What is involved in preparing to photograph a property?

There are many types of photography that is involved in photographing a property whether it’s a house, hotel, café, restaurant or a factory.

The first thing to get right is the composition, the view point from where the property looks at its best. Often this is dictated by where you can actually stand, with the middle of the road not being a viable option. Usually the front of the property is the best view although for private houses it’s often the back of the home with a beautiful garden that looks the best

A photographer will look all around the property to make sure they’re photographing from the best angle. This captures and highlight its best features.

The time of day and the time of year make a big difference to the finished photograph. With regards to the time of day many people have heard of the golden hour. This is the time around sunset or twilight when the light takes on a lovely warm quality, casting a gentle glow on the property.

To make the most of this the timing has to be right, too early and the light may be too bright, too late and the light will have gone from the sky. A good property photographer will know that the twilight hours give a beautiful look to the photograph.

The time of year can also make a big difference. If you’ve got trees around the property and they aren’t evergreen then the branches can look a little bare. It would be best to wait until there is some growth on the tree to frame the property.

A big consideration is the weather, unfortunately in Britain the weather can be very unpredictable. Even if you look at the forecast the weather can often disappoint if you’re not prepared. A good photographer can work with the weather as long as it isn’t absolutely pouring down or blowing a gale If it's really windy the best thing to do is to re schedule. Depending on the type of property a bit of cloud cover can help the look of the external of the building.

Once the initial photographs are taken that is only the start of the process. There is a lot of tweaking of the highlights and shadows to really make the most of the property, when you see the before and after it really shows what a difference the artistic approach to photography makes.