Briefing a photographer for a property: a one-page method

Start with where the images will be used

List the places each image will appear: the home page, a room or residence page, the sales book, social, press. Each has a different shape. A home-page image is wide and calm; a social image is vertical and close. If the photographer knows this, they frame for it.

Describe the place in three words

Choose three words a guest or buyer would use about the place after visiting. Not general praise, but concrete words: limestone, shade, quiet. Every shot should show at least one of them.

Plan for light, not for the clock

Note where the sun is at each hour and which rooms are best at which time. Terraces at the end of the day, interiors in soft morning light, pools when the water is still. Build the schedule around that, and expect a good property shoot to take more than one day.

Decide on people early

Rooms without people can feel like listings; rooms with the wrong people feel like advertising. Decide in advance whether you want guests, staff, hands or no one, and cast accordingly.

Ask for details

Handles, stitching, stone edges, the first plate of the day. Details are what make a set of images particular, and they are what designers reach for when a page needs rhythm.

Agree rights before the shoot

Write down where the images may be used, for how long and in which countries, and keep it with the files. It saves an awkward conversation a year later, when the images are needed for a new campaign.

The studio writes briefs like this and directs shoots for hotels, residences and yachts. See photography & content direction.