Job Photos That Win Work
Your phone is good enough. What separates a photo that wins work from one that costs you work is light, tidiness and taking more than one. Here's the whole method in five minutes a job.
Photos of your work end up doing more selling than anything you write. They're on your listing, your website, your quotes and your social accounts, and a prospective client will judge your workmanship from them before they've spoken to you. That cuts both ways: a dark, cluttered, out-of-focus photo tells them your work is dark, cluttered and out of focus. The good news is that the gap between a bad trade photo and a good one has almost nothing to do with the camera. This guide is the whole method.
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Thirty seconds before you shoot
Most of the quality is decided before the camera comes out. Three things, every time:
- Wipe the lens. Your phone has been in a dusty pocket all day. This one step fixes more bad trade photos than anything else on the list.
- Tidy the frame. Drink bottles, offcuts, the toolbox, the jumper over the rail, dust sheets, your mate's legs. Anything in shot that isn't the work is arguing against you.
- Wipe the work itself. A thumbprint on a new switch or dust on new tiles is exactly what the eye lands on.
If the site is a genuine mess and you can't tidy it, don't take the shot. A bad photo is worse than no photo — it goes into a gallery and drags every good one down with it.
Light does most of the work
Photography is light, and almost every bad trade photo is a lighting problem rather than a camera problem.
- Get the light behind you, not behind the subject. If the window or the sun is behind what you're shooting, you'll get a dark silhouette. Turn around so the light is falling on the work and coming over your shoulder.
- Watch your own shadow. Standing between the light and the work puts your shadow straight across it. Step to the side.
- Outside, avoid the middle of the day. Harsh overhead sun gives you blown-out highlights and black shadows. Morning and late afternoon are much kinder, particularly for decks, paving and landscaping.
- Inside, shoot when there's most daylight. The middle of the day is best indoors, for the opposite reason. Turn the room lights on as well.
- In a roof space or under a house, bring real light or skip it. A phone flash gives you a harsh bright patch and a black surround. Either light it properly with a work light or accept that it won't photograph.
The shots to take on every job
Take more than you need. Professionals shoot far more frames than amateurs, and it's the main reason their photos are better. A set of ten takes two minutes.
| Shot | Why you want it |
|---|---|
| Before, from a fixed spot | Half the value of the after shot. Take it from a position you can stand in again |
| Wide, showing the whole job in context | Lets someone understand what they're looking at |
| Medium, the work itself filling the frame | The main shot, and the one that usually gets used |
| Close detail | The finish, the joint, the termination. This is what says the work is good rather than just done |
| After, from the exact before position | A matching pair is dramatically more persuasive than two unrelated photos |
| One with a person in it | You or the crew, presentable, doing something. People engage with people |
| Both orientations | Upright for phones and social, landscape for websites. Shoot both and you'll have what you need later |
Get down or up to the level of what you're shooting rather than pointing the phone from standing height. Crouch for a bath, climb the ladder for the downlights. Shooting from eye level at everything is what makes photos look like documentation rather than a portfolio.
Check before you leave
- Zoom in on a hard edge. If it's crisp, you've got it. If it's soft, take a few more — you can't fix focus later and you can't come back.
- Check nothing embarrassing is in shot. Reflections in glass and tiles catch people out; so do documents, keys, and anything of the client's you shouldn't be publishing.
- Take a couple more than you think you need. The cost is seconds. Coming back is an hour.
Ask the client at handover whether you can photograph and use the job — particularly inside a home. Nearly everyone says yes when they're pleased with the work, and asking afterwards is much harder.
Where the photos go
This is where most of it falls over. Photos taken and then lost in a camera roll of four thousand images might as well not exist — and when you need the before shot to pair with the after, six months later, you'll never find it.
- File them against the job, not by date. Job, client, address — that's how you'll search for them.
- Get them off the phone. Phones get dropped, stolen and left on rooves. If the only copy of two years of portfolio work is in your pocket, that's a real risk.
- Keep the before and after together. Separated, they're two ordinary photos. Together, they're the most persuasive thing you own.
- Pick the best few, don't publish them all. Twenty strong photos beat two hundred average ones, on your website, your listing and your social accounts alike.
ServiceYak attaches photos and notes to the job record as you go, so the before shot from March and the after shot from April are still on the same job in September — ready for a quote, a gallery or a post, and there as evidence if a dispute ever lands.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a proper camera to photograph my work?
No. A modern phone is more than good enough, and the gap between a bad trade photo and a good one is almost entirely light, tidiness and taking more than one shot. Wipe the lens, clear the clutter, get the light behind you, and take ten frames instead of one.
What's the best time of day to photograph a job?
Outdoors, early morning or late afternoon — harsh midday sun blows out the highlights and drops black shadows across everything. Indoors it's the reverse: shoot in the middle of the day when the most daylight is coming through the windows, and turn the room lights on as well.
Do I need the client's permission to post photos of their job?
Ask, especially for work inside a home. Almost everyone agrees when they're happy with the result, and asking at handover is far easier than asking months later. Also check the frame for anything of theirs you shouldn't be publishing — documents, keys, reflections in glass.
How many photos should I take on a job?
At least ten, and more on anything you're proud of. Take a before from a fixed spot, a wide, a medium, a close detail, an after from the exact before position, and one with a person in it — in both upright and landscape. It takes about two minutes and you can never go back for them.