When you are selling a home, there are various things that need to be done prior to having a professional photographer shoot the home for marketing purposes. Home staging, cleaning, minor upgrades and repairs, and ensuring the grounds are kept up can be a little overwhelming when you have so many other things you need to take care of.

But this is something that needs to be done if you want your home to look its best and help sell your property faster. There are definitely different challenges involved. The following tips can help make your life much easier when shooting homes for sale.

1. Turn on all interior lights

When you are preparing for your next photoshoot, one of the most important things to remember is to turn on all interior lights. This will provide the best possible lighting for the best presentation of your home. Not only does it look better, but also avoids spending hours editing photos later in post-processing.

2. Clear off countertops in kitchen and bathroom areas

Clear off countertops in kitchen and bathroom areas. Remove any document, mails, toothbrush holders, soap dishes, or other items that might be hanging on the walls.

3. Make all beds and tidy bedrooms

Make sure to tidy-up the bedrooms. Remove any clutter and make both beds. Leave clean sheets, blankets, pillowcases, and comforters in an organized manner. The room should appear polished and clean.

4. Move pets out of sight

If your pets are like mine, they like to be in the center of attention. So when you’re taking photos for your service, don’t risk them “stealing the show” by setting up a photoshoot where they could potentially ruin your shots. I would advise against this as it could lead to the wrong message being portrayed in your home photos.

5. Move all vehicles from driveways

Please check that all vehicles have been moved from the street/driveway in front of your house to “off-street” parking before our photographer arrives. We also ask that each vehicle is out of the driveway and not in the line-of-sight from camera to house (even though this will NOT be in the article) before our scheduled photoshoot time.

6. Move garbage cans

Garbage cans, recycling bins, and other obstacles will only get in the way of your photoshoot. The most important thing is to be prepared and make sure the area you plan on shooting in is clear. 

7. Move all garden tools

Photoshoots can be fun, especially when you’re going to the beach. But have you ever taken photos of a garden or outdoor area? The first thing you should do is remove all the garden tools. They might seem like a good idea because they’re hand-crafted and unique, but you’ll end up with them strewn all over the photo.

8. Mow and rake the yard

Get set for your shoot by cleaning up your props, mow and rake that yard to get it looking its best. 

9. Sweep driveways

One important step of planning a photoshoot is to prepare the location. Sweep any leaves, sticks, or other debris from the location and make sure sprinklers are turned off. 

10. Remove photos, notes, and papers from the refrigerator

Get rid of clutter in the refrigerator. Clean off and remove photos from the refrigerator door and post. Remove notes, to-do lists, and other papers from the door.

11. Turn ceiling fans and televisions off

Make sure your ceiling fans are turned off. If they are on, they will be visible in your photos. Not only will that cause obvious problems, but you’ll also capture unneeded noise from the ceiling fan, which will cause blur in your photo.