Preparing your home for a photo shoot

General Guidelines

• Upon the arrival of the photographer, please open all the lights inside your home to ensure maximum illumination. This will also help “warm up” the ambiance in the photos.
• Make sure to replace any burnt out light bulbs in your fixtures and that all lamps are plugged in and functional.
• If you have any animals, place them in a room that has already been photographed (or in the garage) to avoid obstructing the photographer's work.
• Always stand behind the photographer or avoid walking in front of the camera or seeing your reflection in a mirror. Wide angle lens capture more information that you can imagine!
• Close any television and/or computer screens during the photo shoot.
• Perform your home staging PRIOR to the arrival of the photographer and not DURING the photo shoot.

Advice for exterior photos

Unclutter the front of the house!

• Place your parked vehicles in the garage and/or on the opposite side of the street, if possible. Never place the vehicle directly in front of the property in order to provide the photographer with a clear view of the frontage of your property.
• Remove any items that could distract from your home's aesthetics: garbage bins, recycling bins, hockey or basketball nets, shovels, old newspapers and advertising bags (public-sac) are all items that need to be removed from view.
• If you do not have a garage, place these items in a tool/storage shed or on the side of the house (towards the rear of the house).
• In winter, make sure to clear the snow from your driveway and walkways, making sure to also clear the front steps.
• Apply any salt, stone dust or de-icing product to minimize the effect of icy patches leading from the street to your home. You could be held responsible for any unfortunate accidents from visitors, brokers… and photographers!
• In the summer time, make sure that the yard is well groomed and that the lawn has been mowed.

Make sure to provide access to the rear of the property!

• Especially in winter, make sure that the photographer can gain access to the backyard by clearing a walkway to the rear of your property.
• In the summer, make sure all lawn and garden tools, water hoses, pool items and toys, and clothing left on the clothesline have all been removed from site by the time the photographer arrives.
• If you have any animals, please make sure all excrement have been removed from the yard.

Advice for interior photos

The vestibule/doorway

• Remove large coat racks or make sure that jackets are not hanging from them.
• Remove from view any shoes, boots, umbrellas and other clothing items.
• Unless necessary due to weather conditions, remove any small mats or carpets placed on the floor of the vestibule.

Living room

• Avoid clutter! A rocking chair, too many plants, too many decorative pillows, TV/DVD remotes lying around and excessive memorabilia (picture frames) will divert attention away from the room.

Kitchen

• Unclutter your countertops: food processors, bread boxes, dirty dishes, pots and pans in the sink will all detract from your kitchen's beauty.
• Remove any small mats and carpets placed on the kitchen floor, to avoid the impression that you're hiding some flooring defect (broken slates, broken ceramic, etc.).
• Remove any dishwashing rags from the range door or hanging from cabinets.
• De-personalize the room: remove any pictures, drawings, memorabilia and magnets from your refrigerator.
• Remove any waste/garbage bins (plastic or stainless) and hide them from site during the photo shoot.
• If you have animals, remove any feeding dishes/bowls. You may need to consult with the photographer if bird cages need to be moved or not.

Bedrooms

• Make sure the beds are properly made in each bedroom.
• Remove any articles of clothing/laundry, toys and games, laptop computers that are not stored in their proper place, etc.
• Unclutter your room: remove unnecessary items such as exercise apparatus (bikes, treadmills, etc.), if possible.
• Remove any small mats and carpets placed on the bedroom floor.

Bathrooms and powder rooms

• Lower the toilet seat and/or close the lid.
• Remove any used towels, bathrobe or other items hanging behind the bathroom door.
• Remove any bottles, soaps, shampoos from the edge of the bathtub and inside the shower.
• Remove any toothpaste, toothbrushes from the sink, hair products and other items from the sink.
• Remove any tissue paper box, waste basket, clothes hampers and other non-aesthetic items.
• Remove any small mats and carpets placed on the bathroom floor.

About the actual photo shoot

• Once your Real Estate broker has placed his/her order for a photo shoot, one of our service department team members will contact you to schedule an appointment.
• An appointment is scheduled on a specific day, and a 2-hour time frame is allocated based on your availabilities and one of our photographer's routes in your sector.
• Upon their arrivals, the photographers will introduce themselves and briefly explain the process of the photo shoot with the home owners, and in some cases offer additional guidelines and/or recommendations.
• The photographer will proceed to photograph all of the interior rooms to which he/she is given access to; an exterior photo shoot will also be performed during his/her visit. The photographer will then proceed to select and identify his photos which best highlight your residence's appeal.
• Usually, garages, closets (standard and walk-in), storage room and electrical rooms ARE NOT PHOTOGRAPHED; these areas become very useful to hide/store unwanted items that should not appear in the photos (see above texts for details!).
• The photographer will take a proportionate number of photos to best represent your home.
• It is impossible for the photographer to show you the pictures from his/her camera during the photo shoot.
• If you have specific requests, please inform the photographer at the start of the photo shoot (or prior to beginning).
• If you have personal photos of your home that you wish to include, you must submit them to your Real Estate broker (and not the photographer).
• Each photo shoot will take approximately 30-45 minutes.
• Photos will be selected and be made available as quickly as possible following a photo shoot (usually available the next business day, if no technical issues arise).

Courtesy of EGP TechnoVirtuel Inc. ©2014