not.

  2. 2

    The shoot

    Usually a single session timed to the light rather than to the diary. Weather moves it; the calendar does not.

  3. 3

    A small edit

    Often under a dozen frames rather than a full contact sheet. Selection is most of the craft.

  4. 4

    Finishing for output

    Perspective correction, exposure blending and tonal work set for the paper the image will actually be printed on.

Three questions worth asking first

Will these be printed, and how large? This governs equipment and approach more than any other factor, and it cannot be decided afterwards.

Record or flatter? Photographing the building as it stands and presenting it at its best are different briefs that produce different pictures.

Who holds the licence? Including whether commercial reuse is covered if the property is later sold or let.