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Real Estate Photography
Learn to shoot, light, and edit professional real estate photos that attract buyers and win listing agreements.
Beginner photographers and real estate agents who want to produce compelling, marketable listing images without outsourcing.
Course content
Workbook & downloads
Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.
Preview the workbook
This workbook guides you through the practical decisions and skill-building exercises for each module of the Real Estate Photography course. Complete each section as you finish the corresponding module — the exercises are designed to produce reusable deliverables you will use on your first paid shoots. By the end you will have a gear kit, a shoot checklist, a Lightroom preset, and a client delivery template ready to deploy.
Gear, Settings, and Shoot Preparation
Evaluate your current gear against the professional standard and build the pre-shoot system you will use on every job.
Exercise: Gear Gap Analysis
Compare your current kit to the recommended professional baseline and identify your highest-priority purchases.
- List every piece of gear you currently own that will be used in real estate photography. For each item, note whether it meets, partially meets, or does not meet the professional standard described in the lesson.
- Identify your top two gear gaps. For each, research a used-market price on KEH.com or MPB.com and note it here.
- Calculate the total minimum investment to reach the professional baseline with used gear. What is your timeline to acquire it?
- What can you shoot professionally with your current kit without any new purchases? What listing types are out of scope until you fill the gaps?
Worksheet: Flash Settings Reference Card
Fill in this reference card during your first practice shoot. Tape a printed copy inside your camera bag as a quick-reference during jobs.
- Camera mode
- ISO for ambient (window) frame
- Shutter speed for ambient frame
- Aperture for all frames
- ISO for flash (interior) frame
- Shutter speed for flash frame
- Flash power setting
- White balance value (K)
- Self-timer delay (seconds)
- Tripod height (cm)
Checklist: Pre-Shoot 48-Hour Checklist
- Send property prep guide to listing agent
- Confirm shoot time, address, and access code with agent
- Charge all camera batteries (minimum 2 fully charged)
- Format all memory cards and verify capacity
- Check Photographer's Ephemeris for sun direction at shoot time
- Pack microfibre cloth, extension cord, and gaffer tape
- Download or print property floor plan
- Build shot list from floor plan — minimum 25 frames for 3-bedroom home
- Check weather forecast — reschedule if rain is forecast for exterior window
- Confirm drone operator booking if aerial is included in package
Shooting Interiors
Practice the bracket sequence and composition rules until they become muscle memory before your first paid job.
Exercise: Practice Bracket Drill — Your Own Home
Shoot a complete 3-frame flambient bracket set in every room of your home or a friend's home. Use this drill to clock your per-room time and identify technique gaps.
- How long did it take you to complete one full 3-frame bracket set in the first room you shot? What slowed you down?
- Review your ambient frame on a large monitor. Does the window show sky detail and colour? If not, describe what went wrong with exposure.
- Review your flash frame. Are the shadows in room corners lifted? Is there any orange colour cast from ceiling lights you left on? What needs to change?
- What is your per-room completion time after five rooms? What is your target time to reach 4 minutes per room?
Worksheet: Room-by-Room Composition Decision Log
For each room type, record the camera position, tripod height, and any staging decisions you made. Build this into a personal reference guide.
- Room type
- Camera corner position (e.g., northwest corner facing southeast)
- Tripod height (cm)
- Staging actions taken
- Flash position and angle
- Lights turned off (yes / no)
- Windows open or closed
- Any composition challenges encountered
- Planned approach for next similar room
Checklist: In-Room Staging Checklist (Run Before Every Shot)
- All ceiling lights and lamps turned OFF
- Toilet lid closed
- Towels straightened and centred
- Countertop clear of appliances and personal items
- Rugs centred and not curled at edges
- Cushions fluffed and symmetrically arranged
- Power cords hidden or removed
- Mirrors wiped with microfibre cloth
- Trash bins removed from room
- Window treatment (curtains/blinds) consistent with previous rooms
Shooting Exteriors
Plan your exterior strategy using sun-angle data and establish a consistent multi-angle shooting routine.
Exercise: Facade Orientation Analysis for a Practice Property
Select any residential property in your area (a friend's home, a public-facing house you can photograph legally). Use the Photographer's Ephemeris to plan the optimal exterior shoot time.
- Enter the property address into TPE. What direction does the front facade face? What time does the sun illuminate the front facade during golden hour?
- Is the front facade lit during golden hour on a weekday — i.e., is the optimal shoot time a realistic booking window? If not, what is your alternative strategy (blue hour, overcast)?
- Identify one foreground leading-line element at this property (path, driveway edge, garden bed). How will you use it in the 45-degree approach composition?
Worksheet: Exterior Shoot Plan Template
Complete this plan for each property before arriving for the exterior session. File it with the property folder in Lightroom.
- Property address
- Facade direction
- Optimal shoot time (TPE result)
- Shoot type (golden hour / blue hour / overcast)
- Shot 1: wide establishing — position and distance from kerb
- Shot 2: 45-degree approach — position on driveway
- Shot 3: rear yard — corner position
- Shot 4: exterior detail — subject
- Items to remove before shooting (bins, hoses, cars)
- Interior lights on for blue hour (yes / no)
- Drone subcontractor booked (yes / no / not required)
Checklist: Exterior Pre-Shot Checklist
- All vehicles moved off driveway and from street in front of property
- Wheelie bins moved out of frame
- Garden hose coiled and hidden
- Front door closed (unless intentional open-door composition)
- Garage door closed (unless included as a feature)
- Exterior lights on if shooting blue hour
- Camera white balance set to match sky colour temperature
- Tripod height lowered to 120 cm for wide establishing shot
- Self-timer or cable release attached
- All 4 mandatory angles confirmed on shot list
Post-Processing and Delivery
Build your Lightroom-to-Photoshop workflow and set up a repeatable delivery system before your first paid package goes out.
Exercise: Build Your Master Lightroom Import Preset
Create a Lightroom import preset from scratch using the settings specified in the lesson. Test it against your practice shoot files.
- List every Develop setting you included in your master import preset. What values did you set for white balance, sharpening, noise reduction, and lens correction?
- Apply the preset to 10 interior frames from your practice shoot. What percentage of the images required further manual adjustment after the preset was applied? Which settings most frequently needed tweaking?
- Based on your practice-shoot results, what changes will you make to the preset baseline before your first paid job?
Worksheet: Client Delivery Specification Sheet
Document your standard delivery specifications. Include this sheet in the folder you send to every client.
- File format (JPEG / TIFF)
- Colour space
- Long edge resolution (px)
- JPEG quality setting
- File naming convention
- Web delivery resolution (px)
- Print delivery resolution (px)
- Delivery platform (Pixieset / Dropbox / Google Drive)
- Standard turnaround time (hours)
- Rush turnaround time (hours) and surcharge
- Number of complimentary revision requests included
- Revision request deadline (hours after delivery)
Checklist: Pre-Delivery Quality Control Checklist
- All images reviewed at 100% zoom for sharpness
- No visible HDR halo artefacts around windows
- Colour cast removed — whites are neutral grey across all images
- Verticals are plumb in all interior images
- Lens distortion corrected (straight lines, no barrel effect)
- Image count matches agreed package size
- Files exported in sRGB colour space
- File naming follows agreed convention (address-room-number.jpg)
- Delivery link tested — all files download correctly
- Client message drafted with delivery link and revision policy
Your Action Plan
- Audit your current gear against the course baseline and order your top-priority used gear item within 7 days
- Build your Lightroom import preset and test it on 20 raw files before your first paid shoot
- Complete the full bracket drill in your own home — shoot every room and time yourself per room
- Download the Photographer's Ephemeris app and run a facade orientation analysis on 3 local properties
- Build and laminate your pre-shoot checklist and flash settings reference card to carry in your camera bag
- Contact 5 local real estate agents via LinkedIn or email to introduce your services and offer a free sample shoot
- Execute one unpaid practice shoot on a friend's or family member's property — deliver a full polished package
- Set up your Pixieset or Dropbox delivery folder structure and create your standard client message template
- Practise the Photoshop flambient blend workflow on 10 bracket sets until you can complete one blend in under 6 minutes
- Price your first three listing packages (standard, premium, luxury) using the cost-per-image framework from Module 4 — publish your prices to a simple website or PDF rate card
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