Natural sunlight is (mostly) your friend on a real estate photo shoot, so make sure the blinds are open. How you open the blinds is probably more of a personal preference, but my normal course of action is to open all of the blinds so that the slats are nice and horizontal. If there’s too much sunlight coming through, it may be more beneficial to have the blinds tilted a little bit instead of horizontal, but this will be situational. It may also be beneficial to have them tilted a little bit if there’s something distracting outside the window. I typically do not roll up the blinds since that may let in a bit too much light and there’s always the risk of the blinds breaking (I’ve had that happen on more than one occasion).
Trashcans, pet items (such as food bowls and toys), moving boxes, etc., should all be removed whenever possible. If you’re in the house alone, use discretion. Think twice before moving furniture or workout equipment, as you could do damage to the item itself or the flooring it sits on. The same goes for breakable items.
It’s better to have some extra photos that you don’t need than to have your client ask you why you didn’t get shot X or Y.
Type up a “Photography Checklist” that has some general tips for homeowners like making sure all the beds are made, the floors are vacuumed, pet items are tucked away, etc. If you’re an agent, give this list to your seller prior to the photo shoot. If you’re a real estate photographer and an agent has hired you to photograph one of their listings, give the list to the agent and have them deliver it to their client.
Try creating a “not used” folder for every shoot where you drop in extra shots that you don’t deem to be good enough for processing and final delivery. If your client asks you later why you didn’t deliver a specific shot, you at least have the ability to look through your extras to see if you have what they are looking for. Then it’s as simple as processing that photo instead of having to go back out to the property. My “not used” folder has saved me on more than one occasion over the years.
Forgot to remove something on site? Homeowner insisted on leaving up the wall of family pictures? RealEstatePhotoFix.com can remove all kinds of items in post-processing!